

The Jack Welch MBA - __
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13892633

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pie
Yep, business schools have been furiously selling out for many years. I
remember attending classes in IBM and HP branded classrooms, and there were
entire wings named after corporate sponsors before I'd left. Branding the
degree itself itself isn't too much of a leap from there.

The bitter/sarcastic tone this article takes toward the end reminds me VERY
much of humor/commentary I've heard from academics. It's amusing but off-
putting at the same time, and comes off sounding as though the writer has an
axe to grind.

~~~
johnnybgoode
> The bitter/sarcastic tone this article takes toward the end

That's just how the Economist is. Many of their articles end that way, with
some acerbic witticism.

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ardit33
I think Jack Welch's MBA might have been useful at a different time. It seems
the economy is turning more into skill-based economy, and an MBA doesn't give
you hard skills.

I was at a meetup tonight, and the people that were looking for jobs, where
MBA fresh grads. All engineers were doing something already.

~~~
mgenzel
Did we meet last night at lolapps? :)

You, of course, realize that hard skills vs. soft skills has really little to
do with it. I mean, it's not like factory workers are being snapped up right
now. Or, you know, Ada programmers or something. It's really more about supply
& demand (hah!).

I think there are different ways to approach thinking about an MBA degree.
While it's true that MBA (often, but actually not always) doesn't give you
hard skills (quants & opresearch guys would disagree!), it doesn't make the
'soft skills' useless. For me, the most valuable aspect of my program
(granted, there are schools & there are, well, worthless schools, I'm quite
biased) was learning about different aspects of business, hearing about
problems other people/classmates have encountered & arguing heatedly,
reflecting on my years of work & seeing additional angles & solutions,
addressing practical problems with practical solutions (not all real problems
can be solved with code, you know, although we can all wish :)

Of course, I think that the best MBAs are the ones who've actually been
working on something real before they apply to the business school, and to be
fair, that's what many business schools in fact encourage. Well, I can go on
and on, maybe we can chat more about it when we meet. I won't convince you
that MBA is a must, I don't believe that myself duh, but, just like Java,
there are circumstances, independent of economy, in which it is warranted. :)

In fact, even if it is true that "the economy is turning more into skill-based
economy" (let's see what it's going to be like in 10 years), it doesn't mean
you don't need (granted, fewer) "soft-skillers". It's kind of like saying that
because Internet allows disintermediation of content, you no longer need any
mediators (although, of course, there are people who believe that, too).

~~~
ardit33
perhaps, I met a bunch of people that night :)

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zcrar70
I sense sarcasm - much more than is usually acceptable in Economist articles
(I was checking to see whether it was a blog post!)

