Two points, not necessarily in response to the article, but to the comments to this item and the general attitude of HN towards the MBA.
1) There are a lot of industries outside of technology and even within technology, the facets vary greatly. Trying to say what a startup needs vs. what Apple needs vs. what Facebook needs is a largely useless exercise. Saying "MBAs are a dying breed because Facebook didn't need them" is pretty irrational, as is judging someone based on whether or not they have an MBA. If Mark Zuckerberg dropped everything and knocked out an MBA in a year or two, would he somehow no longer be the person he was before he did the program?
I guess what I generally don't get is the idea that the MBA brands you as an undesirable idiot in this community. It's as ridiculous as thinking that just having an MBA qualifies you for huge responsibilities
2) MBA programs are capable of evolving and they are. Many MBA programs are now focusing much more time on leadership and teams and give students the ability to exercise these areas much more than they used to.
1) There are a lot of industries outside of technology and even within technology, the facets vary greatly. Trying to say what a startup needs vs. what Apple needs vs. what Facebook needs is a largely useless exercise. Saying "MBAs are a dying breed because Facebook didn't need them" is pretty irrational, as is judging someone based on whether or not they have an MBA. If Mark Zuckerberg dropped everything and knocked out an MBA in a year or two, would he somehow no longer be the person he was before he did the program?
I guess what I generally don't get is the idea that the MBA brands you as an undesirable idiot in this community. It's as ridiculous as thinking that just having an MBA qualifies you for huge responsibilities
2) MBA programs are capable of evolving and they are. Many MBA programs are now focusing much more time on leadership and teams and give students the ability to exercise these areas much more than they used to.