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getting my MBA was the worst mistake of my life

Huh?

getting my MBA was the worst mistake of my life

I have always thought Business schools were in the business of making easy money from the privileged few.

My rational goes like this. If I need to borrow $150 K to get a decent MBA, why not use that money to start a real business in the real world. If it succeeds well and good, if not, then you have learned more than you could ever have from an MBA class.

Harm,

I believe it prevented me from finding work in '02/'03 as I was percieved as too expensive. There was also no support from my school (intentially left nameless) while looking for employment. When I took the MBA off my resume I started getting calls and interviews. It could be coincidence but I don't think that's the case.

Also, I've had confirmation by a current coworker of the success via MBA deletion theory.

Paul

GC, maybe HBS woman was frightened of you :)

I think the networking thing is what Ivy league and MBAs are all about. My school probably is not the best for that and I am not a big networker. This is probably why when at a cocktail party in those lean years, I would tell people I couldn't get work and they looked at me like I had a third eyeball in the middle of my forehead!

I thought business school is mostly about networking.

Maybe I'm a little biased.
A decade ago, armed with a graduate degree I was told by my corporate colleagues that I needed an MBA to start a new business. Being a Geek then was not sexy. Anyways, quit my job and started a new business. It went under after 2 years. Started another one shortly after that and it has been the best thing ever. I was probably lucky the 2nd time round.

I think the value of MBA networking might be important to those looking for corporate jobs as senior managers and future CEO's. But for Entrepreneurs starting new business models and products, you need skills and brain power more than a network.

In my industry, Nuke Power, a MBA will help you get up through the ranks beyond a shift manager. It will not sub for an ABET engineering degree with a SRO license. You *gasp* actually have to have some skills to make the MBA worth something.

Shift managers are basically the top dog of the plant when the plant manager/VP is away. He is the ultimate guy in chanrge of the plant when it comes to license duties. In the end a MBA is just a little extra thing to tack on a resume to make you stand out against the others. Honestly a BS in engineering with a SRO license is a very good combo to have and is the catch all requirment to advance.

GC,

LOL! How little you understand me. If my boyfriend would truly be happier as a janitor or a farmer or an theoretical mathematician, I would support him -- possibly even financially, if I thought he could be a brilliant scientist.

However, he is quite fond of managing money (he saved almost $150K in six years with a relatively modest salary) and likes good food and we agree he would thrive in a more challenging environment, so investigating financial engineering (so he could make up his mind before enrolling) makes more sense. Furthermore, he's not THAT brilliant or THAT lazy, so why bother waste a lifetime in academia.

GC,

Also, might want to talk about unresolved regret about not taking that pre-IPO Google job...*

But really, I admire your life. You work very little and at a job you somewhat like. You make enough money to live comfortably and spend lavishly on food. You went to the university my father would likely have attended if he wasn't interrupted by the Cultural Revolution. You seem to have enough friends and associates and attention from relatively attractive women. You have a great life!

*not constitute therapeutic advice, blah blah blah.

FAB is an advocate of the top 5 biz school or you're out theory. I have no experience so I can't tell.

Depending on where you work, big law firms are a little more forgiving about law schools.

astrid Says:

> FAB is an advocate of the top 5 biz school or you’re
> out theory. I have no experience so I can’t tell.

I've always said to try for a top school (even top 20), but if an English major wants to go in to business I think they can learn something at any business school (even a JC at night paying $5 a unit)...

Here's an interesting tidbit - a potential scam related to the housing bubble has hit the "fortress," including Palo Alto, Portola Valley, and Los Altos:

http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_5898867?nclick_check=1

Harm,

Also, I’ve had confirmation by a current coworker of the success via MBA deletion theory.

Paul,

Interesting. I had almost the exact same experience after I completed my MS in the early 90s. It seems to work against you when you are a fresh-out-of-college neophyte and not a member of the "Club" (you know, the families who tend to join Skull'n'Bones, get their names in the tabloids, etc.). I wasn't getting any callbacks at first, then got the same idea, took it off my resume and started getting called. I left it off for several years, until I started going for more senior positions.

Once you have significant real-world business experience under your belt, I think your MBA will come in handy, but probably not before then.

GC,

I don't think you understand my boyfriend or me very well. That's all I have to say.

lazy people are the most helpful ones in times of crisis.

If you can find a way to motivate smart but lazy people, they are your biggest asset.

On somedays, talking to my boyfriend is akin to banging my head against a wall repeatedly. I accumulate a headache and absolutely nothing happens.

Peter P,

Smart but lazy people are a pain in the ass to manage. Even if you get them momentarily motivated, they're liable go back to their lazy ways.

The bright side is that they're often too lazy to look for more renumerative work.

I guess stupid but lazy people are even worse. Followed by stupid and hypercontrolling people. Followed by stupid, hypercontrolling, passive-aggressives -- maybe that how my boyfriend sees me (okay, so this might be a bad day for me).

Peter P,

Smart but lazy people are a pain in the ass to manage. Even if you get them momentarily motivated, they're liable go back to their lazy ways.

The bright side is that they're often too lazy to look for more renumerative work.

I guess stupid but lazy people are even worse. Worse than that are stupid and hypercontrolling people. Worse than that stupid, hypercontrolling, passive-aggressives -- maybe that how my boyfriend sees me (okay, so this might be a bad day for me).

Worse than that stupid, hypercontrolling, passive-aggressives — maybe that how my boyfriend sees me (okay, so this might be a bad day for me).

You are not stupid. How are you hypercontrolling? Do you ban certain food in your boyfriend's diet?

The post was visible for a while and then it got deleted???

Really? Can you post again?

Thanks... :)

I am exaggerating somewhat. He and I live on opposite coasts, after all.

He likes my cooking. If anything, I overfeed him

The problem is that we had basically agree in principle about what he'll do for the next couple months, but...I feel that he's squandering all his break-from-work time on his fantasy baseball leagues and analyzing network TV programming

Yesterday I asked him to set himself some firm goalposts for the goals we discussed and the phone call basically degraded into me asking him to call me when he's REALLY made up his mind.

In the rest of the world, sports are more of a social thing, as opposed to an addiction in this country.

I heard that in Europe there is a mythical sport called "football" in which a spherical object is kicked around.

GC,

Thank you very much, but I think I'll pass on your relationship advice.

How can I become a poliburo member of this board?

When the time is right you will know.

"He seems to make you feel bad about yourself."

Generally, it's because he's irritatingly well adjusted and rational.

How can I become a poliburo member of this board?

The Patrick.net Politburo just wrapped up one of our weekly world domination planning sessions, but the word is still "no membership for GC", very sorry :-( .

However, you are always welcome to register and request thread-starting rights from Patrick.

Now don’t go giving him any ideas.

Anyone can request. But Patrick has the absolute power here. ;)

Harm, I'm coming around to your view on the other thread. GC is either playing out some parttime antisocial personality online or he really needs help. Generally, I prefer erasing offending posts over banning if the person has some valid things to say, but even I have my ceiling on online Borat impersonators.

The clique dominating this board that is, oh so cool, and oh so sophisticated, and oh so witty, has created a suffocating environment.

The result-

Oh so boring!

justapeon,

We at the Patrick.net Politburo have taken your critique under careful consideration and have expansively debated the ramifications thereof, in a specially convened joint session with the Trilateral Commission. After thoughtful deliberation, we have come to the unavoidable conclusion that you are a tool.

But we thank you for your contribution. :-)

Harm,

Thanks for the note.

Paul

SQT,

I'm sorry that I sometimes give off a bad impression of my boyfriend as somehow highly critical or very flawed. Generally speaking, he is a great person be around and someone who stuck by me through lots of bad times.

Right now is one of the rare times when he's bringing conflict into our relationship. I'm a little worried about him and I feel powerless to help him make up his mind and move forward, so that's mostly what I'm venting here.

"HARM Says:

May 17th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
justapeon,

We at the Patrick.net Politburo have taken your critique under careful consideration and have expansively debated the ramifications thereof, in a specially convened joint session with the Trilateral Commission. After thoughtful deliberation, we have come to the unavoidable conclusion that you are a tool.

But we thank you for your contribution."

Thanks for proving my point.
Enjoy your chosen mental prison!
And pleeeeese shadup about your boyfriend, Astrid.
Oh, go ahead. I'm not coming back.
Your a bunch of bores.
Do you ever wonder why there are so few that hang out here?
Of course not. You are oblivious.
Enjoy your requisite witty, sarcastic ,parting comments!
You are all so clever!
Bye bores!

Astrid, conflicts are not all bad. Life is boring without some conflicts, right? Resolution is the key.

Just give him some time.

Peter P,

That's what I'm hoping for. I am worried though. He's already had two months off and did virtually nothing. He really should be taking summer classes (which he has refused...fine), take the patent bar and study for the LSAT with the free time he has this summer. He agrees with me in principle, but then everytime I call, he's still not done anything.

But it's best not to push him. He did say he had a dream about working the other night. Maybe it just takes a long time to get focused again.

Would be much better if he didn't have fantasy baseball though (at least the TV season is over).

GC,

Since no one left here is likely to be easily offended, I'm not going to ask that comment to be strucken...but it is in extremely bad taste. And if you asked it offline, you deserve to have a drink thrown at you.

And I don't answer that kind of questions, online or offline.

Astrid, sometimes it pays to sit back and think hard about the next step.

I practically squandered seven years of my time working in the wrong career. And I am still doing that.

But it is fine. Even though I am getting old I am still young.

Peter P,

I know. That's why I feel bad about it and I'm giving him space.

I'm not very tolerant of indecisive characters, that's probably what's irritating me the most. I would feel better if he decided to be a subway musician or mountaineer. -- that would be absurd, but it would be something. It's the unwillingness to act or think...(breath, give him more time...well, we'll see)