An almost surprising number of CEOs today didn’t pursue business during their undergrad days.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, for example, received his MBA at Duke University, but he got his undergrad in industrial engineering from Auburn University.
Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, got his BS. in Electrical Engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology before pursuing his MS Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Only later did he pursue his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
The CEO of General Motors, Mary T Barra studied electrical engineering before receiving her MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
This proves that although the best business masters degrees help, they are not a prerequisite to become a business tycoon. Furthermore, a large number of engineering graduates have made it big in the business world.
Strangely, it doesn’t seem to work in the reverse.
Even graduates who hold the best business degrees don’t quite possess the technical skills an engineer requires. Can you get a masters in engineering with a bachelors in business? On paper, yes. But it’s very rare and extremely tough.
Perhaps it boils down to the technology understanding provided at the undergraduate level. Another key factor leading students to engineering first is the sheer practicality of such a degree, especially in emerging economies. It’s much more difficult to fake engineering skills and, worldwide, engineering unemployment rates are low.
But, as the prevalence of MBAs and business leaders with undergraduate engineering degrees shows, it’s not necessarily the stopping point. Engineers, simply based on the nature of the work, almost always require some level of management skills to progress in their career - and recruiters are looking for employees that can balance the technical aspects of modern work with the leadership skills taught in business programmes.
And engineers tend to excel when they make the transition.