Getting an Online MBA

I have been an engineer for about 8 years with a bachelors and masters in EE. While I am waiting on PE results, I was thinking about what next? Does an online MBA help your career?. I am an engineering Lead right now. I work in consulting for utilities and power industry. So I guess I am asking two questions

1. Does an MBA help in boosting career

2. pros and cons of an online MBA. Looking for people who got online MBA's and saw positive or no impact on their careers. 

Online MBA is probably my only choice have a 2.5 year old and a 1 month old. 

Thanks. 

what do you want to do with your MBA?

what do people in your company do with an MBA along with their engineer degrees? is this where you want your career to go?

I know I want to end up as an Engineering director/ Head of Engineering/ Regional manager as my end goal. 

My company not a lot of people with MBA's. My manager or my managers boss does not have MS or MBA. I am not thinking about this company only though. 

ECE@PE said:

I know I want to end up as an Engineering director/ Head of Engineering/ Regional manager as my end goal.

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My recommendation is to find people who are or have been in those roles on LinkedIn and then see their career path/education.

I checked out some folks in my company in those roles plus our CEO, none have an MBA.  (or at least they don't have it listed on their employee page ).

But I agree with @NikR_PE, check out LinkedIn and don't be transactional about your relationship building with these folks 

I have known a few engineers who got online MBAs and transitioned into Project Management or "people" management. 10-years ago online programs and "executive MBA" programs were definitely looked down upon, but that's not really true anymore. It just depends on what you want to do. Sounds like you want to lead a medium to large organization so an MBA would definitely be looked upon highly... at least that's true at large corporations (which is where most of my experience comes from). I don't have any experience with small firms, but there are lots of MBAs in leadership at large corporations.

For whatever it's worth. I've heard lots of engineers say that MBA school was significantly easier than engineering school. Just gotta make time to do the work.

@jean15paul_PE thanks for the advice. That was helpful. Yes, my intention is to lead medium to large firms. Probably still about 5 years out for me but want to be in a position where I have the skills and tools to make the transition. Good to know that MBA program is relatively easier to a engineering masters. Do you know of any good online programs that you or someone you know completed and found it engaging? Thanks. 

I recently completed an MBA program that was "hybrid." Some classes were online and some were traditional face-to-face. There is a small university where I work/live so I could manage the face-to-face night classes during the week. The program and material was very easy. It felt like a cake-walk compared to my engineering undergrad. But I would say, a lot of big name universities offer online MBAs now (think OU, University of Iowa, etc.). As long as you don't get your MBA from a University of Phoenix type of school, most people will never know or will never ask if you got your MBA online or traditionally. 

With that said, you get out what you put in with the online classes. You can easily skate through an MBA program, get your degree but not really gain any valuable skills. If you actually want to network and develop relationships in addition to learning new material, I'd recommend face-to-face classes. 

ryan.castelli said:

I recently completed an MBA program that was "hybrid." Some classes were online and some were traditional face-to-face. There is a small university where I work/live so I could manage the face-to-face night classes during the week. The program and material was very easy. It felt like a cake-walk compared to my engineering undergrad. But I would say, a lot of big name universities offer online MBAs now (think OU, University of Iowa, etc.). As long as you don't get your MBA from a University of Phoenix type of school, most people will never know or will never ask if you got your MBA online or traditionally. 

With that said, you get out what you put in with the online classes. You can easily skate through an MBA program, get your degree but not really gain any valuable skills. If you actually want to network and develop relationships in addition to learning new material, I'd recommend face-to-face classes. 

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I've personally seen opinions of University of Phoenix, specifically, and of for-profit online universities in general, change from VERY negative to positive over the years. Definitely do your research, you don't want to go to a school when you just pay a fee and get a degree. Make sure you choose somewhere with the proper accreditation. But don't be afraid of an online, for-profit, open-enrollment university like University of Phoenix.

For example, 15 years ago Lockheed Martin would not reimburse tuition for online for-profit university like University of Phoenix or for abbreviated "executive" MBA programs. Today they do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This shift seems to be true of most large corporations.