For the past several years, earning an MBA was a more or less sure-fire way to land a job in the tech industry—or, at the very least, some job prospects. With the tech field evolving over the past two decades, many large tech firms—companies such as Alphabet, Netflix, Amazon, and others—have matured from disruptive startups into full-fledged corporate behemoths.
That’s generally meant that they’ve needed to bring on business-orientated employees, such as those graduating from business schools and top MBA programs. So, they’re not merely software engineers or tech-oriented professionals, they need consultants, financial experts, and executives.
But over the past two years, especially, the tech industry has changed. Economic shifts have led to large-scale downsizing and layoffs in tech, with tech or tech-adjacent companies like Microsoft, Indeed, Tesla, and Dell laying off thousands of workers between March and June 2024, according to data from Layoffs.fyi.
Given the carnage in the tech industry, many job-seekers with MBAs are likely wondering: Does an MBA still offer an advantage on the job-hunt trail?
MBAs and the tech industry
Despite widespread layoffs in the tech sector, there are still plenty of jobs out there. As of mid-June 2024, there were more than 210,000 tech job openings in the U.S., according to data from TrueUp. While an MBA likely won’t hurt job candidates in the current market, it may be less valuable than it was in prior years, experts say.
“Cyclically, demand has softened for MBAs” in tech, says Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at Glassdoor. “Going back to the end of the Great Recession, there’d been a boon in MBA hiring in tech over the past decade and a half,” he says, “but right now, the most recent year-and-a-half, the climate has shifted.”
Tech companies, he says, are being more cautious, and are taking their foot off the gas. As such, hiring has slowed, and that includes for MBA-holders. A part of that may be to save resources, as candidates with MBAs tend to be more expensive than others—the 2023 Corporate Recruiters Survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) finds that median starting salaries for MBA holders are $125,000, versus $75,000 for those who only hold a bachelor’s degree.
Accordingly, it’s possible that tech companies are cooling on MBA holders and looking at other candidates to broaden their searches.
“While college degrees may have defined who was educated and had potential in the past, we are seeing CEOs’ priorities change,” says David Blake, the CEO of Degreed, an online upskilling platform.
“Focusing on degrees or other formal education in recruitment doesn’t acknowledge other ways of learning, limiting our ability to see people’s potential. We also see that looking at formal education as a means of competency carries implicit bias and limits the pool of available people,” he says.
What are tech companies looking for from MBA grads?
It’s difficult to pin down just what, exactly, tech companies are looking for in candidates with MBAs in the current environment, but Terrazas says that, broadly, many want candidates with hands-on experience in tech.
“MBAs today are different than they were a decade ago,” he says. “Many are not out of undergrad—they have job experience.” That’s to say that a lot of people with MBAs who are working in tech are taking a winding path: they’re starting their careers in the tech sector, taking a break to earn their MBAs, and then returning to tech, which can give them a leg up in their job search, since they may have built-in networks.
Further, Terrazas says that many MBAs hunting for tech jobs are showcasing their abilities to prospective employers with completed projects or examples of their work—that, he says, is the future.
“There are more MBAs with Github accounts or apps that they’ve built,” he says. “That’s where the frontier is moving.”
MBA for tech jobs: What to look for in a program
While an MBA may not be quite the same ace-in-the-hole for tech job-seekers as it was in years past, it can still be quite valuable. Especially if students are getting hands-on experience, learning to think outside of the box, and finding ways to blend business skills with tech skills.
Programs that provide hands-on experience
As discussed, MBA programs that provide some sort of hands-on experience in tech may prove beneficial to students when they begin their job hunts after graduating. Showcasing to employers—with a code repository, application, or other type of tangible evidence of tech prowess—can signal that you know what you’re doing, and that you can hit the ground running.
Programs that teach creative and critical thinking
Given that tech (and most other industries) have changed in recent years, MBAs also need to be able to think creatively and outside the box. Tech companies often pivot, introduce new products and services, and many of them fail—they need employees who can go with the flow, and roll with the punches, accordingly. That requires the ability to be creative and move on your feet.
Programs that teach students to mix business and tech skills
As Terrazas explains, many tech companies are, early on, led by technical experts—not necessarily those with high business acumen. But as companies mature, they need people who can successfully blend tech skills with business-oriented, strategic thinking. Learning to combine the two while earning an MBA may give students an edge when they’re looking for a job.
The importance of networking
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of networking, too. As mentioned, many people in the tech industry who go on to earn their MBAs already have some experience in the field, and it can benefit them from having built-in or preexisting networks. Those who may not have an existing or big network can build one while they’re earning their MBA, as it’s likely that many of their classmates will have either spent time at tech firms or will go on to later work at one.
“People without a tech background or a network are going to have trouble getting their foot in the door,” especially in the current environment, says Terrazas.
The takeaway
MBAs can still be valuable in the hands of prospective tech workers, but they may have lost a bit of their firepower in the past couple of years as the tech sector has adapted to a new economic climate. With that in mind, earning an MBA may still be a good idea, and be smart about utilizing your network, learning to mesh your tech skills with new business skills, and getting some hands-on experience.
