MBA & IT consulting

maubia

209 418

Posted Jan 12, 2012 22:14

Hi all,
I wanted your opinion on how usefull is an mba to enter IT consulting firms like Accenture, Ibm, ecc.
I've 8y experience in IT: 4y as consultant and 4y as functional.. today I've had an interview with Accenture (System integration - SAP).
It's been a very extensive and quite pleasant (I talked with a nice manager, very practical mind) talk but, at the end, I've been told that I wouldn't be hired (not a final word but almost). The reason is that my salary/experience/knowledge is in line for a manager position but, in this case, I would be exposed to such a new problems that I could difficult manage... not because I miss skills, but because I've never done them before. He told to be quite embarassed because my profile was interesting but the missing skills might ruin my career. I should accept a lower level..but of course, less money (but, in this case it happens that I'm 33...and 31-35 is the typical range to become manager there)

He suggested me to try smaller consulting firms or to search contract positions
When I asked him if an mba (I mentioned Bocconi ) could help me .. well, he answered that it wouldn't help me much for such high positions.
Now I suspect that I would receive similar answers from Capgemini, ecc... the question is: do you think that an MBA could help to reach higher position in such companies ? I'm quite demotivated today ... when an mba can't help me to enter IT consulting firms... it will be really difficult to guess a job after graduation! (at my age.. a career change is quite difficult and expensive and career prospectives would narrow)
Thank you

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Duncan

14.013 15.475

Posted Jan 13, 2012 20:07

Hey Mauro,

I think the big difference is whether you enter from full-time or part-time programmes. These firms are huge recruiters of MBA talent from full-time programmes, but for experienced hires they don't look for MBAs since there are so few and because the salaries that MBAs look for are higher than those of functional IT people. The opportunity is to either take the full-time MBA route in, which might be a drop in salary initially for you, or to look for a management role rather than a functional IT specialist role. But you know that these firms (and especially IBM) are huge buyers of MBAs for their own staff.

Take an audit of your skills and compare them to the roles you want to get. Conduct some informations interviews with people in those roles and see whether you have correctly identified the skills gaps. Then see if an MBA, or something else, is the way forward. For a consulting firm, you should consider whether the strategy or project management route is the way forward. Consider these sorts of electives and core courses: http://www.mbs.ac.uk/programmes/mba/global/project-management.aspx

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maubia

209 418

Posted Jan 13, 2012 20:51

thank you Duncan,
next Wednesday I'll have an interview with a quite big company here (well not so big..but for my region criteria it is :-) for a project manager position (this company is implementing sap and needs a liason between the consulting firm and the IT teams).. so I'll evaluate my chance.
Actually my problem is that I've never worked for big companies; yesterday, the accenture's manager suggested me 2 route: free-lancing or small IT consulting firms where technical knowledge is more important than skills that I miss (writing blueprint, test procedure, ecc). Honestly free-lancing is not profitable in Italy (most recruiters confirm me this) and small consulting firm won't offer much more than what I have now.
What I find a little strange is that 2 months ago I was interviewed for a 60000e position in Belgium within ibm (And there the problem was my french) while for Accenture the problem is my salary (Which is a little more than 40000e...not an incredible sum, all in all).
I still wish to go full-time ... but I'm quite worry that, at 35y, recruiters will question that at my age I miss experience within large organizations. Honestly I don't know much about mba market (And when I ask to italian recruiters... they always reply: we don't know!).
In this period I was re-evaluating Euro*mba (As backup option) but all the partecipants here come from large companies.... probably I would be misplaced here.

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Duncan

14.013 15.475

Posted Jan 13, 2012 21:27

I think you need to consider what sort of work you would enoy the most. Maybe the large firm experience would be good for you, or maybe you'd hate to develop the 'missing' skills. Your own motivation might be they key thing to understand.

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maubia

209 418

Posted Jan 13, 2012 21:34

Yes, you are right... as usual :-)

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vivekd

11 22

Posted Mar 03, 2012 22:01

maubia,
I have similar frustrating first hand experience in the UK/US and second hand from the US, EMEA and India, mainly from mid aged IT guys. I am 42 - with nearly 20 years hands on the keyboard 8hrs a day.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an IT man to enter the kingdom of c-suites." (Thanks Matt!).

Entrepreneurship (and being the boss of our own co) sounds a fantasy these days with terrible economy in the west. It could meltdown our hard earned cash and savings instantly.

I am planing my retirement instead! - make bucks as IT contractor (till it is fully outsourced) and invest them properly and retire and do the stuff that gives me true happiness.

You could do a self analysis/reflection, spend some time traveling far away from usual grounds - not to holiday spots. You might find what you actually want in life.

Good luck man.

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ezra

521 711

Posted Mar 05, 2012 18:50

Entrepreneurship (and being the boss of our own co) sounds a fantasy these days with terrible economy in the west. It could meltdown our hard earned cash and savings instantly.

It is indeed a risk - but from my experience dealing with people long in IT, many of the smart ones are able to identify market niches and seize on them to develop new products and businesses. I think the key is to be able to use your experience to be critical of what you do and what's out there. Of course, an MBA program in innovation or entrepreneurship can help you spot those opportunities and develop them.

I am planing my retirement instead! - make bucks as IT contractor (till it is fully outsourced) and invest them properly and retire and do the stuff that gives me true happiness.

Well, most of us aren't lucky enough to start thinking about retirement at 42! And for those who aren't, there are EMBA programs...

<blockquote>Entrepreneurship (and being the boss of our own co) sounds a fantasy these days with terrible economy in the west. It could meltdown our hard earned cash and savings instantly. </blockquote>
It is indeed a risk - but from my experience dealing with people long in IT, many of the smart ones are able to identify market niches and seize on them to develop new products and businesses. I think the key is to be able to use your experience to be critical of what you do and what's out there. Of course, an MBA program in innovation or entrepreneurship can help you spot those opportunities and develop them.

<blockquote>I am planing my retirement instead! - make bucks as IT contractor (till it is fully outsourced) and invest them properly and retire and do the stuff that gives me true happiness.
</blockquote>
Well, most of us aren't lucky enough to start thinking about retirement at 42! And for those who aren't, there are EMBA programs...

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