There are many brilliant programmers who will never build a sustainable business because they just don't have the will to get it done.
Likewise, there are many MBAs that will be middle management in LargeCo. all their lives for the same reason.
It has become Valley lore that u need to be a geek to build a successful business - when it is patently clear that is false. None of the AirBnB guys are geeks - they are designers!
There are always exceptions.
With regards to MBA's is there any evidence that getting one makes people more sucessful in their careers?
I know it helps if you already have a job to climb the ladder, but I don't think there is much in an MBA that isn't covered in a book like "The Personal MBA" and isn't much you will learn the hard way that isn't covered by starting your own company or joining a startup.
But each to their own.
Have there been many success stories of people with MBAs? Yes. Have there been many success stories of people with law /medicine/accounting degrees? Yes. Do each of those guarantee success. Hells no.
Does an education guarantee success? No. The only thing that guarantees success is determination to be successful.
For me...my MBA taught me how the world works. It is surprising how few people understand how it truly works - yet they speak as if they know. For that single achievement alone, I would encourage everyone to get an MBA. That being said, does that mean that everyone that gets an MBA understands the world? No. I think it was more my finance/economics slant that did that.
Even still...does everybody with those slants achieve the results I did? Absolutely not.
So as I said.....it's not about the single data point that will make you a success - it's more than that. Survivor's bias (not sure if that is the correct term here) does lead people to link the two - i.e. the people that are more likely to be successful are the ones that are more likely to get a degree like that.
That being said...all people who get those degrees won't be "successful" and all successful people won't have those degrees.
The claims of the MBA education is extraordinary. They claim that this will give you an edge on everyone else. It's not just a normal business education.
That's the measurement here.
With regards to how the world truly works.
The world truly works in many different ways depending on who you are, where you live and what you do.
Did you learn how africans on the savannah live? How un-educated people in the Bronx live? How people without jobs get social security. Did you learn what a person who get cancer thinks or what someone who get their family killed feels?
What you learned was how the world looks like through the eyes of an MBA, but you have not learned anything about the real world any more than someone living on the streets learn about the real world.
If anything you are abstracted far far away from reality.
That sounds like quite a claim. Can you shed some lights on how the world works from an MBA's perspective?
I do have an MBA and while I definitely think it was overpriced, the relationships with top faculty, in-depth case studies, and lasting friendships that I got out of it is definitely beyond what you will get from a book.
That said, experience is and always will be the best teacher. There is only so much you can get from relationships, classrooms, and personal accounts described on blogs. At some point you have to find out for yourself by doing. Doing is the hardest part and it constitutes about 99% of success, which is why so few people ever succeed or even try.
I know people who are not at all "technical" or "businessy" who run wildly successful small businesses because they just did and didn't know any better. Of course there were other things they had going for them- they were personable, had large networks of friends, etc., but my point is that there isn't a formula for success, but you do have to get shit done.
But I did start a design agency built it to 60 people and ran it successfully for 6 years working for client all around the world of all different kind of sizes.
I have more case studies than I care for.
I also build friendships and a great great network of connections.
And I made money while doing it.
Business is simple (not easy)
