Future in Aviation for my Son?

On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:10:54 -0400, James
wrote:

Become an MBA and then a CEO. Bugger up a company and lose lots of
money, and the get paid a ****load of cash to leave. If I ever go back
to college, I would study for an MBA.

That would make some sense. Nobody trusts a fresh MBA. You gotta
have some real chops from having worked at actually producing
something before you got the MBA. OTOH, last time I was out of work
(2001-3), the most demollished guys I saw at the unemployment office
every week were the middle managers with MBAs and lots of experience
holding meetings.

Something I think the other old engineers here would agree with is
that the job market is cycllical and you need to be alert to when any
given specialty is about to tank. You have to be able to re-invent
yourself over and over -- something that takes a good basic grounding
in the fundamentals and some staying current with what's going on
outside your specialty.

Don

On Oct 11, 7:19 pm, Don Tuite
wrote:
On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:10:54 -0400, James
wrote:

That would make some sense. Nobody trusts a fresh MBA. You gotta
have some real chops from having worked at actually producing
something before you got the MBA. OTOH, last time I was out of work
(2001-3), the most demollished guys I saw at the unemployment office
every week were the middle managers with MBAs and lots of experience
holding meetings.

An MBA by itself can get you a job quickly but it doesn't distinguish
you much. However, engineers with MBAs are a different story. That is
a very powerful combo.

Something I think the other old engineers here would agree with is
that the job market is cycllical and you need to be alert to when any
given specialty is about to tank. You have to be able to re-invent
yourself over and over -- something that takes a good basic grounding
in the fundamentals and some staying current with what's going on
outside your specialty.

Its always funny to me when you see engineers that got into the
industry with minimal experience during the boom time complain that
life wasn't easy forever. You can't sit around on your bottom and
expect the gravy train to keep rolling, you have to update yourself to
stay on top. Getting the MBA is part of that. I still recommend people
get the full MBA vs the eMBA. The eMBA is good for those that are
already executives but anyone else should get the full MBA.
The next degree that executives need after the MBA is the JD. That's
what I'm going to work on next. If you look through SEC filings you'll
see that more than 1/2 of executives of successful companies hold both
JD's and MBAs.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary writes:

Its always funny to me when you see engineers that got into the
industry with minimal experience during the boom time complain that
life wasn't easy forever. You can't sit around on your bottom and
expect the gravy train to keep rolling, you have to update yourself to
stay on top. Getting the MBA is part of that. I still recommend people
get the full MBA vs the eMBA. The eMBA is good for those that are
already executives but anyone else should get the full MBA.
The next degree that executives need after the MBA is the JD. That's
what I'm going to work on next. If you look through SEC filings you'll
see that more than 1/2 of executives of successful companies hold both
JD's and MBAs.

Are written communication skills important?

Mxsmanic wrote in
:

Robert M. Gary writes:

Its always funny to me when you see engineers that got into the
industry with minimal experience during the boom time complain that
life wasn't easy forever. You can't sit around on your bottom and
expect the gravy train to keep rolling, you have to update yourself to
stay on top. Getting the MBA is part of that. I still recommend people
get the full MBA vs the eMBA. The eMBA is good for those that are
already executives but anyone else should get the full MBA.
The next degree that executives need after the MBA is the JD. That's
what I'm going to work on next. If you look through SEC filings you'll
see that more than 1/2 of executives of successful companies hold both
JD's and MBAs.

Are written communication skills important?


Why, thinnking of learning how to write?

Bertie

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 11, 7:19 pm, Don Tuite
wrote:
On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:10:54 -0400, James
wrote:

That would make some sense. Nobody trusts a fresh MBA. You gotta
have some real chops from having worked at actually producing
something before you got the MBA. OTOH, last time I was out of work
(2001-3), the most demollished guys I saw at the unemployment office
every week were the middle managers with MBAs and lots of experience
holding meetings.

An MBA by itself can get you a job quickly but it doesn't distinguish
you much. However, engineers with MBAs are a different story. That is
a very powerful combo.


snip

I got my engineering degree in three years, and got my when I was 26. Got
surplused two weeks later, and identified as a "problem". Not a single
manager above me in my management chain had an MBA, and they admitted after
they retired that they were scared of me. Took me almost 20 years to regain
my reputation. Basically, everyone above me had to die or retire. So, the
combination doesn't work for everyone!