MBAs vs Engineers in Tech
Comments debate the role and effectiveness of MBAs in managing tech companies and engineering teams, often criticizing them for lacking technical understanding and prioritizing short-term metrics over innovation, while favoring engineer-led leadership.
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That's what happens when MBAs and not engineers run your tech company
Hiring MBAs at tech companies as managers directly managing engineers has not proved to be effective. MBAs have traditionally worked in finance, oil and other Wall Street companies and everyone thought that bringing in MBAs to tech world (partially pushed by investors) would be a good idea. As with any new experiment, you just have to wait and let the time decide the results. And it has been few good years now since MBAs have flooded tech industry and as many like minded engineers have experien
I think a lot of people fail to understand what an MBA is and who MBA's were in their "former" lives. I don't have any statistics in front of me, but from what I remember looking over, a higher percentage of engineers/technical degree undergrads go for MBA's compared with Business undergrads. So a lot of these "beef-headed" MBAs that people seem to LOVE to stereotype as useless on here, were probably in a position much like yours at point in their lives. I just don't understand the blatant in
Aren't like half of MBA's engineers to begin with?
The MBA hate on HN is insane. Engineers aren't magically better than everybody.
You answered your own question. HP took engineers and taught them how to be MBAs, while companies are ruined by career MBAs who were never engineers and were taught in school to see engineering as a cost center that must always be reduced to the lowest bidder.
That's how MBAs talk, not how engineers talk.
Both companies are full of super-smart people, but they're too busy building cool things. This kind of stuff is what happens when you let the MBA's take over.
The problem is less people that start out in engineering then switch to MBA/busness track. Its the psych majors / marketdrone people who think that running a tech company is equivalent like running a clothing line or sports drink company.
Makes sense to me, MBAs would be looking for companies to run, engineers build things and find themselves running companies.