Dr. Ketan Kotecha
Pursuing a postgraduate degree after the completion of B. Tech undeniably offers immense value both in terms of educational qualification and job prospects. M. Tech and MBA are two of the most popular choices for postgraduation after B. Tech. When it comes to choosing between the two options, you mustn’t follow the herd mentality and follow a path that is suited to your career aspiration, aptitude and interest.
Let’s compare both these degrees to make the right decision.
MBA
MBA is purely a management degree. Here, you will learn about managerial concepts such as accounts and finance, sales and marketing, operations, human resources, etc. It will take a few months for you to shift your mindset from technical to managerial concepts. The first two to three semesters of MBA are usually dedicated to the basic concepts of all management subjects so that students from the non-commerce background can grasp them easily.
With time, it is quite likely you may have to undo your engineering or technical learning, except in subjects like mathematics, economics or quantitative models which require strong analytical and calculation skills.
Moreover, MBA after B. Tech can yield value only if you do it from the top management institutes in India or abroad. You need to spend extra hours studying during or after B. Tech to crack MBA entrance exams and get admission into a top MBA institute. A management degree from top institutes will make people notice both your B.Tech and MBA qualifications or else, you are likely to be lost in the crowd of lakhs of MBA graduates that enter the job market every year.
MBA aids your technical background with managerial know-how. If you are planning to become an entrepreneur, explore niche careers like rural/agriculture/insurance/disaster/sports management, etc. but if you are looking for a breakthrough in a management career after B. Tech, you should think carefully while choosing MBA after B. Tech.
M.Tech
M. Tech will give a master’s degree in the same field. It will make your resume more impressive with the fact that you have spent more years mastering your domain. During M. Tech, you can leverage you B. Tech concepts to gain more insightful understanding into engineering and information technology subjects.
Some of the disciplines that you can look forward to specialising in M. Tech are Electronics and Telecommunication, Computer Science and Engineering, Computer-Aided Design and Manufacture, Geoinformatics and ST. All these disciplines are designed to equip you with the technical knowledge and skills sought by employers in this field.
Moreover, M. Tech is more suitable to match your B. Tech goals and mindset. There are no unpleasant surprises – you know what to expect and how you can utilise your B. Tech background to enhance your job prospects after M. Tech. You also meet and study with like-minded people, which will give you a high level of comfort and security. MBA can make you feel isolated, at least for the first few months because your background is different from most students.
When you appear for M. Tech entrance exams, you can cash upon your existing B. Tech knowledge to score well and increase your prospects of admission in the best engineering colleges anywhere in the world.
The job opportunities after M. Tech are also lucrative in terms of remuneration and career growth. These days, there is a great focus on technology and innovation. Many multinational companies, startups and governments are banking upon M. Tech students and professionals to come up with disruptive products and business models for the better good of the society. You can land rewarding careers with some of the best IT and engineering corporate giants in the world.
If your passion lies in research and development, then M. Tech gives you a solid foundation to pursue a PhD. You can join private or government R&D centres while doing a PhD or after its completion.
You can also consider becoming a lecturer and pursue the teaching profession. Many engineering colleges prefer to recruit alumni in their core team of faculty.
If you still prefer MBA and want to gain a managerial perspective, you can pursue it as a part-time, executive or online course after M.Tech or parallel to your job. You need not do a full-time MBA course after your B. Tech.
So you can pursue an MBA degree anytime during your career but that’s not the case with M. Tech. It makes a wiser choice to do M. Tech after B. Tech because you already have a strong domain knowledge.
Dr. Ketan Kotecha, director-dean, Symbiosis Institute of Technology (SIT), Pune
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily reflect the views, thoughts, and opinions of EducationWorld.
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