Friday, March 29, 2024

Is MBA In Marketing Right For Engineers?

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New opportunities up for grabs

With technology infusion being a focal area in today’s Marketing, experts feel that fresh engineers should stand in good stead to work on a variety of things ranging from helping out in product development, to assisting in taking proper technology-driven marketing decisions; this could also extend to areas like preparing client priority (using analytics and Big Data) and hitting the ground effectively to close deals.

“Engineers can work as product managers, project managers, and even as digital marketers after an MBA program. Leveraging technology will help in almost accurately meeting targets considering the higher success rates as far as sales identification and decisions are concerned,” adds Dr Radhakrishnan.

Firms also recruit fresh MBA post-graduates to work in the Technical Sales domains. In these areas, customers requiring services view service providers and their engineers as technical consultants rather than as salesmen.

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“With new products and technologies popping up in the market every day, the need for field application engineers are increasing and there is a good scope for engineers to start their career in this field” states Utsava Rathi who is manager & analyst at job search engine Neuvoo.

With major private sector and MNC banks based in India exclusively seeking engineers armed with MBA in Marketing programs, the opportunities are now manifold. Experts also believe the insurance sector to be red-hot as of now. Examples of firms, in this regard, are ICICI, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra, and more.

Mindset is most important

Experts who are actively working in marketing roles feel that engineers who are already associated with companies and working stand a better chance to succeed as acquiring an MBA during work life helps in career progression at a comparatively faster rate. However, to accomplish this, engineers should have the business-oriented mindset.

Working engineers desirous of acquiring MBA in marketing could also talk to the in-house marketing team within their firms and understand the scope of marketing roles and the clientele that the company targets. This approach would undoubtedly provoke a multitude of thoughts and thereby lead to taking appropriate decisions with respect to career growth.

“MBA programs after engineering also potentially leads to thwarting the mid-life crisis that most working professionals face after about a decade of work life,” adds a CEO of a Bengaluru-based reputed MNC software development firm, who did not wish to be named.

Intra-company openings are the best avenues

Experts feel that engineers can opt to look at their intra-company job openings to switch to marketing. This can be done when engineers are currently working in engineering-related roles and are desirous of acquiring MBA post-graduation degree. Researching with the marketing teams within the company, again (as stated above), would lead to generation of a plethora of data to understand how marketing is done.

“My advice would be to seek out enhanced openings within the same company after a couple of years of working. Career growth and pay scales generally should generally increase with this approach. Nonetheless, marketing is one area where demand never fades away,” signs-off Dr Radhakrishnan.

Other experts also echo Dr Radhakrishnan’s statement in indicating that an MBA in marketing while actively working could help enhance career prospects; nonetheless, there are opportunities outside of firms as well, even extending to other shores.

Finally, as far as pay packages are concerned, fresh MBA post-graduates could expect to earn anywhere between ₹3- ₹4 Lakhs per Annum excluding performance-based incentives.

Experts Consulted

Dr Radhakrishnan HK a Bengaluru-based career counsellor with over two decades of experience in guiding engineers towards right career paths
Shankar Prasad R Bengaluru-based Independent Marketing Consultant
Joseph Mascarenhas Senior Marketing Manager in a Bengaluru-based FMCG firm
Utsava Rathi Manager & Analyst at job search engine Neuvoo
Other Bengaluru-based career counsellors
CEO at Bengaluru-based software firm who spoke to us on the condition of annonymity

Written by Rahul R, Senior Technical Journalist at EFY

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