After Engineering What, M.Tech or MBA

To select any course between M.Tech and MBA is one of the confusing selection engineering students faces in their final year. They always think what course will take them higher in their career in terms of position, money and job satisfaction.

First of all, the point is that there is no comparison between the two courses. Both are specialized degrees and have value in their respective fields. Both M.Tech and MBA provide excellent career options and have gained importance in last few years. M.Tech or MBA is always an additional advantage to an engineer whether it is in terms of knowledge, experience or seniority. It depends on the personal attributes of the student that should decide that which course he/she should opt for. If one is interested in being at core technical side rather than handling clients, project management and other managerial activities, then M.Tech would be better choice while for those interested in the later should go for an MBA.

Whether it is a manufacturing, IT or R&D driven organization, there would be requirements for both M.Techs and MBAs. The former would be more of a subject matter specialist, while the latter would handle product marketing, sales, project management, human resources, IT process, and consulting or customer service management.

Choice is entirely up to you

Ideally you are the one who can make the judgment in the most honest way while selecting the appropriate course for yourself. No one can know your skills, capabilities, interests and career goals better than you.

Ideally, you should make the choice on the basis of your capabilities, career goals and interests. If you want to continue your career in technical field, M.Tech is the right choice for you. You can even switch to teaching or research. But if you want to work in the industry, MBA is the way to go. MBA is a management course that will enhance your managerial, communication and presentation skills.

After MBA, you get the entry to the field of business and administration where you can go in for options like marketing, sales, human resources and operation management.

Specifically, M.Tech is suitable for a product-based industry where technical skills are required. MBA is more suitable for a service- and customer-oriented industry. Engineering guys with MBA degree are for the jobs requiring people interactions and managerial skills like project management, front-end sales, field applications and many more. While, if some organization is innovation hungry (mainly product development companies), pure engineering with master’s specialization (M.Tech) is a better combination.

Starting off

To enroll for M.Tech in a reputed institute like IISc Bangalore and IITs, you need to crack GATE. (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering).  GATE is conducted by any of the IITs or IISc every year. Forms use to be out in the month of September and exams use to conduct in the month of February. You can have more details for GATE exam on any of the IIT website. There are some other prestigious institutes like IIITs also who take their own exams as well to get students for their M.Tech courses.

In case you plan to pursue MBA, there are entrance exams like CAT, MAT, XAT and some others which you need to clear.

Though it is easier to continue M.Tech in the stream as you did your Engineering, you have many options for doing M.Tech—electronics and controls engineering, VLSI design communication systems, embedded systems technology, power electronics and drives, digital communication and networking, remote sensing and GIS, information technology, computer science and engineering, and biomedical and instrumentation engineering to name a few. There are various interdisciplinary courses as well in M.Tech which are open for more than one engineering stream students.

When on the job, you learn to put your theoretical knowledge into use, but to improve upon your knowledge of design or research aspect; you need to go for the masters. It, however, will be difficult to crack the entrance exam (GATE) while you are on job. So it is recommended to qualify the GATE exam in the final year of study and get a job thereafter, as GATE score is valid for two years.

MBA, on the other hand, is preferable after you have gained some work experience.

Opportunities coming your way

A postgraduate qualification is becoming increasingly important for engineers. M.Tech is a long-term investment in your technical career. It will secure your position in the organization and also help you gain a higher position. Most government organizations and research bodies ask for M.Techs or MEs as they consider these people to be more resourceful than the normal B.Techs or BEs. Some public-sector units even call M.Tech students for interview directly; M.Techs need not give any written test.

If you want to come out from the engineering cocoon and multitask, it makes sense to widen your knowledge and skills in the management area. Having already obtained a technical degree, an MBA will complete your skills in the wider areas of management that usually include finance, marketing, human resource management, organizational behavior and management strategy.

Doing an MBA is also important because an engineer today is the primary manager of change within the organization who implements new practices and technology.

An MBA will make you the perfect candidate for the role of a group leader. As a group leader, you will lead a small technical group and work under minimal supervision. You will be required to provide guidance, set expectations, clarify responsibilities, and provide feedback for project team members in accomplishing tasks and goals.

You will participate as a key contributor and assign work to meet group commitments. You will contribute to the solution of complex technical problems, by providing resources, removing barriers and ensuring application of common approaches. You will demonstrate depth of knowledge of engineering discipline and leverages expertise on projects.

Growing further to the role of an assistant manager, manager and so on, you may eventually reach the top management level!