Switching Careers
I keep thinking about whether to switch from Technology to Finance when I go to b-school. On the one hand, I think I would enjoy leaving the technology arena, while entering a field that would let me leverage my technology experience. At the same time, it's somewhat intimidating to think about practicing in a field that I know so comparatively little about. I'm reading a bunch of books (hedge fund stuff, trading, 'My Life as a Quant' even though I don't want to do quant analysis. etc) in the hope that I can gradually get more up to speed.
On the other hand, I know that I could be successful if I simply kept climbing the corporate ladder in technology. I feel confident that by the time I'm in my forties or fifties, I could reach the executive level of a major technology corporation. But would I feel successful if I did so? Despite the number of times we've all heard the advice to 'do what you enjoy', what I fundamentally enjoy is not software, but the feeling of winning and the pride that comes from successfully achieving something difficult -- both of which I happen to get from developing software and from managing other developers. Would I get that same enjoyment out of a financial career? It's difficult for me to speculate.
But if I don't want to switch careers, why invest in business school at all? With a combined direct cost plus oppotunity cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's an expensive investment. It's certainly possible that I simply want the prestige of having an MBA, and my idea of switching to finance is just a post-hoc rationalization.
Accurate introspection is difficult.
On the other hand, I know that I could be successful if I simply kept climbing the corporate ladder in technology. I feel confident that by the time I'm in my forties or fifties, I could reach the executive level of a major technology corporation. But would I feel successful if I did so? Despite the number of times we've all heard the advice to 'do what you enjoy', what I fundamentally enjoy is not software, but the feeling of winning and the pride that comes from successfully achieving something difficult -- both of which I happen to get from developing software and from managing other developers. Would I get that same enjoyment out of a financial career? It's difficult for me to speculate.
But if I don't want to switch careers, why invest in business school at all? With a combined direct cost plus oppotunity cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's an expensive investment. It's certainly possible that I simply want the prestige of having an MBA, and my idea of switching to finance is just a post-hoc rationalization.
Accurate introspection is difficult.
posted by Thomas at 6:56 PM
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