Engineers–Take Note!
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Why combine your engineering undergraduate degree with an MBA? IBM’s Vice President Robin Willner, at a recent Congressional Hearing, says IBM wants engineers who are “well-rounded,” with business acumen as well as math and science skills. The company has been telling engineering schools: “You can’t send us people who don’t know how the world works.” (from the American Society for Engineering Education Congressional Hotline, Oct 09).
The Tech MBA, on campus or online, focuses on innovation and technology management. We are defining what it means to get an MBA from a technological university.
Visit us at www.mba.mtu.edu or www.mbaonline.mtu.edu.
Some of the businesses we visited were in the process of laying off employees or implementing rotating plant shutdowns. It was a hard example of the tough decisions that the executives were discussing with us. Harley-Davidson emphasized their culture, which was very casual, and said they carefully hire in order to match it. Allen Edmunds’ culture was completely opposite, but their philosophy was the same. At Bucyrus, they depend on one order to stay in operation for one or two years. They talked to us about how mining was changing, and how that effected their business, reminding me of how important it is for businesses to be aware of their environment. I was impressed with the confidence and commitment of the professionals who spoke to us. I learned that in order to be successful, I need to not just have a talent for my job, but also a passion.
As a spring intern working for Caterpillar Incorporated at their global headquarters in Peoria, IL, I had a phenomenal experience. Starting on the first day, I began work on extensive technical marking projects for my work group. This included a requirements consolidation project for the largest mining customers in the world, the writing of competitive analyses, which will be published by Caterpillar, a sigma project that allowed me to acquire my six sigma green belt, and Knowledge Network presentations that will be given to Cat employees in Australia, Canada, and the United States. My employment here also gave me the opportunity to go on facility tours, see new product demonstrations, and the ability to network throughout Caterpillar.
My MBA education at Michigan Tech provided me with a solid foundation to not only complete these projects at the highest level of competency, but also allowed me to be very successful. From my experience as a student at Michigan Tech, the professors excel in teaching the students how to write, present, and communicate. These are skills that I used everyday while working at Caterpillar.
