Why I created MBAHacks.com, or Why I am learning to program

http://www.mbahacks.com/why-i-created-mbahackscom-or-why-i-am-learnin

by coconutrandom • 15 years ago

39 26 15 years ago

Edward is a savvy guy not above getting his hands dirty with code.

weezer• 15 years ago

I think the world would be a better place if everyone, especially MBA's had at least some knowledge of programming. With the state of the job market in the US, wouldn't it be wise to require even two years of programming in high school?

gtani• 15 years ago

I used to work with at least a couple dozen MBA's from 1 school, they gave me this advice for bus school:

1) don't lose your coding skills (I was good at perl/awk, APL, C and Fortran). This I did

2) concentrate on linear algebra, stats/prob, calculus (this i didn't)

3) take law school classes (this i did, they were gnarly)

tl;dr your 2nd year you can do pretty much whatever you want. You can make it a profoundly intellectual experience, or start your business, or whatever

curt• 15 years ago

This is exactly what I did. I treat the MBA as just another tool. Started a business sadly it failed after a couple years, but I just moved out to SF last week and loving it. As an engineer with an MBA that can code well, does stats, and took a handful of law classes it's a seller's market.

ajaycancherla3• 15 years ago

That's a good idea. My advice: forget the MBA. Just learn to code and start making contacts in the field you want to go into. Why pay grad schools? YC is the new grad school, and they pay you.

oscarleung• 15 years ago

lol...yes! out of all the degrees out there...I don't understand the MBA. Want to start a business? Start it! If you get the MBA you'll be stuck paying off a $100k debt.

viscanti2• 15 years ago

Starting a business is only half the battle (at best). The biggest value of the MBA is the networking that happens. You're meeting people who will go on to work in a diverse set of industries. It's not uncommon for an entrepreneur with an MBA to go a year or two in business only calling on people they met in school, or fellow alumni. That networking isn't impossible to replicate, but an entrepreneur who forgoes the MBA route needs to make a concerted effort to make up for that.

john_b• 15 years ago

My impression was always that MBA programs are best suited for people who wanted to work within an existing organization rather than create their own. Most of the MBAs I know are middle management or above in engineering companies, and the MBA is one way of moving up for them. Maybe it's a new fad for business schools, but I hope they aren't beginning to advertise themselves as good preparation for starting your own business.

ryanlchan• 15 years ago

All great reasons, but there's one I would add as an MBA: Learning to program makes you a better business person.

How?

Made to Stick has a great story about a math teacher who struggled to convince his students of math's importance in life. As he put it, math is like weight lifting. You don't work out to prepare for the day a rogue barbell comes and traps you on the ground, you work out so you can run faster, tackle harder, and jump higher. Math is weight lifting for your analytic mind - it helps you rationally think through problems and establish logical steps to the solution.

Learning to program, and to take it further, learning computer science, is not about making the best app ever created. CS is mental weight lifting on the _process_ of tackling business problems. Dissecting an app into its MVC components will help you understand the business you plan to create, what is core, and what is fluff. In other words, learning to program will make you a better business person, even if you suck.

edcastano4• 15 years ago

Absolutely Ryan. Thanks for your sharing your thoughts with me.

I also see other parallels between building great software and building a great business. For one, focus is important for scaling both. You don't want to be all things to all people.

In addition, whether you're bug tracking or solving business problems, it's important to get to the root cause. Full disclosure: I used to be a management consultant.

Finally, it takes a great team to build great software and a great company.

I'm sure there are many others. Would love to hear what others here come up with.

gbeeson2• 15 years ago

Very well put and I certainly agree. This thought process can also lead to far more realistic goal planning for all walks of life (you give a great example about weight lifting). Learning just to learn is admirable in and of itself but perhaps not as realistic than learning for a specific need that can be enumerated.

stfu2• 15 years ago

Coming from a similar perspective as the OP, but so far I always failed to go through with actually mastering a language. Over the years I attempted to learn so many different ones, from Action Script to Assembler, from Delphi to C++, but always became either bored of it after a few hours or got frustrated because the ideas I had in mind turned out to be far more complicated to realise than I had hoped for.

eru• 15 years ago

That's why great programmers are boundless optimist and masochists.

edcastano4• 15 years ago

Great point. I've been accused to being dogged in the past. Truth be told, it helps to be both focused and determined.

@stfu There are two ways you could try to go about it:

1) Try sticking to one technology and working on a project you're really passionate about.

2) Work on a tutorial from start to finish.

Why I created MBAHacks.com, or Why I am learning to program

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