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If you’re an IT professional, you really need
an MBA. Firms in the United States value IT professionals’
MBA degrees much more than IT experience, according
to recent research from the Smith School’s Sunil
Mithas, assistant professor of decision, operations
and information technologies. An IT professional
with an MBA degree earns 46 percent more than his
counterpart with only a bachelor’s degree, and 37
percent more than one with any other master’s degree,
Mithas found.
“Our research confirms that getting an MBA is
the single best move you can make to increase your
value as an IT professional in today’s market,”
said Mithas. “Education is more valuable than experience
because it provides more durable and versatile conceptual
skills. In contrast, IT experience has a high rate
of obsolescence — learning new technologies only
makes a professional valuable for a few years when
those skills are in high demand. An MBA education
teaches how to evaluate new technologies or how
to strategically invest in and manage IT projects,
which makes for a more valuable long-term employee
that can use those skills in a variety of situations.”
On average, in dollar terms (deflated to 1999
figures), IT professionals with MBAs earn over $24,000
more per year than those with only bachelor’s degrees,
and over $17,000 more per year than those with other
master’s degrees, after controlling for a variety
of demographic and institutional factors.
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