My MBA is worthless Flickr photo by maveric2003
Are you up for the challenge?
Good.
From the pmStudent community
Anne is from the US Anne is a recent subscriber of the?Project Management Career newsletter. She hit reply to one my messages?to ask a question and get mine. I invite you to sign up for one of the free newsletters. Feel free to do so. If I would like to share parts of our conversation here, I will first ask you permission to do so. Anne, thank you for allowing me to share some of the exchanges to benefit others!
Here are some excerpts from Anne’s message.
“Thanks Josh. I’m about to finish my MBA and was wondering how it will help me in my PM career. I’ve been in IT for 13+ years and have been a PM for 7 years. My coworkers think my MBA is useless, but I feel that I’ve learned a lot over the past two and a-half years.
Anne
The MBA is a valuable tool
As long as you are willing to put in the effort and learn the material, education is not wasted. An MBA will not hurt your prospects. The “piece of paper” does not represent the true benefit. It is the education that is. If you are moving professionally in the direction that you want, great. The MBA is not for everyone. I chose not to pursue it. It’s great for some people.
Coping Mechanism
It is not uncommon to hear the phrase “worthless piece paper syndrome”. Sometimes they mean that the material is worthless to them personally. They didn’t know the material and don’t have any interest in the business side of things, so they are correct. It is possible that they are jealous. The same thing happens with certificates, other degrees, etc.
It’s a way to cope. People don’t like change even though others around them are changing. This makes them wonder if they should be doing more to improve their careers. They feel uncomfortable because they aren’t doing any personal development.
It’s up to you
My own career took off and I found that I enjoyed work more after realizing that it was all up to me. Instead of waiting for my environment to change, I decided that I would make the change.
I began by looking for companies that might be a good fit for me (not looking for jobs). I reached out to HR and project managers at these companies, and we spoke on the phone, by email, and even met face-to-face to discuss the company and how I might fit in.
Handling Negativity
I have had to fight negative attitudes at work. I can recall a time when I used to say the childish phrase, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.” I felt like Thumper. I began responding to people’s calls to action with “So, what are we going to do about it?” I see. Let’s talk to _____ to make sure they understand why this won’t work.
People realized that I was not going to give them any sympathy or complacency for their “Complaint Du Jour”, and I stopped hearing it. True, some people stopped talking …. about their loss. Most people just changed their behavior around my.
Please leave a comment below to share your experiences