As if the Ph.D. weren't enough... well, it isn't enough. I'm now leafing through catalogs of different programs in the business world. The one that seems to have the most merit, at least, in terms of increasing earning power according to Harvard, is the MBA.
It's weird to think of going back to school. Part of me says, "Seriously? Are you seriously considering this after 11 years of post-graduate study (not to mention the post-doc)?" Not to mention it would be part-time and completely consume any resources I have outside of actual work. And the other part sees it as a necessary evil to gain credibility in a world I was not primarily trained for. The funny thing is, it's not like I don't have the skills or couldn't learn them in the job I currently have. It's just that, if this job isn't forever (what job is?), I'll need to be job-searching sometime in the future, and experience without a credential is somewhat flimsy. Or at least I think it is flimsy because I've never tried to look for another job after this one. Sigh. Me and my ridiculous search for the best credential. I wonder if it is all in my mind. The jobs I want to take all have people in them with J.D. (no thanks, I'm not going back for 6-8 years for part-time Law!) or MBA or a business degree with Accounting, or at the very least (still a long slog) a project management accreditation.
I guess the struggle now is - do I build solely experience and worry about the next job when I need it? Or think closely about improving how I look on paper in addition to real experience? I know when I got in two years ago after academia, it was all about the experience. But now, I actually need to compete with people that went to school for this. Seems like MBAs are all over the place.
At any rate, this is so much more of a first-world problem, which differs vastly from where I was two years ago trying to make ends meet and get out of the postdoc! I suppose that is a victory in and of itself.
Thoughts?
