I am seeing a lot more press about online MBA programs lately.  This is good and bad.  The bad part about some of the things I am reading is that they are not necessarily based on fact, and I would bet that some of the people writing the stuff have no experience in getting their MBA.

The latest article I read comes from CIO Magazine.  The article is located here.  The title is what caught my eye.  “Six Reasons Not to Get an MBA” jumped right out at me.  So I thought I would take this opportunity to refute the claims from my first-hand experience.  You can take it for what it’s worth.  It is what it is.

You don’t have the time - This is one of the major attractions of online degrees.  If you don’t have the time, then make the time.  My thought is that if education is important, then you will make the time.  If an education is not important, then there’s no need to worry about it.

You don’t have the money – With all of the financial assistance out there, this is no excuse.  I am well-paid in my job, and a member of a dual-income household.  I still qualify for 100% student aid.  Granted, I will have a huge bill when it’s all over with, but I will be able to pay for it with my current salary.  If I get a pay raise as a direct result of my education, then all the better.

The subject matter puts you to sleep faster than a Xanax – I refer back to my answer in the first analysis.  Yes, it can be boring at times, but if getting an education were easy, everyone would be doing it.  In order to reap the benefits, you need to know how to deal with the dry material.  The dry stuff is often the most important.  

You prefer real-world, hands-on experience to academic study – I preferred real-world experience for 14 years of my career.  It took me a long way.  At some point, I realized that all the experience in the world would not allow me to compete with some of the more educated people who also had tons of experience.  If real-world experience is all you desire, and you’re confident that it will take you to where you want to go, then more power to you.  You are an exception to the rule.

An MBA won't teach you everything you need to know to be an effective IT leader – This is partially true.  It all depends on how much leadership you’ve been exposed to in the past.  Also, have you been given the opportunity to develop your own leadership style?  Leadership is not something that is taught.   The things you learn in an MBA program only helps to build upon the things you should already know when you apply to a program.

To be an IT executive, you really need to know technology first and foremost – I agree.  But at the same time, there are 1000 facets to technology.  Some of those include project management, learning about human and information capital resources, the financial aspect, etc… To say that “technology” is the primary thing you need to know is a weak excuse.

Overall, I think the article lacks substance, but you could probably tell that by my responses.  I just don’t like it when people analyze something and only provide one perspective.  It cheats the reader out of the facts.  I hope this sheds some light on the situation.