Business Degree's

[silv3rstr3]

I find myself wondering a lot lately whether they teach something in college for people majoring in business that I don't understand.  It appears that in larger companies they hire upper management with business degrees that don't know a damn thing about Metrology.  How could you effectively run labs across the globe when you have no respect or knowledge about what it is we do each and every single day.  Unrealistic expectations must have been a course I missed.  If you don't know the difference between calibrating a torque wrench and a spectrum analyzer you have no business working in this industry.  But then again, I got side tracked on my way to college and joined Uncle Sam's Misguided Children.  What I do know is how to do my job accurately and efficiently.  Maybe it's time to hit the books and finish my degree so I can have a say in the matter.   

[USMC kalibrater]

I keep telling you to go back to school! 

[BamaKid]

I have two Master's Degrees and work for a Fortune 500 company and I still do not understand the decisions that are often made by the VPs. I have a Marine Corps buddy of mine who managed to become a VP of a software company give me the best advice (which I ignored) when I transitioned out of the Corps, "understand the revenue food chain of a company and aspire to be at the top of that food chain." At the top is Sales and Marketing, than at the bottom is . . . Service Groups such as Calibration. But, I love what I am doing and I know that Calibration provides a fundamental and value add component to our company even if few at the Director and above levels truly understand all that we impact.

[Hawaii596]

Although I have a good head for the business side (even done marketing, brochures, P&L's, strategic planning, etc.), I am still technical, but with business savvy.

The last couple of places I've worked had a technical manager (with executive authority over all things technical), and a business (or operations) manager.  I make technical decisions, and they manage the bottom line.  As long as the ops management properly respect that they are not technically competent, and know when to defer to technical management, it is (and has been for me) a good structure.  It's a little of a challenge, especially in smaller organizations, to have the appropriate understanding of both sides, all in one person.  My personal opinion is that yes, it is fine to have the right degrees (full disclosure: I have 7 years of various creditable post high school schooling, but no degree. Everything from voice major, to nuclear power school, electronic tech school, PMEL school, ISO9001 Lead Auditor, etc.).  But good management is also a talent.  As one very intelligent manager many years ago told me (regarding my lack of degrees, surrounded by Master's and PhD Degrees for almost everyone else in the dept.), a degree only proves your ability to learn.

Some companies get that - expecially with senior technical personnel.  Other companies get overly stuck up about it.  I have been called "A PMEL Snob" by some of my non-PMEL techs (particularly those with college degrees). 

If I were a little younger, I would certainly go back and get a degree. 

[briansalomon]

It does seem odd that there is a basic lack of understanding of what we do by the people at the VP level and yet the do keep hiring us. Obviously they serve a purpose and we serve ours.

My basic impression of people at that level at the really large corporations I've worked for is that they appear to me to be professional golfers who only happen somehow, to have a job anywhere at all. When they are there, they seem to be there in order to make certain that if you submit a req for anything over $100 you need it bad enough to go through an unreasonable amount of effort to get it.

When I think about the really good technicians I've known it's a fairly short list. If the list of great VPs is as short it isn't any wonder at all that I have the view of them that I do.

I did know one CFO of a major plywood manufacturer. He owned a really big yacht and was very wealthy. He told me his major contribution to that business and the thing that made his career was that he came up with the idea of printing faux wood grain onto plywood in order to make it look like expensive wood.

We have all seen this siding, it's very common. He didn't solve the technical issues with how to make that happen, he just had the idea. But, it did sell a lot of plywood and the people who made that happen all had jobs.  He was at the top of the food chain and made the most money from it.

I suppose he was what would be called a great CFO.

[scottbp]

Ahhh, yes... That sounds like the "sunshine club" to me. From http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedias/microwave-slang:

"Let's rewind the clock to WWII, when GIs used to eat instant coffee dry with a spoon, take a shower at least every two weeks, while earning next to no pay, and consider how far we've evolved. Some of us can't make up our minds as to which which five dollar beverage to buy at Starbucks. Welcome to the Sunshine Club! Let's put this politely... this group of people believes that if their pants fell down, those of us standing behind them would be bathed in sunshine. Telltale signs: an office right off the pages of "Home Beautiful" that looks like it is never used for real work, with carefully-placed accessories and accent pieces. No file cabinet, never been to the lab. Can easily talk about themselves for six hours each workday, their one-way conversation peppered with complaints about conditions at the office, proud descriptions of stuff they own and their mediocre, spoiled-rotten kids. Longtime subscriber to Forbes magazine where they read articles on what car to buy in order to get promoted... or perhaps Lucky, the Magazine about Shopping. Weekend "makeovers" at The Spa, and extended trips to The Mall during lunch. Big-time fan and hopeful crony of Mayor McCheese. Owns "His and Hers" H3s; on rare occasion of getting to work on time, parks diagonal across two spaces, otherwise hangs wheelchair placard from rearview mirror and parks in handicapped space. The list of things you can buy for yourself is endless, and everyone always wants to know what's on your mind, so why waste any time on something so mundane as work? Always responds to work requests with "I have a lot on my plate right now".