I've got quite a few friends that keep asking me what I think of MBA School in the context if they should attend it. First of, I don't have an MBA so it's not 100% clear what value people get of this degree. However, I do have several things to point out.
The most common kind of friend asking me that is the technical guy/gal. Usually a Developer, Tester or Program Manager that wants to expand his opportunities by attending an MBA School.
Here is a question back to you: Would you go to learn Micro-biology if you want to be a Chef?
My point is, if you are thinking about getting an MBA you have to consider that you want to have a career in business management, not continue your technical career path.
I've got quite a few friends who did attend MBA school, to go back or continue on their technical job as a developer (e.g.). You spend 2-3 years of your life, tens of thousands of dollars for what? So you know how to read a balance sheet?
We don't have any MBAs at Sampa, but one of our "helpers" is a former Director at Microsoft with an MBA degree. He consolidated my belief that the value of an MBA is two-fold: First, you learn about important business concepts that even if you don't use it, you know they exist and know where to find more about it. Second, you learn how to name things!
That's right, one of the things I like the most about talking w/ MBAs (or people that have years of business management experience) is that they have name for things that was hard for me to verbalize before.
As time goes by, I learn more and more and I can fluently use the MBA's terminology as in Conversion, SG&A, NRE, Churn, CAC, LTV, ROI, Decay, Cohort, Capex, Opex, COGS, etc.
I guess my point is that you should get an MBA if you are the kind of person who learns more at a classroom *and* you're ready to leave your current job to pursue a full-time management gig.
I just got out of the phone with a Comcast representative that told me in all these words: "DirecTV steals from their customers. Would you have business with a company that steals from you?"
That beauty and a few more like that was what a Comcast customer service representative was telling me over the phone when I called to either cancel my service or negotiate a bundle package for my new house.
John, the guy that motivated this blog post, lost it after he realized that the overall package that Verizon Bundle is offering on their website is much cheaper than what Comcast Triple Play. Once he realized the price was much different, he decided to appeal to many things, including a lot of things that don't matter much:
"You'll have two bills". It's all automatic debt for me.
"You'll have to sign a contract". I don't plan on switching services every six months.
"They will charge you a full month payment when you subscribe". Ok, so they will charge me $100 on my first month instead of $30.
"Their Internet price doesn't include the $6.50 for the ISP". Right, so instead of paying $94.97 I'll have to pay $101.47. That's still $60 less than Comcast.
"They will increase the price by $35 after 3 months". That's right, they will charge $136.47 which is $24 less than Comcast.
So, John turned to his how to screw a customer book and start rambling on how DirecTV steal from the customer, why would I do business with somebody that steal from me, etc.
After all is said and done I sent an email to Comcast through their website complaining about John and within the hour got a response from Ervia D. apologizing for the occurrence.
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is offering on their website is much cheaper than what 
October, 2007