Engineering management for a technical student

[Somek]

Hi there,

For someone with an undergraduate degree in technical background (pure engineering, such as electrical engineering) who wants to work in an organisation and management field, in a tech company, what do you think is wiser, to do a graduate program also in the same technical field (Master of Science in Electrical Engineering), or it's high time already to focus on the management field and do an specialized graduate program (Master of Science in Engineering Management, for example)? I honestly have no idea. I would appreciate any feedback you deem interesting!

Thank you very much,

 

[Swiftest]

To me it would be wiser to do both, because a resume with both will always look better than resume with one or the other.

I've worked with Engineering managers who did not know much about engineering and it was quite painstaking.

The route I took was a "pure engineering" graduate program, followed by Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) Courses with ASQ. Which is more sought after than any standard business degree anyway.
The benefit of the LSSBB courses, is that they only take a few weeks and a few thousand dollars, and the training ties in with your career and is done simultaneously. But it's important to get
yourself into an organization that has a master black belt, and many cost savings projects for you to help them with. You could take a 3 week course for your Green Belt and become qualified to work
on Lean projects to qualify for the Black Belt Test. After that your resume will be selected over an Associate Level Engineer with a Graduate in Business every time.

Best of luck.