ROI for Professional Development or Higher Ed

[Deleted]

How do you decide to go for your MBA or a certification such as Lean Six Sigma? I work in a field where at my level an MBA is not required. Even supervisors above my level do not require an MBA (I can look on usajobs to see opportunities and see requirements). However, i assume it would set me apart.  My job pays about 5-6k in continuing education a year (they pay directly and it is non-taxable). They would not pay for LSS and there is a cap of 5k a year for master degree reimbursement that is taxable.  Normally, I take classes related to a certification course for Defense Acquisitions. I'm already working on a certification specifically to my job but I'd like something to set myself apart.

My boss doesn't retire for another four years and I will likely stick around my team until he retires then see if the climate changes. I love it currently. There will be a shake up on my team in the next 2-3 years and likely a promotion opportunity. But I'm not relying on that. I would like to make 20-30k more in the next five years so I can have a kid. Annuals have been 3-5k increase. 

I currently have 19k in student loans from my bachelors. The MBA program I am looking at is about 25k with fees and no more than two years so... possibly 10k will be paid for by my employer. I also have enough in my investments to pay cash for MBA if I really, really wanted to. 

So, how do you decide to go for an MBA and/or professional development certifications? What do you consider?

[lemoncupcake]

I wouldn’t go forward with an MBA based on your desire for promotion/raises if your industry’s promotions/raises don’t require an MBA.

I can stay that it won’t help in your next step, but it sounds likely that you can make multiple next steps in your career without investing your time and resources in an MBA.

[SusanBAnthony]

My job also reimburses 5k a year. Most people get at least 15k by starting in fall semester.

I would benefit from it but it's not required.. sounds similar to you. I considered finding the cheapest online MBA as my company doesn't care at all what school it's from. But I decided I couldn't stomach an online MBA. I'm over remote meetings. All the local programs are 50k plus so that's a nope.

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 17:56:56 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

My job also reimburses 5k a year. Most people get at least 15k by starting in fall semester.

I would benefit from it but it's not required.. sounds similar to you. I considered finding the cheapest online MBA as my company doesn't care at all what school it's from. But I decided I couldn't stomach an online MBA. I'm over remote meetings. All the local programs are 50k plus so that's a nope.

So I looked at super cheap MBAs as well. I am federal and they also do not care about school. They just require 24 hours of business related classes and I have that with my bachelors.  I have a local program that I can do online or in person or hybrid. I received my bachelors from ASU and their MBA program is 58K. LOL for ever. My earning potential could never justify that. Also, if Biden does 10-15k in loan forgiveness, i feel like I could do a local program. 

The MBA may be just for self satisfaction? I think perhaps a certification or two may be better than an MBA and cheaper. IDK. I feel like my generation was told the higher your education you have the more you earn. And it's all a lie. 

[bee20]

How strongly do you feel about staying in your current organization versus going elsewhere? You could probably get a $20-30k raise by changing jobs and wouldn't have to bother with a degree. If you are in Defense Acquisitions, could you work for Northrup/Raytheon/Boeing/etc? If you're curious about salaries look for their locations in Denver, they all have offices there and they have to post the pay bands. You can use the Federal COLA adjustments to guestimate for your location.

Another option is a combined certificate/masters degree. These are really common in Engineering but may be an option in other fields. You take a one year (often Sept-May) course and get a certificate. You then have 5 years after the date you finished to finish an additional year program that nets you a masters. You could take classes Sept-May and get $10k, then wait a year, and take classes Sept-May again for another $10k.

If you're not sure and especially if you want to stay where you are, you need to find a mentor. Email a few women in the positions you are looking in and ask to meet over lunch to talk about career growth. (If there are no women, it's a little harder but I'd pick someone at least 5 years older than you but not in the last couple years of their career-sometimes if you are the same age people are less supportive). Any manager or senior person won't be surprised and will likely be happy to talk through what they see as the value of an MBA or other certifications. Talk to a few to get opinions and then if you click with someone make it a thing every couple of months. These types of relationships are how I've really grown my career and compensation. And honestly the last few positions I've been in I've had a metric for mentees and would be happy if someone reached out and did part of my work for me!

[Deleted]

Jun 22, 2022 18:44:04 GMT -5 bee20 said:

How strongly do you feel about staying in your current organization versus going elsewhere? You could probably get a $20-30k raise by changing jobs and wouldn't have to bother with a degree. If you are in Defense Acquisitions, could you work for Northrup/Raytheon/Boeing/etc? If you're curious about salaries look for their locations in Denver, they all have offices there and they have to post the pay bands. You can use the Federal COLA adjustments to guestimate for your location.

Another option is a combined certificate/masters degree. These are really common in Engineering but may be an option in other fields. You take a one year (often Sept-May) course and get a certificate. You then have 5 years after the date you finished to finish an additional year program that nets you a masters. You could take classes Sept-May and get $10k, then wait a year, and take classes Sept-May again for another $10k.

If you're not sure and especially if you want to stay where you are, you need to find a mentor. Email a few women in the positions you are looking in and ask to meet over lunch to talk about career growth. (If there are no women, it's a little harder but I'd pick someone at least 5 years older than you but not in the last couple years of their career-sometimes if you are the same age people are less supportive). Any manager or senior person won't be surprised and will likely be happy to talk through what they see as the value of an MBA or other certifications. Talk to a few to get opinions and then if you click with someone make it a thing every couple of months. These types of relationships are how I've really grown my career and compensation. And honestly the last few positions I've been in I've had a metric for mentees and would be happy if someone reached out and did part of my work for me!

Thank you! I have been fed for 12 years. In contracting as a COR for 9. I've been a CS for two years which is not enough to jump ship yet to a mega contractor. I review a lot of service contracts and I see contract managers whom have MBAs AND LLS or Six Sigma Black Belt certs. That's why I was contemplating loading up my resume with these things to give me the option to switch. I enjoy being fed and the work life balance it currently provides. ...I say this as I have two jobs.  L3 and a few others like to see non practicing JDs on a lot of their contracting manager positions. There's zero chance I will go to law school even though there is one that is local. 

Good advice about a mentor. I will be on the look out. we have a team lead but she has a whole lot on her plate right now. I am in a professional organization that is national but has a local branch that meets about once a month and I should start attending and network. I teeter on the edge of wanting to advance but also be protective of my time off. I was in a job that ran me into the ground with shitty compensation. I switched and ended up making 18k more within a year and excellent work life balance with no issues of taking leave whenever I want. It's a breath of fresh air but I also like advancement. 

[ellipses84]

This is so industry specific I think it depends on your job and your employer. I would ask around to people you know, current coworkers who have a few years experience more than you and past coworkers who may work other places now for comparison. Would they do it? Do they wish they had? Do they regret doing it? Will it pay off? I agree that you may be able to get a raise without it, but if you want $30k in a short timespan, you may need to switch employers.

In my case I have a specialty degree but it makes zero sense to get a masters degree in the same thing as my undergrad because my undergrad gave me everything I need (not every program does and a lot of people end up needing a masters degree). I have considered an MBA or law degree but that would mean pivoting to a different role in my same industry, and I’m at the point at 40 where I no longer have any interest in it and don’t think I’ll see ROI.

[twinmomma]

I'm currently getting ready to start an online MBA in the fall. I do not need an MBA to get any kind of promotion or bump in my career currently. I'm already at a director level and happy there. For me, I found the cheapest online MBA I could pay cash for and decided to go for because it's a personal goal of mine. I knew that someday I'd want to get my MBA since my undergrad is in something completely unrelated and I've found my passion in marketing and business. But I also knew that paying off undergrad loans was such a huge undertaking for me, I would never take out student loans again so I had to wait for the right program to make sense financially for me.

[mich1]

My last job paid for 2 courses/semester, regardless of what field it was in. I started cross training into getting out of the lab into doing more lab support (biostatistics), and was working on my doctorate when I got sick. Unfortunately, that marked paid on my working life and even though I had completed my coursework and other requirements, the last remaining one (my thesis) never got written. It probably would not have been worth the ROI if I had to pay for it myself - but by far the largest chunk of money I didn't pay myself.

My feeling about this was that if my employer was going to pay for it as an employee benefit, I was going to take advantage of it - regardless of what field it was in. After I got my doctorate, the plan was to go on and take classes in other places where I couldn't them as an undergraduate/graduate with a science heavy curriculum.

[gt7301b]

As someone who has an MBA I think the real value from an MBA comes if you are willing to leave the organization.  If you aren't looking to leave after you get the degree I don't think you would get as much value from the degree.  Although based on your timeline it might be beneficial to take the classes over a longer period of time so that your employer would pay for more of the degree.

Personally, if I were to get another degree I would get a Master's in Analytics.  Even if you aren't interested in becoming a Data Scientists there are a lot of applications in more Business Analyst type roles.

[hbtk]

I am also a manager in defense acquisitions at one of the big contractors, and I can tell you the most valuable cert we see for non-IT/tech types is the PMP and it is one that translates to the government because DAU has an equivalent. I just completed mine last weekend if you have questions. Degrees are great, but so many people started government and government adjacent work when they weren't really required that they aren't always the most valuable and usually gain their value when you make a job change. Most of the CORs I have worked with had degrees in things like fashion and other non-related stuff, or no degree at all. I am currently getting my master's in data analytics from UMGC (consider them, it's a big savings over some of the other schools I looked at), but it is more for me than expected career growth. That said, my sector of acquisitions and my company are both BEGGING people to get this degree, so I would consider it if I were you. I am not clear on what you want to be doing long term, but wanted to throw out a couple options you may not have thought of!

[gretchenindisguise]

Sidebar comment: if you’ve been a fed for 12 years why not go after pslf to get your $19k in undergrad forgiven?

[TR]

Jun 24, 2022 13:13:52 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Sidebar comment: if you’ve been a fed for 12 years why not go after pslf to get your $19k in undergrad forgiven?

I love your dedication to getting as many people loan forgiveness as possible.

[gretchenindisguise]

Jun 27, 2022 14:49:46 GMT -5 TR said:

Jun 24, 2022 13:13:52 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Sidebar comment: if you’ve been a fed for 12 years why not go after pslf to get your $19k in undergrad forgiven?

I love your dedication to getting as many people loan forgiveness as possible.

It’s become a life mission. There are only 126 more days until the waiver ends, and I don’t want anyone to miss this opportunity. Yes pslf will exist still after, but they won’t be able to correct these previous wrongs after then. Holding government accountable to their end of a contract is one of my favorite things.

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2022 13:13:52 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Sidebar comment: if you’ve been a fed for 12 years why not go after pslf to get your $19k in undergrad forgiven?

I've been Fed since 2010 but I only finished my bachelors in 2018. I was in a role that did not require a degree. I got one to transition to my current role (it took 1.5 yrs to transfer). I've been closely following the pslf and wish I could.