How far can a business degree take you?

DissonantData

We have heard that people with degrees in engineering can get good jobs in IT. What about business degrees? How far can these degrees go in technical and managerial roles? Business degrees include accounting, finance, management, marketing, and possibly economics. I didn't list information systems because even though it is in the school of business, it is still a computer related degree.

networker050184

As far as you make it go. Plenty of people make it very high up the latter in IT without even having a degree at all.

Danielm7

There isn't really an answer to that, there isn't a limit to how far a specific degree can take you. Getting into management with a business degree at a good company can take you really far, it just depends on your drive, connections, a little bit of luck, etc.

To give you an example, my brother and I were hired by a startup about a decade ago. My brother didn't have a BS degree, I took the technical roles and he steered more towards management. As the company grew and was bought out he eventually got his BS from WGU, then an MBA, PMP, Sig Sigma, etc. Now he's got a number of companies begging him to go there and he works with a business consulting firm. He's making tons of money and has a great career. Almost none of his success is because of his degree though, it helped his credibility but he's just very good at work he does and works like a maniac to deliver results.

On the other hand I've met lots of people with business degrees working at Borders or Starbucks, so it's what you do with it vs just having it.

Polynomial

No one without a college degree will recommend that degree-less path however.