Comments on: Our Economy Needs More Engineers and Fewer MBA’s

By: Murfinator

Murfinator — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:47:44 +0000

Good article.

I’m an aerospace engineer. MBA morons are pretty much dismantling our industry. Expect Aerospace to go the way of Detroit in ~10 years. It’s sad. I am going back to Canada…

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:20:57 +0000

jamal: The problem with Wall Street MBA’s is that they have tried to create an entire industry in securitization and leverage as if these were real products with intrinsic value. The underlying assets (real estate) were produced by others. It’s sort of what Enron was doing with energy “products” until it’s fantasy balance sheet got exposed. We need real products and that’s what engineers bring to the table.

By: jamal JK

jamal JK — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:04:38 +0000

As a design engineer with an advanced degree, I do agree with you on the need for more quality engineers but we need the MBAs too. Engineers in general don’t know much about running a business, so it’s important to have good MBAs in a company. The MBAs on Wall St. who work on financial instruments have their role in the economy as well. The general public need such instruments for investements etc. The only thing is that the investors have to be wise and pay more attention to what they are investing in. Also, the free market should be allowed to work. Those MBAs who mess up should be allowed to fail; the government shouldn’t assume the risk of poor judgement. Failure is essential in free markets since that’s what weeds out poor judgement makers and allows resources to go to those who are better stewards of those resources.

By: Matt @ Steadfast Finances

Matt @ Steadfast Finances — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:49:27 +0000

PBS and CNBC put up some rather frightening stats on this subject several months ago comparing the U.S. to other foreign nations – particularly China. Something like 90% of Chinese grads are engineering/R&D related versus the U.S. in the low teens.

Like you, I seemingly converted to the dark side since I’m a former scientist turned independent trader. However, my conversion was driven by an economic system that allows a 25 year old Ivy League MBA grad w/ a juiced in resume to have a higher salary than seasoned professionals who are the real IP generators for his or her company.

Perhaps the adage “those who can’t do, teach” should be converted to “those who can’t create, manage”.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:08:41 +0000

richgirl: Another thing the MBA types do is assign the best engineers to “cost reduction” rather than innovation. That is a huge demotivator. Thanks for visiting.

By: richgirl

richgirl — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:58:14 +0000

I agree with you. It’s too bad that we don’t value people with practical skills in this country, though. In my area, engineering is for nerds and blue collar kids trying to move up in the world. That, and the weed-em-out mentality of many engineering schools (I’m an engineer myself), makes engineering an unattractive option for many people. Also, the MBA-types running companies see engineers as an expense to be minimized, not a resource, so guess which jobs are the first to go in a downturn? Yep, the R&D jobs.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:23:14 +0000

Dogatemyfinances: What real world skills are you referring to, other than accounting? Which complaints from academics are you referring to? Being an Ivy grad myself, I take no consolation in knowing that the folks running Wall Street are from the Ancient Eight. Finally, how scary to think of former lawyers calling the shots on Wall Street. At least a practicing lawyer can be disbarred for engaging in corrupt or unethical behavior. But I do agree with you that we also need more engineers and fewer investment bankers, with or without MBA degrees.