Matt and Sakky:
Many thanks for your thoughts on my situation. I appreciate both of your comments. Please allow me to address a few of them, using the same numerical system I developed in my opening post:
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it all depends on what career path you want to take. if you want to stay in engineering and perhaps become an engineering manager/director/vp/whatever or if you want to perhaps step outside of engineering into other areas in 'corp america'.
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The decision is obviously contingent on whether you want to stay technical, or move to management.
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Allow me to clarify. I don't think I will want to deviate significantly from Engineering. I rather enjoy it (at least so far). What I forsee for myself is first proving myself technically, hopefully becoming an engineer my manager knows he can "count on", then perhaps one of the project/team leaders within the "group" , and eventually perhaps the manager of the entire "group". I don't have any real visions of one day becoming a CEO, just middle-management or upper-middle-management. I don't ever see myself wanting to get "too far away from the problem". If I'm not solving the problem, I think I'd like to be advising/managing/helping/coordinating the people who are.
With the M.S. vs. MBA question, what I'm hoping to learn (and both of you already provided me with some helpful info and things to think about on this very issue), is what I need to do to progress as quickly as possible to those goals. I'm not going to lie, either, I'd be kidding if I didn't admit that money is on my mind a bit. The quicker I advance, the quicker I move into the next payscale, and the quicker my soon-to-be wife and I become accustomed to a higher quality of life
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Whenever you feel you are ready for a career transition. The decision should come naturally - it's basically whenever you can see that your career is decelerating and you feel that you are getting stuck in a rut.
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sakky:
Interesting advice. My only question is, "is it really smart to wait UNTIL you need it to then decide to start working on it?" I guess the way I've been trying to approach this problem is to
anticipate what I'll need and when I'll need it, so that I can hopefully be well on my way to earning the degree I need by the time I need it. Perhaps this approach is a mistake?
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This all depends on what sort of management you like to do.
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I wouldn't say that any of these tracks are inherently 'better' than any of the others. The question is whether they are 'better' for you. Operations and technology management, for example, is a natural progression for most former engineers. It's comfortable, you will be able to hit the ground running.
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That sounds very appealling. I have a feeling that something like that is what I'm probably looking for.
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Far and away the biggest thing that you miss out on in the online programs is the face-to-face networking, which is arguably the most valuable part of any MBA program.
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Interesting point. Something I would not have known if someone had not told me.
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Now, don't get me wrong. I think online is a great choice for those people who don't want to give up their jobs, and especially if your employer is willing to subsidize your tuition. In that case, you may not really need the networking that an MBA program can provide, because you will get plenty from just doing your daytime job. Of course, what would be even better is to have an employer fully sponsor you for an elite full-time MBA, but of course few employers are willing to do that nowadays (and justifiably so, as many employers will just take that MBA and then jump to some other company).
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This happens to be the situation I am in. I don't expect to want to leave this company, either. The industry is beginning to boom, and we're concurrently about to be faced with a great deal of retirement, opening up lots of positions above. Profit-sharing levels were at an all-time high this year, and rumors exist that we'll be getting another kickback bonus, as a sort of a thank you because of a huge profit turned by our former parent company selling us to a new parent company at a price that more than quadrupled over a 7 year period. So I think things are ripe for growth and promotion within this company over the next 10 years. And yes, my company will subsidize my degree, but only to an extent. As you mentioned, they are not willing to pay full-freight for an "elite" MBA. A graduate degree from the local (and fairly respectable) major public institution would be paid in full by my company, but not the local "elite" school. If I want to attend the elite school, my company will pay for as much as it would have cost to attend the fairly respectable public school, and I will have to come up with the rest of the money myself (this would be a considerable amount of $$$ out of my pocket). This is why I'm considering online MBA programs. If acceptable, it could be a good way for me to *increase my options*, so to speak.