"Before I get started I should point out that I am not an MBA and I don’t play one on TV.  The closest I ever came to a business class was when I took Accounting I at the nearby community college in 1990 or so.  I’m an engineer through and through. That all changed due to a chance encounter in 1998 when I was recruiting at Harvard undergrad for computer science majors and somehow ended up making a guest appearance in a business school class that was discussing the development of Microsoft Word.  One thing led to another and I spent the fall of 1998 as a visiting scholar at HBS helping to teach a second year class “Managing Product Development” and I even wrote up a case study.  The experience was a real eye opener and it definitely taught me where the MBA mindset and experience can be a great member of our product and business teams.  This post is my perspective on where MBA graduates can have a big impact at Microsoft.

As with most of the jobs at Microsoft, there is some slight variation depending on the business group you join.  The overall results are the same—bring great products to market and reach customers in a world class manner—but the division of responsibilities across the different jobs is where the variation is usually.  I will offer some views that are biased towards the Business Software Division or Platforms Software Division (Office, Windows, Server and Tools). 

If you have a background in engineering or technology, or just a strong passion for technology, prior to getting an MBA and enrolled in an MBA program to make a career change that builds on your technical experience/background but takes you in another direction then this post is for you!  For those of you that want to pursue finance, corporate controller careers, or development (if you dream job is CFO, for example) then the best place to learn about the possibilities is from your recruiter or http://www.microsoft.com/mba. 

The two core jobs that can be quite interesting for you if you have a technical passion (not necessarily a technical education or background) and an MBA or are interested in focusing on products and technologies are:

  • Product Planner
  • Product Manager

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