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7 Answers

Sahil Sethi
BetterUp Senior Vice President, Product Marketing • November 22
MBA certainly provides access to a network and usually a world-class quality education and introduction to marketing frameworks which are useful in any marketing job. But it also comes with a huge opportunity, and often, financial cost My personal take is that MBA can help in functional transi......Read More
679 Views

Valerie Angelkos
Howl VP of Product Marketing • May 24
Most of my career has been spent in Marketing and I used my MBA to transition industries (from CPG to Tech) and location (from Latin America/regional teams to the United States/global teams). While I had practical experience as a Marketer, what I learned through my MBA is the strategic and an......Read More
908 Views

Mike Flouton
Barracuda Networks VP, Product • November 15
Perhaps this is controversial, but I would say there are zero pros and many, many cons. MBAs can be useful if you're looking to switch fields. Otherwise, I'd much rather see two additional years of work experience. I've hired MBAs from top 15 schools and from a PMM perspective, I was basicall......Read More
1167 Views

Julian Dunn
GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • June 24
If you are literally looking to stay in product marketing or marketing (and already have a job in the field) then I would agree with the other posters that an MBA is not going to get you much. However, if you have designs to move into (strategic) product management, start your own company, or ......Read More
1024 Views

It really depends on your goals and the current situation. In my humble opinion, the value of an MBA is likely to be higher if one or a few of the following things are true about you: 1. You're trying to change your role/function (and having a hard time doing it without a degree) 2. You're trying......Read More
999 Views

Nina Seth
Blue Yonder Product Marketing Director • November 15
MBAs are definitely great if you are switching fields. They are also great from a networking perspective.
There are plenty of people who studied business or marketing as an undergrad who have gone on to have successful PMM careers.
820 Views

Brian Strachman
Groove Senior Director of Product Marketing • November 15
The MBA is a classic example of selection bias. The type of person likely to get an MBA tends to be more motivated and talented than average. Thus if you take a pool of MBAs vs. non-MBAs with equal experience you will get a more successful group from the MBA pool. This does not mean the MBA curri......Read More
429 Views
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Marcus Andrews
Pendo.io Sr. Director of Product Marketing • December 15
This is my version of the "T-Shaped marketer". It's how I coach PMMs to develop their skills. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NhRmE4pf96M--bih_MSoT-7YpKW3p51i9_-yBhKhIZo/edit#slide=id.p I think starting by developing a great generalist base of knowledge is key. From there getting good ......Read More
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Carrie Zhang
Square Product Lead • November 16
Yes, PMM role varies a lot by industry and company. So you have to ask yourself what you want to do and what ultimately interest you. When you choose what companies, PMM groups to join, you need to evaluate whether that helps you get to where you want to be. For example, I am not into enterprise ......Read More
2347 Views
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Christy Roach
Airtable Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing • October 8
This is a hard jump to make! Not to sound like a broken record, but the first step is communicating with your manager to let them know that you want to move into management and getting their feedback on what you’d need to do to make that move and what timeline might be realistic. I can’t say it e......Read More
1782 Views
Related Questions
If starting as more of a generalist PMM - what reserouces do you rely on to broaden your technical "toolkit"? Given that Product Marketing role definitions and skills vary so much by company, how do you develop a transferrable career path if you end up switching firms along the way?How can I break the ceiling from Sr. Product Marketing Manager to the next level (director or team lead)?