Tech is one of the most competitive destinations for MBA graduates, and the alumni now working at some of the industry’s most recognizable names, from OpenAI to Amazon to Adobe, are unambiguous about the degree’s value. What they describe isn’t just a credential or a recruiting lever, but a two-year reset that changed how they think, who they know, and what they’re capable of. Across 13 voices and a wide range of schools and roles, several consistent themes emerge.
Raising the Ceiling, Not Just the Resume
For many tech-bound alumni, the decision to pursue an MBA was less about switching careers than about operating at a higher level in the one they already had.
Vyshak Kannan Iyengar, a London Business School MBA ’25 who is now a product marketing manager at Meta, came from a background in strategy consulting and social impact entrepreneurship. He wanted something the resume couldn’t capture: “I chose to attend business school to gain three things. First, structured exposure to global business across industries and geographies. Second, a peer group that would challenge how I think every single day. Third, credibility and confidence to pursue opportunities that previously felt out of reach. In hindsight, the MBA gave me much more than a career pivot. It reshaped how I think about risk, leadership, and impact.”
Now a product manager at Adobe, Kwamina Eyiah Arthur, Berkeley Haas MBA ’25, framed the decision in similarly ambitious terms. Having led digital transformation across West Africa, he wasn’t switching industries — he was trying to elevate his operating altitude: “I realized that to build at that level globally, I needed exposure to broader technology ecosystems where AI, capital, and platform strategy intersect. Business school felt like the right pause point.”
A Pivot Into Tech With the MBA as the Key
For others, the MBA was the unlock that made a move into tech possible at all. Without it, the door would have stayed closed.
After four years at Goldman Sachs working on internal strategy, Marisa Li, Yale SOM MBA ’24, decided she wanted to make the jump to tech. A near-miss with a direct application made the choice clear: “I received feedback that while I was a strong candidate, they preferred someone with more direct industry experience. It made me reflect on whether I wanted to spend several years gradually pivoting into tech, or invest two years into an MBA to build the skills and network to accelerate the journey. I chose the latter, and the rest is history.” She’s now a senior program manager at Amazon.
Cristina Lozada, Dartmouth Tuck MBA ’25 and Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, loved her job at a beauty company in Peru, but knew she needed a different runway to reach tech: “I aspired to learn more about the intersection of business and technology, and pursuing an MBA felt like a good pivot point for me to step into the big leagues. I wanted to transition into the tech industry, where innovation moves at a different pace, and I viewed the MBA as a way to intentionally challenge my way of thinking and expand my network beyond my Lima roots.”
Building the Skills That Tech Actually Needs
Once inside a program, alumni repeatedly describe gaining something more fundamental than domain expertise: the ability to think structurally, communicate across functions, and operate in conditions of genuine uncertainty.
Adaobi Okeke, Vanderbilt Owen MBA ’24 and Senior Vendor Manager at Amazon, came from pharmaceutical regulatory affairs, where precision was the job. The MBA taught her a different mode of thinking: “The MBA equipped me with something more durable than any single skill set: a framework for structured thinking in the face of ambiguity. Business school taught me how to translate that analytical discipline into commercial judgment, stakeholder influence, and strategic decision-making.”
Now a senior product manager at Amazon, Rasal Kumar, Northwestern Kellogg MBA ’25, arrived as a technical lead and left as something broader: “Before my MBA, my career was rooted in technical execution, but Kellogg transformed me into a product leader who can bridge the gap between complex engineering and business strategy.”
Another senior product manager at Amazon, Javier Rodriguez Del Campo, Harvard Business School MBA ’24, credits the high-stakes environment of his program with building a kind of confidence that technical skills alone couldn’t produce: “The MBA also made me more comfortable operating in ambiguity. And with AI, that’s basically the job.”
The MBA as an AI Accelerator
Several alumni note that their programs, particularly those graduating in 2024 and 2025, overlapped with the explosive early adoption of generative AI, and that being in school during that moment was an advantage that has compounded in their careers.
Out of OpenAI, Wenjia You, Wharton MBA ’24 and now a Technical Program Manager, describes the Wharton experience as a rare combination of lived adoption and structured analysis: “When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, I remember people first using it mostly out of curiosity. Very quickly, though, it became part of our daily lives. People used it to speed up readings, brainstorm essays, and work through assignments… That experience gave me a very practical relationship with AI early on. I really believe you understand a technology best when you use it every day.” She also took a course that turned out to be unexpectedly prescient: a Lauder capstone on the future of GenAI where her team built scenario analyses around questions like whether AGI would be achievable. “Rereading that final presentation now feels surreal,” she says.
Bryan Stromer earned an HBS MBA in 2025 and is now launching AI products at Microsoft as a senior product marketing manager. He describes a single class that shifted how he understood what AI actually is: “In my second year, I took ‘Launching Tech Ventures’ with Jeff Bussgang. He had redesigned the class around AI, and one of our assignments was to build an entire company using AI tools in under a week. That changed how I saw AI. It stopped feeling like a feature and started feeling like a platform.”
At Microsoft, Cristina Lozada found Tuck’s approach to AI integration in the classroom directly applicable to her role there: “We were encouraged to actively experiment with it and use it to become better and more efficient professionals, while also being adamant about exercising good judgment. Through consistent, hands-on use, I’ve become very comfortable integrating AI into my day-to-day work.”
The Ecosystem Matters as Much as the Curriculum
A recurring theme is the value of being physically embedded in the right place and choosing a school whose location puts you in proximity to the industry you want to enter.
Barbara Rion, Berkeley Haas MBA ’25 and Policy Specialist at Google’s Trust & Safety team, came from government and chose Haas explicitly for its course offerings in AI, climate, and global policy — topics she couldn’t access equally elsewhere. She also found that the classes delivered: AI and Ethics, Data and AI Strategy, and a nonmarket strategy course together gave her “the ability to understand and contribute to what’s happening around me very quickly” in her Google role. On location, she was explicit: “I intentionally chose Haas to be in the Bay Area, which is the center of gravity for AI-driven innovation and venture capital.”
Additionally, Kwamina Eyiah Arthur made the same calculation: “I wanted to understand how global platforms are built and scaled from the inside,” he says of choosing the Bay Area. The surrounding ecosystem — operators, investors, real-time debates about platform economics — was part of the education, not separate from it.
The Network Is Real — And It’s Long-Term
Alumni are consistent that the relationships built during the MBA don’t end at graduation. They continue to open doors, provide mentorship, and fund careers in ways that resonate years after the fact.
Warren Ndlovu, Wharton MBA ’24 and Chief of Staff at Aepnus Technology (a climate tech hardware startup), came to business school wanting to break into a niche sector with few obvious entry points. His most important lesson was that early-stage companies don’t recruit the way established ones do — and that network is everything: “I learnt the hard way that early-stage startups don’t advertise jobs in the same way that established companies do… I had to leverage my network to make real headway in the process. This is very similar to my experience on the job.”
As a business program manager at Microsoft, Ashwani Sharma, UC Irvine Merage MBA ’24, credits his school’s career center and professional network with getting him to his target company: “I was able to not only establish a strong network of my own, but also received great guidance from key stakeholders at Microsoft to help navigate the recruiting process.”
And Bryan Stromer frames relationships as long compounding investments: “People I had worked with at Microsoft before were incredibly supportive during the process. It was a good reminder that relationships compound over time and they matter when it counts.”
The Advice That Cuts Across Everything
When asked what they’d tell current students, these alumni converge on a few ideas that transcend industry and school. Stay curious and open, especially about roles and paths you didn’t initially consider. Marisa Li wishes she had explored more widely: “Tech is full of options, including corporate development and product marketing.” Carlotta Schwarz, IMD MBA ’24 and Senior Product Manager at Amazon, puts it plainly: her MBA “changed the way I approach challenges, encouraging me to see them as opportunities to learn rather than obstacles… it gave me the time to reflect on my values and priorities.” Be intentional about how you spend the time. Bryan Stromer‘s filter was simple: “What am I going to remember in ten years?” And above all, don’t let comparison derail you. As Cristina Lozada puts it: “It’s such a privilege to have the opportunity to spend two years of your life focused on growing, learning, and becoming a better version of yourself. Be intentional in how you spend your time. But above all, have fun, learn and make the most memories. It’s truly the best two years!”
