Go to business school -- from an engineer/entrepreneur

I am waiting for this day for a long time. I like programming and technology. But I'm not sure I'm willing to do this in my whole career. Actually, there are serveral limits to be an engineer.

First, you have to deal with machine all day long, which will cost you much of your energy. So you may not bother to talking to others. In the long run, you will not be able to talk with others very well. But in business world, it's crucial to be sucessful by cooperating closely with others. It's possible that you will become single minded and a less interesting guy.

Second, you may not have many opportunities to go to different places and contact with different industries. What you have to do is stay focusing on your own program. You may lose the ability to find new opportunities in the industry and know different people. Your network will be very limited. It is very undesirable if you want to found your own business.

Third, it will have negative impact for some people's career. Many engineers, especially in China, can't keep a job of programming in their whole career. There are so many talented young graduates to compete with you. It's impossible to keep programming as a young guy. So if you want to switch a job function, you'd better do it early.

So I decided to apply B-school after working for almost 6 years -- when I started doing some research, I found I'm already above the average age. 

Many believe MBA is just for consulting and IBD, but I think for tech guys, it's also a good opportunity to open new doors -- know the world, improve communication and networking skills, and make a career switch. Of course, risk is very high. You have to spend almost 1 million CNY, and 2 years for your study. If you can't find a job with MBA average pay, you may have to pay for the loans for many years. Everybody says it suffers a lot when finding interns and full-time jobs. 

I keep telling myself I will endure a painful process in the next two years. Maybe still looking for jobs after two years. I hope this will not come true. So I will give up rest time and work as hard as possible for my new career.