Good day FindMBA Community
A special nod to @Duncan and @mba hipster.

2020 finds us in the midst of a global pandemic and home office has allowed me a lot of time for soul searching as I approach the mid30's and decide what to challenge myself next with in terms of my professional career.

Before I proceed, some context:
I live and work in Hamburg,DE - (so, I am already here). My employer is the worlds largest cruise line company and the nature of business is very international. I am a trained and licensed ships engineer and spent around 13+ years traveling the high seas on various types of ocean liners - commercial and leisure. The opportunity to transition to working in technical/engineering operations came last year and I took the leap. By the time I enter the EMBA program (target 2021) - I will also have 18+ months of corporate work under my belt.

I have a top tier engineering degree from my home country and an internationally recognized superior engineering license. (This license is akin to how aircraft pilots also get theirs till they become commanders/captains) ....and a lot of stories from the sea.

After transitioning from ship-life to corporate life, I find myself well able to handle the tech. operations but feel a bit lacking in the "business management" side of things. Another factor now is that just managing engineering ops, after many years, seems to have lost its charm and I am now looking to challenge myself to take it to the next level.

After some cycles of rumination, I have decided to pursue an EMBA.
Why executive program - because primarily : Financials! and secondly : I would prefer to learn and work so I can see these things within my organisation.

I have narrowed down to two German B-School programs: ESMT Berlin and Mannheim.
I am gravitating a bit towards Mannheim but also see that ESMT (appears) to have a more International outreach. Both these programs are well reputed within the DACH area.

My objective would be :
a) Get an MBA which can also hold it's own outside the DACH area.
(This because: My present organisation and industry itself is international/global in nature. And as much as I like living in the DACH area - I do not want to be rigid to change in geographies if it comes to that)

b) Change industry or step-up within the same sector.
c) Travel : Accessibility while working is also an important factor.
d) EMBA budget cap : 50k Euros

The above 2 schools fulfill these req.
My backup options are RSM and Copenhagen Business school.

My target industry for change would be: Consulting / Supply Chain Management / Innovation.
My present engineering role also lends me cross-functionalities into the automotive, aviation, power and other such engineering tech driven companies.
(Linkedin suggests Mannheim has significantly more alum presently in reputed consulting companies)

What about the local language? One may ask -
I am already learning German and targeting that by mid-2021 will achieve a level wherein I can have normal day-to-day conversations without much hassle. By the time the program ends in ~2023, this will only get better. I cannot predict, but hope that I can get to business fluency in the next 3 years.

I would appreciate any guidance and words of advice on this. I see a lot of experienced people on this forum and maybe I can learn something that I have overlooked.

For all those who see this post and contrubute : A big thank you. I appreciate that you've taken the time to go through it.

Best wishes and good health!

The world's leading cruise company has a lot of MBAs from Florida. Two Flordian online MBAs are highly ranked by QS, so I would start there if you did not want to change role. 


Dod you look at programs with US partners, like Kellogg-WHU, WU-Carlson, RSM-UNC, Tias-Purdue... I think a US MBA works because, honestly, no German MBA has much impact outside the countries that border the republic. 

[Edited by Duncan on Sep 14, 2020]

Hello Duncan,

Thanks for your prompt reply. And thank you for the recommendations.

Online MBA's are not my cup of tea. Therefore the executive route.
I understand the US MBA theory as well. But the US is isn't really the end goal here.
Moreover - the company has a massive setup here in the EU and UK.

The TIAS-Purdue program is very interesting and I have been looking over it for better part of the day! Thank you for the recommendation. 
Kellog-WHU : very nice and I had considered it before looking at the price tag. By EU standards - extremely pricey!

I would also like to correct my original note -
The Mannheim program I am targeting is the Mannheim-ESSEC program. Two great schools and a better outreach. That's why I keep circling back to Mannheim and ESMT. 

Your recommendations has given me some new avenues. Thank you for that!
And of course, all your older posts on this forum. Always insightful and informative.

I think you are looking at the right options then.