Hi everyone,

I'm a Computer Engineer from Turkey. I've got 7 years of experience in software industry consisting of development and leadership of projects including Enterprise Resource Planning Software's, Web Based Enterprise Projects and Embedded Safety-Critical Software Applications. My experience includes a 1 year entrepreneurial web development company with a friend of mine and 1 year of mandatory military service (did leadership there too).

I've got B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees on Computer Engineering and a 690 GMAT. I speak fluent English and basic German. Still attending to a Goethe Institute German course.

I'm looking for a preferably 1-year full-time MBA across Europe, and 2-3 years of international experience after graduation in Technology Management or Consulting positions.

There are many solid schools in the UK but I'm confused about the UK's post-graduation work permits and the quotas, and don't want to return back before an international experience of 2-3 years.

Germany is a good option since i know basic German and still improving it, but schools at Germany are not internationally recognized as UK schools are.

Thought of US but most of the programs are 2 years long and the total cost is so high for my budget. (yeah there are 1-year programs but the general trend is 2 years in the US, so in my opinion if one is going to US then it should be a 2 years program; moreover schools with 1-year programs demand some classes to have taken before like marketing which I've never attended). Not totally erased the US option though.

Considering Cambridge and Oxford, and LBS despite its long duration, in the UK and Mannheim Business School in the Germany options.

Can you please give your opinions about my profile and the schools i mentioned, and offer me any other schools? What are my chances to get into those schools and work for 2-3 years in the graduated country?

Best regards.

You sound like a classic candidate for a full-time one year MBA. Because you already have experience in the industry where you want to work, the internship in a longer MBA is less useful for you.

How about the Mannheim MBA with a semester in the UK? You will face the challenge that it's hard to work in Germany without perfect German, but it's a better place to live. If you feel you can go all the way with German, I'd focus on that and look at all the top schools in Germany. If you don't feel you can dramatically improve your German, then focus on the UK. Any of the top schools will be fine for you: just get into the best school you can.

Hi Duncan,

Thanks for the answer.
I think Mannheim is the only option for Germany.

For UK; Stanford and Oxford have excellent brand names but their MBA's are relatively new and have relatively small alumni network compared to Manchester (which is sadly longer than I desire) or Cranfield.
I know there are not many schools in Europe that are concentrated on Technology Management (like Sloan or Tepper is), can you name me some schools in the UK which are a bit closer to Technology than others?
Should I go for the LBS?

I guess you mean Cambridge when you write Stanford.

If we think of 'core' tech areas (IT, computing, telecoms) then the solid schools with the most MBAs in their alumni base are:
Henley *
Warwick Business School *
London Business School *
Cranfield School of Management *
Imperial College London *
Manchester Business School *
University of Cambridge
University of Strathclyde *
Cass Business School

I've out a * next to the schools which have especially large alumni networks inside top-ten ICT firms, in case that matters to you (positively or negatively). INSEAD is also strong in UK tech. Were I you, I would be looking at London and Cranfield, since those are very strong in building soft skills as well as hard skills,

I think any of these will be fine for you. Henley and Warwick benefit from their big distance learning programmes, which give them wide alumni networks in firms like IBM, Vodafone, BT and HP, which have a record of sponsoring part-time MBAs.

hi.. did you take a look at St.Gallen? they have some german mandatory courses: the adcom told me that they bring beginners to intermediate ... if you already know the basis you could have an advantage. Unfortunately the 6000e early bird discount is gone.. but you might be in time for the 3000e,
By the way take with caution what I told you... I'm not an expert

Duncan: Yeah sure I mean Cambridge, I have no idea why I wrote Stanford; maybe my mind is playing games with me after hours of MBA school research :)
Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll deepen the research and share the progress.

maubia: Thanks for the advice. I think St.Gallen is a solid option for the German speaking market including Switzerland, Germany and Austria. I'll check it. Also I think IMD is a great school in Switzerland but it's a little bit(!) expensive and has a drawback of starting in January 2013, compared to those starting in September 2012.

maubia: Thanks for the advice. I think St.Gallen is a solid option for the German speaking market including Switzerland, Germany and Austria. I'll check it. Also I think IMD is a great school in Switzerland but it's a little bit(!) expensive and has a drawback of starting in January 2013, compared to those starting in September 2012.

They are both expensive...also considering living costs!!!! :-) But have you seen the salary for IT in Switzerland? take a look at offers in Linkedin ....even discounting living cost wagers are outstanding (And there are several english position as well).

They are both expensive...also considering living costs!!!! :-) But have you seen the salary for IT in Switzerland? take a look at offers in Linkedin ....even discounting living cost wagers are outstanding (And there are several english position as well).

I've heard that salaries are high but I'll have a closer look now to see some real deal :), thanks. Switzerland is always an option for me, I've already sent my GMAT score to the IMD during the exam.

They are both expensive...also considering living costs!!!! :-) But have you seen the salary for IT in Switzerland? take a look at offers in Linkedin ....even discounting living cost wagers are outstanding (And there are several english position as well).

I've heard that salaries are high but I'll have a closer look now to see some real deal :), thanks. Switzerland is always an option for me, I've already sent my GMAT score to the IMD during the exam.

did you try their pre-assesment? they are fair and frankly...

I guess you mean Cambridge when you write Stanford.

If we think of 'core' tech areas (IT, computing, telecoms) then the solid schools with the most MBAs in their alumni base are:
Henley *
Warwick Business School *
London Business School *
Cranfield School of Management *
Imperial College London *
Manchester Business School *
University of Cambridge
University of Strathclyde *
Cass Business School

I've out a * next to the schools which have especially large alumni networks inside top-ten ICT firms, in case that matters to you (positively or negatively). INSEAD is also strong in UK tech. Were I you, I would be looking at London and Cranfield, since those are very strong in building soft skills as well as hard skills,

I think any of these will be fine for you. Henley and Warwick benefit from their big distance learning programmes, which give them wide alumni networks in firms like IBM, Vodafone, BT and HP, which have a record of sponsoring part-time MBAs.

Well, it's a big assumption that you'll become fluent in German by the time you finish your MBA: with full-time, intensive, language study it would take you a year to get that far. You won't be able to do that while working or studying an MBA.

INSEAD is very strong in the German market, totally on a part with the top programmes delivered in Germany (Mannheim, the TU Munich-HHL EMBA, WHU/Kellogg, Henley, etc). Cambridge and Cranfield will have maybe 15 to 30% the alumni base of those schools.

Globally, and more so in Germany, the trend is for IT people to stay in IT. The biggest *current* employers of MBAs who *previously* worked at IBM, HP and Accenture (for example) are those three firms themselves, and then (high to lower):
Microsoft
Oracle
Cisco Systems
Dell
Ernst & Young
Deloitte Consulting
SAP
EMC

Looking at the ones who are now are E&Y and Deloitte (in some ways, they are the least like pure IT brands) they are principally in these roles (high to lower):
Consultant
Information technology
Administrative
Business development
Operations
Human resources
Finance
Marketing
Accounting

So, it seems to be much easier to move from IT into consulting, administration/management or sales than into finance or marketing.

Duncan, thanks for solid answers. I'll share the progress.