Early Career Change: Engineering to Master’s in Management

Dear engineering: It’s not you, it’s me.

Halfway through my bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and information technology in Bochum, Germany, it became very clear to me that it was time for me to steer my ship in a different direction. While I was capable of understanding complex electrical circuits, I was even more interested in the business side of running and sustaining the companies at which I did student jobs and internships. So I strategically started to enact a career change by taking jobs in departments that were the interface between engineering and business strategy.

It has now been just over two months since I graduated with a master’s in management (MiM) from ESMT Berlin.

During my first interview with the ESMT admissions office, I must admit that I was jittery about the fact that my class would be the very first cohort of its pre-experience MiM program. But, after weighing my options and discussing the tradeoffs with a trusted mentor, I took the success of ESMT’s MBA program as reassurance that I was putting my education and desire for a career change in experienced hands. Also, being offered a full scholarship from the Kofi Annan Business Schools Foundation was a major incentive to join the ESMT.

So, I took the leap and jumped. With the MiM being a new program and our class being a new demographic group on campus, there were definitely hurdles in the beginning. However the willingness of ESMT faculty and staff to listen to students made all the difference – and it is great seeing a lot of our improvement suggestions being implemented for the cohort that came after ours.

I realized very quickly upon arrival at the ESMT that I was in a ‘sink or swim’ situation. Within the first six weeks, we had crunched through statistics, decision theory, organizational behavior and business economics. There were nine assignments, 13 case studies, three exams and three class presentations. I had minimal sleep!  But, we were all in it together. Our class was composed of 34 students from 19 countries – a cultural melting pot that I especially appreciated.

For many, the period of adjustment was particularly challenging because classmates were either adapting to studying in a foreign language, acclimatising to Berlin’s windy winter or even the fact that they were no longer top of their class, as they had been used to in their previous studies. Although some of these points may seem trivial, they can a big shock to the system and leave you doubting yourself and your decision. But believe me, it does get better.

The importance of effective time management

While the MiM program was undoubtedly intense, a large part of survival for me depended on time management. Once I had mastered how to manage my time and identify what was most important to me for my time at ESMT, life became easier. You have to find out what’s important to you and run with it.

My newly found time management skills were especially necessary especially in the second stage of the program (during which students have the additional pressure of trying to secure an internship on top of gaining more theoretical knowledge) and beyond. Effective time management was also the only way I survived working three days a week for a venture capital fund – often more – while simultaneously writing my master’s thesis. Although it was an incredibly challenging period, time management skills left me well-equipped to weather the storm and enact my career change.  

In addition, I came to realize that classmates are important stakeholders in your success at business school and sometimes even in the professional world thereafter. For me, it was the small group of friends with whom I did my social impact project and extra-curricular international business case competitions. Even now, after graduation, we are rooting for and supporting each other’s next chapter.