I’m finishing up my undergrad in Industrial Design, however I think I am much better suited for Design Management, and the business side of design… Does anyone have suggestions as far as grad school?
Is an MBA my only option, and even then, will that get me to where I want to be?
I think the most dependable school for design management as far as placement goes is the school of hard knocks… most places require a minimum of 5-8 years of design experience to be a design manager (if not more, I think it is 10 here). After a few years of professional design experience, I would say then go back for that second degree, if you feel you need to.
If you really don’t want to do design and you want to be a product manager, there is room for that, but a lot of times they come up through the ranks of sales, starting out at a store, then becoming a DM, and then working into merchandizing, and then product marketing… A lot of the guys I know of with the MBA’s are more strictly on the business side, in the numbers zone…
That’s my take based on my experience. Maybe someone else has some light to shed on the situation?
He’s right, there’s no fastrack.
Your best bet: most corporations offer management training programs (a few classes leading to a certificate) or try an online/community college introduction to managment skills. Use them on the job as much as you have opportunity to and eventually push to manage projects as they come in.