MBA's typically go into one of three fields: consulting, finance and industry.

You'll be exposed mainly to those in industry.

An MBA is a generalized exposure to the business world, it gives you a basis in things like Finance, Economics, Accounting, Marketing, Economics, Ops etc. and then it delves into specific subjects as needed.

If you don't have a background in any of this, it can be enlightening, to say the least. As an Engineer, learning core Financial/Econ concepts was basically like learning to speak English - it made me embarrassed at how 'illiterate' I was beforehand. Basically, reading the Financial Times goes from 'Chinese' to 'something you can understand'.

I'd argue that it's very useful for people to have a broad understanding of these issues as they have increasing levels or responsibility in business. That said, you don't need it, and it can be in many ways limiting for an early entrepreneur because I feel it can get rather academic. It's in a way an 'intellectualization' of business, when in reality, business is about 'doing'.

So consulting firms need people who have this breadth of knowledge, moreover, it helps considerably with their reputation. They have very established intakes, career progress etc.. Same can be said in the banking world: you come in, you do this for 2 years, you do your MBA, that gets you into this role, which you do for another 1.5, then you move onto this - etc. This amount of structure is vastly unlike startups. Again, it's arguably unnecessary, but it's baked into the career development cycle.

Some very large organizations have those 'required steps' as well - because they have predictability in terms of ops, they sometimes put 'MBA' as a soft or hard requirement for certain things.

It's an enlightening experience, and if you go to one of the better schools you meeting exceptional people including other students and profs. At the lesser schools - not so much. And the 'top schools' have guaranteed access to the best brands on earth. If you get an MBA from a top 15 globally, you can pretty much get an interview at a FANG.

The benefit for those on an 'MBA specific career path' is measurable, which is about 1/2 of them, but for the other 1/2 it's more intangible.

In terms of reputation, either you go to a 'top school' or the name recognition is not worth it, so you have to look at it differently.

There are a lot of mediocre MBA's, just like there are a lot of mediocre software developers and UI designers. And an MBA is not a specific professional designation either - so I often feel there is undue slack.

That said - there are too many of them out there, a lot of mid and low tier schools saw it as a cash cow and just sold expensive programs to whomever.

Engineers (I am one) can be odd, and sometimes I think they are afraid and or devalue things they don't understand - particularly finance and marketing. Which is funny because the world of finance can be as nerdy as Engineering and it's very powerful stuff. I think most Engineers would love finance and Econ once they got going it it. Marketing is more intangible, but I've developed huge respect for those folks as well.

The thing about startups is that they almost favour people with their nose to the grind, creating raw outcomes, even those who might be a little economically illiterate: witness the legions of founders who have no clue when it comes to shares, equity, financing instruments etc..

You have to very careful getting an MBA outside of finance or consulting. If you're company sponsors or has a requirement and it's obvious for your career path - then that's an option. If you did a really soft undergrad like 'English' and are having difficulty breaking into business and you know what you want to do - that's an option. But the worst thing that someone can do is just expect that they go there and it's a panacea and a magic entry point to business.

It's one of the degrees that really is 'what you decide to make of it'. It's not like JD or Med School where there's in some ways a set system of outcomes.