To consider doing an MBA in my early 50s?

[changethenamenotthegame]

Fully prepared to be told I'm insane if that's what the hive mind thinks.

I'm at the end of my tether with my current job. Have been doing it for 12 years. I'm bored stupid and while I'm in a senior role and the pay is (currently) good, the industry I work in is slowly going down the plughole. We work harder each year for less reward, the clients get ruder and pay less. The company I work for is pretty much rudderless, the senior management have checked out and I know its only a matter of time before the shit hits the fan. Could be months or years but things aren't going to get better. I've been job-hunting for about six months, looking for jobs in similar companies and adjacent ones but a) I know it will be more of the same and b) I'm not getting interviews anyway. I may have to look at more radical options.

Among the various things I'm thinking about are applying to do an MBA. Just to open up opportunities, get a new perspective, make new connections and learn new skills. And to actually LEARN after years of not really learning. It will cost me a shit ton of money and I'm prepared to do this is it genuinely is useful but I'm not getting any younger and may only have 15 FT working years so only worth doing if it actually leads to results.

I'm also the main breadwinner in my family so I'd need it to pay for itself fairly fast.

Keen to hear any thoughts.

Go for it! It's obviously something you've been thinking about for a while. Life is too short to look back and think, " I really wish I'd given this a go" ! 👊

I’m doing one. The material is useful and interesting but not game changing.

My firm are sponsoring me to do it part time along side my FT job from a highly regarded institution. I’m expected to work for a promotion from middle manager to senior manager level within 18 months of completing the course.

I’m enjoying it but not sure I’d think it was worth it to spend my own money on and take time out of the workplace. Being able to learn concepts and bring them straight into my current role has been a large part of the value add for me.

My coursemates are interesting people from a wide range of industries and definitely some in their 50s but one of my biggest takeaways is that my employer is supportive and has a good culture compared to many others and it’s put me off any external moves!!!

It is quite worrying, @changethenamenotthegame that your employers would view any interest in gaining further qualifications as a potentially hostile act, rather than something to be encouraged and supported for the good of the company.

Expensive for them in working time lost and the cost of the course if they cover it, unless the OP does it part-time around their work. Also the risk that increased employment mobility might mean they move on to pastures now.
Personally I'd say it's too late in any case, few employers would value an MBA over relevant experience.

I wouldn't do an MBA. Too expensive and no guarantee of recouping the cost.
What about a MA/MSc? Less time and more specific so more likely to enable a career shift. But I suggest aim at a side shift rather than a Complete change? So you can continue to capitalise on your experience (as you're the main earner).

Could you widen your ideas about a further qualification to upskill/ diversify further? Also think about what you do enjoy doing and would want to do for the next 15-20 years? Think broader than MBAs and look at Masters/ Postgraduate diplomas which can allow you to specialise or diversify further.

I went through redundancy during COVID, in my early 50s - the pay off allowed me to take a career break, I then worked with a coach to figure out what i wanted to do next. ( I had spent nearly 20 years in a job I hated and an industry that bored me to tears but which I'd fallen into, and never stopped to get off the merry-go-round, also major bread winner)

I then decided to do a Master's, it was 'full-time' but in effect I attended uni every Saturday for two terms. It meant travelling to the midlands every weekend, and my family hated it but supported me to do it as we thought it was worth the investment to allow me to pivot to a new career. Also much cheaper, got a post grad loan to cover the fees.

I loved the studying and learning new stuff part, the meeting new people, there were other postgrads who were also career jumping in their 40/50/60s.. as well as some fresh out of their first degrees. It was a brilliant experience! I loved the mental stimulation. The biggest challenges were balancing family life and essay deadlines, but it was all possible!

The Level 7/ Masters qualification allowed me to step into a new career area, the course I took had a placement requirement which introduced me to my first employer post- Masters.

I wouldn't be doing the job I now do if I hadn't taken the course. It opened up a whole new pathway I had never ever considered pre-covid. I now enjoy my job and going to work, I now work for myself and another organisation, its exciting and I'm in control, neither of which I had in my previous job. I would say explore all the options out there, make a plan and give it a go!

@Mammyinthehut

Thank you: this is exactly the kind of thing I aspire to do and this has inspired me.

Do you mind me asking roughly what sort of qualification it was?

Have PM'd you more details! Happy to sherpa!

Key is to explore what you like doing, dont like, your interests, values, what you need to earn, how you want your life/ work balance to look.
We all go through life stages and can have many different careers, important to remember what you started off doing in your 20s/30s won't be necessarily exciting to your 50 year old self!

I had a city -based job, that was very financial/ solitary based which I bent myself around to accommodate the job to my brain - but I was a modern languages graduate who loved people and socialising. But i also left school when the only careers advice you got was from a filing cabinet! I definitely fell into a job which didnt play to my true skills but which paid the mortgage, and then got stuck, had a child and then felt even more stuck.

Stepping back, taking stock, self reflection and research all helped to carve out a totally different pathway. It is totally possible! I knew 4 people on my course who were mid life, all had different backgrounds, some had corporate careers before, some were working in education. Most of us were also balancing the course with study.
We all did it. Sometimes we have to push outside our comfort zone and then we manage to pull things off which really surprises us! If we don't give the scary things a go we'll never find out what we are capable of - I firmly believe that now after spending 30s and 40s being safe but bored.

Imo MBAs are only as useful as the connections you make doing them. You won't learn anything that isn't common sense. So there's no point going to a more affordable one you need to go the whole hog with one of the big business schools.

It will be very boring.

I did an MBA aged 47! Graduated aged 51.

I wouldn't say it was a magic bullet career wise though. Sadly when I attended my MBA ceremony I realised it's become a backdoor route to immigration and therefore you're in a pool of literally tens of thousands of people doing them.

I still don't regret it, because it very much deepened my understanding of leadership and corporate functions.

Sadly, it has not led to any better success in the job market. My industry also declined or even disappeared five years ago, so im trying to transition to a new area. Its been v tough, but I have managed to pick up two longish term freelance contracts.

I'm yet to achieve anywhere near the seniority I had before, despite the MBA. I think your recent work experience is everything.

However, I'm just one person.

I wouldn't, personally. Not if you have to self fund, anyway.

I did an MBA from a well respected business school. Fully funded so it didn't cost me anything personally. Graduated in my early 40s.

I enjoyed it and I'm glad I did it, but if I had had to pay, I really don't think it would have been worth it. Not for me, anyway.

I am not sure if it made much of a difference to my career. I think my experience of actually doing stuff has probably been more relevant. And a lot of what I "learned" was just common sense dressed up in academic language.

The one thing I did enjoy was meeting a wide range of people from sectors that were very different from my own. That was eye opening at times, and often very interesting.

But if I had to dip into my own pocket to pay for it? Sorry, but no, I wouldn't bother.

Go for it if you can afford it. I did a Masters degree (not MBA) at 50, and loved it. It opened up other avenues of employment, some of which were only tenuously related to the subject of my degree. Doing it gave me new perspectives, and I learned things I hadn't previously thought were even remotely related to the subject. Hard work (I was still working FT at the time), but worth it.