The technology sector has seen it all – the once thriving and in-demand industry went through a turbulent phase marked by layoffs and hiring freezes in the post-pandemic era, the same period saw the AI revolution causing disruptions across industries.
According to the 2024 Prospective Students Survey, 40% candidates feel AI is essential to their Graduate Management Education (GME) curricula, a significant rise from 29% in the previous year. This reflects a broader trend and preference for programs that blend business and STEM-focused coursework.
In the US, the number of STEM-certified programs in GME have almost doubled in the 4-year period from 222 in 2017 to 439 in just 4 years. And this number continues to grow.
Preference for STEM-certified programs has grown among applicants from India from 43% in 2019 to 57% in 2023 and in Greater China from 35% to 51%, according to GMAC data.
Another reason for this preference for STEM MBA programs being the OPT (Optional Practical Training) benefits it offers to international students.
Tech job openings are on the rise, fueled by industries including finance, healthcare and consulting. With emerging technologies reshaping the future of businesses, there’s a constant need for organizations to innovate and evolve to stay competitive.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations from 2023 to 2033 with around 356,700 job openings each year.
Technology is among the top three most preferred post-GME industry, according to GMAC Prospective Students Survey, with 38% expressing interest in this field.
In this article, we’ve shortlisted the best MBA programs for technology hiring. It includes the latest employment data for the 2024 class as well as Bloomberg’s hiring data.
The number of tech hires in 2024 data is not yet available, so we have listed the programs based on the number of hires in 2023. Please note that this is not a ranking list.
Top 15 business schools with highest technology hires
| Business School | % of hires in 2024 | % of hires in 2023 | No. of hires in 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indian School of Business | 21.00% | 18.30% | 148 |
| Pennsylvania Wharton | 14.10% | 16.20% | 103 |
| Harvard | 16.00% | 16.20% | 93 |
| London Business School | 21.00% | 23.80% | 85 |
| Chicago Booth | 14.80% | 15.50% | 77 |
| MIT Sloan | 19.00% | 24.00% | 70 |
| UC at Berkeley – Haas | 24.00% | 29.80% | 68 |
| Columbia | 10.00% | 14.00% | 67 |
| Northwestern Kellogg | 20.00% | 16.30% | 63 |
| UCLA Anderson | 23.40% | 22.50% | 60 |
| Duke Fuqua | 12.00% | 16.60% | 59 |
| CMU Tepper | 28.70% | 28.60% | 53 |
| Stanford | 22.00% | 24.40% | 51 |
| INSEAD | 10.00% | 8.80% | 47 |
| Washington Foster | 46.90% | 32.00% | 33 |
ISB had the highest number of tech hires for the 2023 class. The class of 2024 had robust placements with a rise in the percentage of tech hires compared to the previous year. Those hiring included established companies as well as startups across various domains including payment solutions, healthcare, gaming, retail, analytics, travel, transportation among others. More than 2/3rd of the class could make function/industry shift.
The placements saw 405 companies, more than 70 of them first-time recruiters, making 1208 offers.
Ramabhadran Thirumalai, deputy dean, academic programs, Indian School of Business pinpoints strategies that worked for them. These involved meeting more companies, getting them to engage with students, focusing on new-age industries, sunrise sectors while broadening touch-points with legacy companies, regularly tracking new investments happening in industries including companies that were expanding or setting up new operations in India.
Top US business schools sending the highest numbers into technology included Wharton, Harvard, Booth, MIT Sloan, Haas, Kellogg, UCLA Anderson among others. Among the top UK schools was LBS with 21% hires.
Among schools with smaller class sizes and sending a high percentage of the class into tech was Washington Foster, which saw 38 students (46.9% of graduates) taking up technology jobs.
Tech giants including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple are dream companies for MBA tech aspirants. Reputed MBA programs open doors to top roles and higher salaries in top tech companies.
Also read: What do MBAs do at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and other top tech companies
Those joining the tech industry may take up technical positions in roles involving software development, network engineering, data scientist or similar roles.
The non-technical positions involve marketing and sales, operations and management in promoting technology products and services.
Product management is a very popular post-MBA career choice in the tech industry.
According to Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, “Tech has historically invested in the employee experience and it’s a job that generally pays well. It has good work life balance and also offers the ability to work on interesting products that are very salient today.”
Read more: Technology jobs and salaries in investment banking after MBA
Based on the GMAC Corporate Recruiter’s report, here are some insights into the specific technology skills employers view as more important in the next 5 years – 80% chose Web3, blockchain, and virtual reality (VR), 75% selected cloud-based technology; 74% chose artificial intelligence, machine learning, data visualization as well as statistical analysis, 73% opted for database tools while 71% chose programming skills.
Also read: How I got a Product Management job after MBA
At MBA Crystal Ball, our experienced consultants have helped thousands of applicants get into the top MBA programs (including the ones listed above), often with scholarship. Drop us a line at info@mbacrystalball.com if you need help with your application.
Also read:
– 15 Best Tech MBA programs for high-paying salaries and careers in technology, IT
– Technology consulting vs management consulting
– Types of jobs after MBA in Technology
– Career change – software IT to product management
