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Luis Sanchez
Indeed this article seems smaller than expected and with less weight than ...
ttt3
I was kind of expecting this article to be about a company I'd at least heard ...
How to engineer your way to the CEO suite
Eric Lundquist
7/10/2012 1:53 AM EDT
Backupify is a fast growing company
started on a simple premise. While all that information being stored in the
cloud is available, cost efficient and ready to serve data for lots of
applications, there are some downsides. What if the cloud bursts? Can't happen?
Do a Google search on Amazon's June 29th outage (or just click here )
and you'll find several reasons why the cloud is not the computing panacea some
would have you believe. Backupify is a Cambridge, Mass-based company created
around the simple idea of providing off-line backup for you or your company's
cloud data and applications. Gmail, Google apps and cloud storage data is
backed up and available even if a monster storm comes rolling through the
middle of the United States.
May is the CEO of
Backupify. He came to the start-up world and ceo role via the University of Kentucky
EE program and working at Harris Corp. as a digital design engineer. So, how
did he make the leap from designing FPGAs to running a fast growing startup?
"I have a problem
solving mindset which I find well adapted to the kind of business I run today,"
May told me in a telephone interview. While he
also received an MBA from Kentucky, it was the engineering discipline
It was also the experience
at Harris which May said helped him learn team dynamics
and big company process that has guided his management philosophy at Backupify.
The progression of EE education combined with big company experience is a
process he would advise to any student thinking about jumping into the
entrepreneurial world. The process is a bit lengthier than the college to
startup leap, but the potential for management and financial missteps is
minimized.
"I'm not a huge fan
of someone starting a company right out of school," said May. May now has
a couple of startups under his belt, but Backupify started in 2008 has his
attention right now.
While interviewing May, it was clear that it wasn't the specifics he learned in engineering school but the engineering process that holds him in good stead. The ability to speak with the engineers on his staff as peers in the (in this case, software) engineering process, the ability to apply engineering discipline to non-engineer tasks such as optimizing marketing programs or setting sales structures has proved worthwhile.
So, does being an EE prepare you for a CEO's job? It can. Just ask Rob May.
Eric Lundquist is vice present and editorial analyst for the InformationWeek Business Technology Network.
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bolaji.ojo
7/11/2012 8:34 AM EDT
Many, if not a majority, of the CEOs at semiconductor companies today are engineers. The assumption in your article is spot on. There are many other paths to the corner office in high-tech but having an engineering degree whether in electronics or any of the other disciplines combined with senior management experience and possibly an MBA would seem to give a candidate a better opportunity than anyone without.
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Robotics Developer
7/11/2012 10:33 AM EDT
I would think that the EE degree coupled with the MBA would be a great base for anyone looking to higher level management positions in technical companies. Having some engineering experience and the management degree with practice is a powerful combination.
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daleste
7/11/2012 11:23 PM EDT
I agree the an EE degree and an MBA is a good base for the CEO job. The big thing you have to have is the drive to get to that job and a lot of luck along the way. There are a lot more EE's with MBAs than CEOs.
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resistion
7/12/2012 12:34 AM EDT
The example used here is a startup, where the founder is automatically CEO. I do not see a solid argument for the degree significantly assisting you on the way up, which was implied several times, especially with expressions like "making your way to the top..."
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coolhandluke
7/12/2012 12:37 PM EDT
What a useless article. Really. And good point on founders..
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ReneCardenas
7/12/2012 6:20 PM EDT
It is a given, most anyone can be king of the hill of a start up, when the technical edge really matters.
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Traces
7/13/2012 8:02 AM EDT
I was CTO of the start-up I co-founded, too. Of course, there were only two of us plus an angel investor, so I was also the entire engineering team, janitor, graphic designer, and half of the marketing team.
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gkidwell
7/13/2012 1:08 PM EDT
Good article. In addition to the formula prescribed EE+MBA+SHK (School of Hard Knocks), I would add public speaking practice practice practice.
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ttt3
7/13/2012 1:39 PM EDT
I was kind of expecting this article to be about a company I'd at least heard of, not some no-name startup.
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Luis Sanchez
7/15/2012 1:58 AM EDT
Indeed this article seems smaller than expected and with less weight than expected. However I think with all the comments here is a good opportunity.
The EE degree is only a start. Getting to a place depends much on the drive that one has.
I agree with that there are many engineers with MBA degrees out there and not many become CEO's.
And perhaps of course, many start-up founders are the CEO of their companies... but again, for making a start up, it's necessary to have the proper amount of drive and the good idea and the confidence in one self to trust that the idea is worth making a reality.
Door knocking is also among the most important things required. So... the EE degree is only the start.
Thanks for the opportunity to display our opinions.
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