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Program: Technical Management Description: "Technical Management is really sought out by people who want to become CFOs and CEOs in a technical arena,” said Dr. Joseph Suter of Johns Hopkins. It leads to different career opportunities than a Masters in Engineering Management or an MBA Where is it: Elkridge, MD Format: Online, On-campus, Mix Prerequisites: Engineering, Science, or Math Degree Degree you get: Master's in Technical Management Size of the Program: ~140 Students Number of credit hours: 30 Thesis: No And that will take how long? ~2 years When to apply: Any Term Fees: $35,000 - $40,000 Minimum Admission Requirements:
Not Required
Who should take it?
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Dr. Kossiakoff and the Technical Management Program
Dr. Joseph Suter is the program chair for the Johns Hopkins’ Masters in Technical management program. The program was first started by renowned scientist Dr. Alexander Kossiakoff back in 1982.
Back then Dr. Kossiakoff realized that the engineers and scientists in the Washington area didn’t have the background to manage technical programs. To correct this, he began offering classes to teach technical management skills. Soon the Master’s degree in Technical Management program got national exposure.
Dr. Joseph Suter is the program chair for the Johns Hopkins’ Masters in Technical management program.
When is a Master’s degree in Technical Management is better than a degree in Engineering Management?
Dr. Suter explained that engineers have a big career question. Namely should they get a Master’s degree in Engineering Management, Technical Management, or an MBA.
To this Dr. Suter responded, “Technical Management is really sought out by people who want to become CFOs and CEOs in a technical arena. Engineering management, however, is more for technical leadership roles like CTO. As for an MBA, our degrees are very technical. We teach students how to be leaders in the engineering field, and an MBA is very different.”He added, “The Technical Management program is also 100% online and every class is covered year round. This is a big benefit compared to other programs that might only offer a course once or twice a year.”
The program allows students to focus in one of five specializations. These are: Organizational Management, Project Management, Project/Organizational Management, Technical Innovation Management, and Quality Management.
If you are unsure which specialization to take, consider Project management as it might give you the most career options. Dr. Sutter admited that, “It has a huge demand in the field. Huge. Engineers in general don’t do project management so it’s in demand.”
Online or On-Campus Learning? Why Not Both?
“We used to get a lot of students form the Washington area, but now we have students from as far away as New Zealand and Hong Kong. Johns Hopkins has become global,” said Dr. Suter.
Johns Hopkins offers the traditional online learning set up where students can login, learn, and study at their convenience. Although this is a power learning method for employed professionals, it can lack the personal touch if not implemented properly.
“As a professor of 25 years I really had to get used to the concept of Virtual Live,” admited Dr. Suter. “It’s useful to look a student in the eye to see if they understand a concept. In a chatroom, however, the audio delay means you have to wait for replies. You have to adjust, no doubt about it. Overall I think online learning is beneficial to our students.”
It seems a major push for the Virtual Live program was the heavy traffic in the Washington area. It is often more convenient for students to travel home and logon to the lecture than to get to the campus in person. Virtual Live strives to be a best of both worlds approach.
Engineering Education with a Personal Touch
Many of the Technical Management students will be starting their Master’s in Technical Management degree while still at work. Typically, these students have had a few years since their undergrad and may feel rusty with their study habits.
Dr Suter isn’t worries though. Johns Hopkins is known for their personal touch when it comes to their students. Class sizes are capped at 20 while the average is around 8 students. Additionally the school employs mentors who reach out to struggling students.
Dr. Suter also suggested to, “first take the intro project management course. It will get you back into the swing of things. We are also able to delay exams and get a proctor if you get very busy. We have many students in the armed forces who get called to duty. We understand life style goes on while at school.”
He adds that the small class sizes and personal care help students cover more material than typically covered by other programs. “Typically our class is rather advanced. Students can handle the learning thanks to their dedication and experience. They all want to become managers so they are invested. They also tend to have 2 years of experience so they understand the business,” explained Dr. Suter.
But the students are not the only professionals in the class. The instructors and professors teaching the Technical Management Masters are practicing engineers and technical managers, “They understand the real world and the students love that,” expressed Dr. Suter. “Much like law students will hold a mock trial, our program will do mock management with real world examples.”Though much of the learning is asynchronous, there are still scheduled meeting times between students and professors for presentations and discussion boards. This makes the program much more interactive then traditional online courses. The material is all recorded and available for playback or catch up. This is all made possible using Blackboard and Adobe Connect.
Though advanced and forward thinking, there is still some room for improvement in Johns Hopkins’ Technical Management program. Dr. Suter mentioned that when it started in the 80’s it was very centered on DOD (department of defense) examples. “These days our students demand more than just DOD examples,” explained Suter. “For instance, we are using biomedical examples in one of our leadership programs to help modernize the program.
Another update for the program is to make it more accessible to students that don’t have English as a first language. Some of the terminology can be difficult. “We are aware of this issue,” said Dr. Suter “and we must do something about it.”
Interesting Research in Technical Management
Once in a while there is a student that shines above the rest. These students are typically encouraged to perform research during their technical management studies. Typically this involve working in a start-up company or researching a topic far beyond the depth of a particular course. Every so often something really interesting results.
“About a decade ago we had a student who was a civil war hobbyist,” explained Dr. Suter. “This student ended up writing an extremely important technical management/history paper about the technical management of the Union Army. It was written from the point of view of a Union Soldier. By the end of his presentation the faculty gave a standing ovation.”
Why wouldn’t you get a Masters in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins:
· You have issues understanding/communicating in English
· You want to focus more on engineering rather than management
Johns Hopkins has sponsored promotion of their Master’s in Technical Management on ENGINEERING.com. They have no editorial input to this post - all opinions are mine. Shawn Wasserman