Technology

At the Global Center of Technology

Situated in the world’s hub for technology, the Berkeley MBA can’t help being a tech MBA for those seeking to strengthen enterprises with skills in product management and marketing, operations, finance, business development, and strategy.

Berkeley Haas gives students a broad range of skills in data analysis, design thinking, and communications to imagine, justify, finance, produce, and market the next big thing. From our general management curriculum to electives that range from Decision Models to Designing the Future, you will find it all.

You will also find related clubs and conferences that touch on product, including our >Play Digital Media Conference, and Technology and Innovation and Design clubs.

Video: Technology student perspectives

 

Sample Coursework for Pursuing a Career in Tech

  • Blockchain and the Future of Technology, Business, and Law
  • Biotech & Pharma
  • Opportunity Recognition: Technology & Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley
  • Hands-on Rapid Innovation
  • Innovation Strategy for Emerging Technologies
  • Design & Evaluation of Development Technologies
  • Intellectual Property for Tech Entrepreneurship
  • Fundamentals of Design Thinking
  • Designing the Future
  • Organizational Moonshots
  • Managing Innovation and Change

Experiential Learning for a Career in Tech

Cleantech to Market

In Cleantech to Market (C2M), interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from across UC Berkeley work with scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to complete projects that will help accelerate the commercialization of new solar, biofuel, battery, and smart grid/energy management technologies. 

Design and Development of Web-Based Products and Services

Introduces innovation and new product development for Web-based desktop and mobile customer products and services. Project teams will work through a full product development cycle that culminates in a virtual design fair, soliciting and analyzing customer feedback.

Design, Evaluate and Scale Development Technologies

Students work closely with UC Berkeley counterparts within engineering fields to create innovative products, aimed at addressing a social problem in a developing country and using collaborative team-based techniques.

Design SPRINT FOR CORPORATE INNOVATION  

Learn a structured approach to a business challenge that combines the best of design thinking, innovation strategy, and entrepreneurship in a course that takes place at THNK School of Creative Leadership in Amsterdam. The class focuses on one client and business issue, for example, Shell and urban mobility, or Booking.com and online travel.

Haas@Work

Haas@Work connects Berkeley faculty, students, and companies interested in promoting and driving innovation, through project-based courses, membership based activities, and other initiatives. Clients have included PayPal, Autodesk, and Nissan’s Silicon Valley Research Center.

Lean Launchpad

Lean Launchpad is a real world, hands-on learning on what it’s like to start a high-tech company. Students are exposed to all the pressures and demands of an early stage startup on the path to build something that customers would use and buy.

See the full list of Berkeley MBA experiential learning opportunities

Faculty Spotlight

Professor Toby Stuart is faculty director of the Institute for Business Innovation. His research has examined the role of social networks in entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy as well as email networks and employment outcomes. He advises a number of startups and teaches Entrepreneurship.

Henry Chesbrough is an adjunct professor, executive director at the Center for Corporate Innovation, and Open Innovation author and pioneer. He teaches coursework related to the innovation and management of change and technology, including Organizational Moonshots.

Andrew Isaacs helps startups and established companies create and execute successful leadership strategies. He teaches Opportunity Recognition: Technology and Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, Innovation Strategies for Emerging Technologies, and Technology Innovation.

Gregory La Blanc, faculty director of the Berkeley Fintech Institute, brings  interest in data and analytics strategy, business model innovation, and alternative investment strategies into the classroom in courses such as Data Science and Data Strategy, Microeconomics for Decision Making, and Behavioral Finance, among others.

Related Resources

The Institute for Business Innovation focuses on innovation in both startups and corporations, through research and by training students to be inventive and entrepreneurial leaders. It is home to the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation and the Fisher Center for Business Analytics, among other initiatives. 

These Berkeley Executive Fellows serve as advisers to the dean and share expertise with students through events and programs throughout the year. They include: John Hanke, whose startup, Keyhole, became the foundation for Google Earth and who now heads Niantic, creators of Pokémon Go; Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist and now chief evangelist for Canva; Tom Kelly, General Manager of IDEO; and Biz Stone, co-founder, Twitter.

Tech Co-Curriculars

The Berkeley Haas Technology Club provides current members and alumni with the network, access, knowledge, and practical experience to advance careers across all technology industries. 

The Digital Media and Entertainment Club (DMEC) hosts activities and discussions that cover topics from software to devices, and organizes the popular annual >play Digital Media Conference. DMEC organizes treks to nearby companies (Pinterest, Pocket Gems, Zynga) and sponsors small, informal discussions with tech leaders.

The Berkeley Entrepreneurs Association aims to be the comprehensive guide and helper for everything happening at UC Berkeley related to entrepreneurship, with many Berkeley and Haas ventures launched in the tech space. The BEA hosts the Bear Trap competition and supports LAUNCH and the Global Social Venture Competition, among others.

The Haas Innovation Design Club supports students in exploring how design thinking skills fit into business and how business skills fit into the design world, through speakers, workshops, and an innovation lab. HID brings to campus speakers from firms such as Salesforce, Ignite, Fidelity Labs, and organizes treks to nearby companies (frog design, Fuseproject, and Ignite).

Support for Tech Careers

Berkeley Haas offers students an ideal launchpad to technology careers. Top tech firms actively recruit at Berkeley Haas, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Workday, and many others. Haas’ Career Management Group (CMG) facilitates recruiting events such as Information Sessions, Coffee Chats, Networking Nights and Industry Panels.

The CMG provides many resources to support their MBA students: Two Relationship Managers, to advise on recruiting timelines and process; six Industry Professionals with real-time knowledge of the sector; a team of Peer Advisors and Career Coaches; and a wide network of alumni working in tech. The Haas Student Technology Club also plans career exploration events throughout the year.

Experiential learning classes including, Haas at Work, also offer opportunities to build your network as you engage on projects with firms such as Autodesk, Adobe, Cisco, PayPal, Panasonic, and HP.

Haas students interested in entrepreneurship are supported by our Startup Relationship Manager and VC Advisor, resources like the SkyDeck accelerator, Lean Launchpad class, the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Association and more.

Katie Benintende

Katie Benintende

MBA 15

Senior Strategy Lead
Google

“One of the best things about being at Berkeley Haas was just learning how things work in Silicon Valley. We had such great access, from speaker series to treks, and my classmates and professors were phenomenal resources. I feel like I learned the tech ecosystem from the best seat in the house.”