If you're coming from engineering, your initial post-MBA-graduation salary will probably not be worth it, it might even be lower than what you're making. The key is the long-term trajectory. If you make it into investment banking or consulting, you'll see predictable linear salary and bonus growth year-after-year with pretty much no limit. As an engineer you'd reach a ceiling eventually and then it's the standard 2-3%/year cost of living increases until you die. If you have a tech background and are NOT planning on going into banking or consulting, doing the MBA is not worth it [EDIT]_financially_ (at best it's neutral long-term), in my opinion. This analysis, of course, ignores the general intangible benefits of education.

Your last line caught it. A lot depends on the experience going in too.

What's a CS major in the Midwest make with 2-5 years of experience make? What will they make with 4-7 years of experience?

The new MBA in banking will make 200+K with large rises. Consulting perhaps a little less, but great upside for those who make partners.

The other value for technical people is getting in to new areas. A CS major who learns Marketing and Finance may make a better CEO down the line. (Or a CS major who doesn't like coding any more) The MBA is the easiest way to make the switch.

If you're going to B school for the salary bump, you're doing it wrong.

Serious question: why else would you go?

It's far more holistic than a simple credential that will get you a pay bump. Ten years after I graduated from B school, I've done significant amounts of business with several classmates and juat started a company with another. I married one of them, and made life long friends with many. I'm 100% positive that I've just scratched the surface of what my MBA will give me in life - much is still to come.

Contrary to the unfortunate opinions of many here on HN (I get it, I am a former engineer), there are more good MBAs than bad ones. What I can say with certainty, is that I have never spent time with a smarter, more motivated group of people than I did in B school. That includes my time at NASA and working at couple startups. It's a unique experience, and to me at least, worth the cost even with zero financial return. But if you want to make more after B school, it's easier. Not everyone chooses to.

I cant say it's for everyone, and time will tell if it helps or hurts my path. Personally I wanted to make a bigger impact within my company & future companies for the solutions I was delivering. My CS courses didn't give me any information on how marketing, accounting, finance, HR or operations worked and WHY they mattered. I felt beholden to these departments to deliver the problem, i then negotiated the solution. But because i didn't know what their end goal was or how to talk in their terms, I couldn't easily reshape their problem to ask better questions. Improved understanding of these groups & their motivations let me better deliver solutions to their problems. I believe you should: 'Know your user inside and out' if you can. Sure it's not impossible to learn all these areas on your own, but I quickly got the lingo I needed to make sense in meetings with any group of the organization, and a degree that will follow me around to boot.

ymmv

No, that only applies to PhDs.