Technology

Scale Your Impact in Tech

Looking to elevate your influence in the tech sector from tactical to strategic? To drive innovation or take ownership as a product manager? To build partnerships or identify new markets to move a company forward?  Or perhaps to pivot into tech from another sector? The Evening & Weekend MBA program at Berkeley Haas supports all of those tech career goals and more.

We develop your skills in data analysis, design thinking, communication, and leadership so you can imagine, justify, finance, produce, and market the next big thing. You will find it all, from business fundamentals in the core curriculum to electives like Decision Models, Blockchain and the Future of Technology, Business, and Law, and Innovation Strategy for Emerging Technologies.

Students are also able to participate in clubs and conferences that test skills and deepen networks, including our Play Digital Media Conference and Haas Tech Summit

Sample Coursework for Pursuing and Advancing a Career in Technology

  • SQL Programming
  • Product Management
  • Biotech & Pharma
  • Opportunity Recognition: Technology & Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley
  • Hands-on Rapid Innovation
  • The Business of AI
  • Strategy for the Networked Economy
  • Intellectual Property for Tech Entrepreneurship
  • Unlocking Digital Innovation in Healthcare
  • An Introduction to Code for MBA's
  • Building a Consumer Internet Business

Experiential Learning for a Career in Tech

In the Design Sprint for Corporate Innovation, you learn a structured approach to a business challenge using the best of design thinking, innovation strategy, and entrepreneurship in a course located in Amsterdam at the THNK School of Creative Leadership

Haas@Work connects Berkeley faculty, students, and companies that seek to promote and drive innovation through project-based courses, membership-based activities, and other initiatives. Recent clients include Autodesk, PayPal, and Nissan’s Silicon Valley Research Center.

With Lean Launchpad, you get hands-on experience in what it’s like to actually start a high-tech company. Teams use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company, meet with potential customers, and rapidly iterate to build a product customers would use and buy.

 See the full list of Berkeley MBA experiential learning opportunities.  

Tech Faculty Spotlight

Henry Chesbrough is executive director at the Center for Corporate Innovation, and Open Innovation author and pioneer. He teaches classes related to the innovation and management of change and technology, including Managing Innovation & Change.

Andrew Isaacs has a track record of helping startups and established companies create and execute successful leadership strategies. He teaches Technology Innovation. He also directs the New Management of Technology programs and the Mayfield Fellow programs at Berkeley Haas.

David Charron, CEO at Think Now, Inc., and a member of the board of Impact Carbon, runs the incubation program at the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program. He teaches Business Model Innovation and Entrepreneurial Strategy.

Gregory La Blanc, faculty director of the Berkeley Fintech Institute, ignites interest in data and analytics strategy, business model innovation, and alternative investment strategies when he teaches courses such as Data Science and Blockchain.

Tech Research Centers

The Institute for Business Innovation concentrates on innovation in startups and established companies, through research and by training students to be inventive, entrepreneurial leaders. It houses the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation and the Fisher Center for Business Analytics, among other initiatives. 

Berkeley Executive Fellows advise the dean and share their expertise with students at events and programs throughout the year. Fellows include: John Hanke, whose startup, Keyhole, became the foundation for Google Earth and who now heads Niantic, creators of Pokémon Go; Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist for Canva and former Apple evangelist; Tom Kelly, general manager of IDEO; and Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone.

Tech Co-Curriculars

The Berkeley Haas Technology Club gives members and alumni networking, access, knowledge, and practical experience to advance their careers across all technology industries. 

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

The Berkeley Entrepreneurs Association strives to be the comprehensive guide and helper for everything entrepreneurial happening at UC Berkeley and for the many Berkeley and Haas ventures launched in the tech space. The BEA hosts the Bear Trap competition and supports LAUNCH, the Global Social Venture Competition, and other competitions.

The Haas Innovation Design Club supports student exploration of how design thinking skills fit into business and how business skills fit into the design world, through speakers, workshops, and an innovation lab. HID sponsors 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 an ideal launchpad to scale or start a technology career. Our alumni network goes deep and wide at top companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon. The same companies, and many others, actively recruit at Berkeley Haas, and the experts in our Career Management Group coach you on presenting yourself as a leader for you next career move in tech.

SwethaTuppley-026

Swetha Tupelly

MBA 16

Senior Product Manager
Le Tote
San Francisco, California, USA

“I enjoy problem discovery and was always interested in how a product would affect the end user. I wanted to own more of the product lifecycle and define the vision and direction of the product."