Though a marketing degree and today’s high-tech jobs might seem at odds with each other, there are actually some really innovative ways to combine a Master’s in Marketing with a degree in technology. Whether the degrees are both graduate degrees, or a combination of graduate and undergraduate undertakings, professionals with a dual interest in the marketing industry and the high-tech economy will find that they can leverage these interests to provide more effective services to their clients across a broad spectrum of industries and economic sectors.
Consider a Tech-Related Marketing Concentration
Marketing has increasingly become a high-tech job in its own right. Over the past decade, marketing has evolved into an industry focused heavily on social media, online branding, and digital promotion. All of these activities require not only a high-level understanding of technology, but also a degree of comfort in implementing complex schemes using computers, mobile devices, and analytics tools. As a result, today’s marketing programs increasingly offer concentrations in social media marketing, marketing and information systems, business technologies, and computer-aided marketing analytics. All of these concentrations will teach students advanced marketing concepts alongside emerging technologies that are changing the profession itself.
Dual-Degree Programs Teach Both Skills at Once
Another option for graduate students with a dual interest in marketing and technology is to consider a dual-degree program at their academic institution of choice. Dual degrees are increasingly popular in all fields, generally because they give graduates a longer and more impressive resume that can be used in several fields at once. Blending marketing and technology courses is actually pretty easy, especially with their increasing convergence in today’s economy. At most schools, pursuing a dual major in these two fields will add only about 18 extra credits, or one extra year, to the typical graduate program. This helps to not only prepare graduates for work in both fields, but also to cut down on their graduate education expenses as they pursue two Master’s degrees.
Combine Marketing Graduate Work with an Undergraduate Tech Major
While many people pursue a graduate degree to enhance their existing skills, others enroll in a graduate program to help supplement their existing strengths. College graduates who studied in fields like computer science, software engineering, information technology, or management information systems, will find that they don’t really need to pursue graduate work in technology at all. Instead, they can focus on a tech-related marketing concentration and use their undergraduate knowledge to help them land a job that merges these two pursuits with ease. Graduates with a tech background from their undergraduate career will also find that they add real value to a marketing classroom, especially when their peers begin learning marketing software tools, social media marketing basics, and new analytics and data modeling tools.
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A Viable Combination in a Tech-Heavy Economy
There are numerous ways to blend graduate work in marketing with classes or specialized skills in the tech field, according to US News and World Report. This will become an even more common combination over time, especially as marketing becomes the domain of social media and search engines. Whether students wish to pursue a dual degree program, a tech-oriented marketing concentration, or a blend of their undergraduate tech skills with their graduate pursuits in the marketing field, it’s actually very easy to combine a Master’s in Marketing with a degree in technology.
