Hello everyone,

Kindly appreciate your advice:

Background:
1. I'm 24 y.o. with 3 years of full-time working experience from Jakarta, Indonesia.
2. Currently working with Southeast Asia's leading super app in digital payment as Product Marketing Supervisor.
3. Bachelor's degree in Management from local university in Indonesia (private uni)

Goal:
1. To promote my leadership skills and getting into higher/managerial positions in Indonesia (or SEA)
2. Preferable job function in Product Marketing/Growth/Consulting/Strategic

Question:
1. Is it essential for obtaining a master's degree in order for my career to progress at this point? MSc, EMBA, or online MBA?
2. I have been offered by 3 DL MBA programs
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- The University of London (x QMUL)

Thank you :)

What's the third option?
What qualifications do managers have in the firms you are targeting? Surely they have local qualifications, not British ones?
Also see https://find-mba.com/board/distance-learning/value-alternatives-to-unaccredited-mbas-58288

I think a lot of this depends on the future you want for your career.

If you really want to rise to the top, then take a fulltime degree at an excellent school. Thinking of my experience in the region, (which is more PH, SG, VN) ( see the top people attending either top schools in Singapore (e.g INSEAD, National University of Singapore), or full-time programmes at schools with strong networks in SEA (e.g. Harvard Business School or Indian School of Business) or taking part-time degrees in Singapore that they can fly into (Chicago Booth, Insead, Manchester).

If you want to stay in Indonesia, I've seen quite a lot of respect for Australian schools (University of Western Australia is popular because of good flight connections) or with local schools.

[Edited by Duncan on Apr 23, 2020]

Hi Duncan,

1 The 3rd option is EBS HWU, but I'm pretty sure it is not good enough in terms of accreditation, so I have excluded it.

2. I'm targeting multicultural companies in the consulting industry such as BCG or McKinsey, as well as top tier startups (which I'm currently working with).
However, I found that the most qualification of managerial level from these companies tends to have a background from Consulting (for example my direct manager-Vice President, was working at McK) or degree from overseas universities. (My company is an English speaking company in Indonesia with multiple numbers of nationalities)

3. I was thinking about full-time programs at school, but is it essential for my early-career age? Since I'm just 24 y.o with only 2-3 years of working experience

Your advice would be much appreciated :)

Yes a top full time program makes more sense. You will get a big boost and it will be the most likely route into the roles you mention. Making a low quality MBA now will make it harder for you to enter a great MBA later on.