Tech at Notre Dame
Launch Your Tech Career At Notre Dame
Technology is constantly evolving. At Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, you’ll learn the business skills to change with it. From well-established firms to emerging technologies and start-ups, Mendoza MBAs have launched their tech careers at companies like Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and Google.
Whether you choose the accelerated One-Year MBA or the traditional Two-Year MBA program, the Notre Dame MBA will help you advance your career in tech. With access to a broad range of courses, experiential learning and extracurricular opportunities, you can prepare for a dynamic career in tech while rounding out your potential to enter today’s complex business world.
Your Future in Tech
Mendoza MBAs can choose to concentrate in one major from five available options. For students pursuing a future in tech, major selection often includes business analytics, digital marketing and marketing analytics, or strategy.
Designed for students interested in using cutting-edge quantitative techniques and computer software to help businesses make better decisions through data mining, statistical modeling, optimization and project management.
Prepare for: Business Analytics, Process Analytics, Product Management, Product Marketing Management, Internal Consulting
Designed for students interested in the data-driven areas of marketing, ranging from data extraction, valuation modeling and distribution decisions to digital marketing strategy and social media management.
Prepare for: Digital Marketing Strategy, Marketing Research, Product Marketing Management, Social Media Management, Marketing Analytics
Designed for students interested in building a solid business foundation across disciplines with a focus on critical and creative approaches to solving business problems. Through projects and experiential learning, students will prepare to facilitate teams, manage client relationships, develop presentations and proposals, and participate in new business development.
Prepare for: Product Management, Program Management, Internal Consulting
First-Hand Tech Experiences
At Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, your tech education extends beyond the classroom with experiential learning and extracurricular opportunities including:
Each fall, interested students can travel to the San Francisco Bay Area to learn from and network with alumni working in top tech firms. Past treks have included visits to companies including Microsoft, SAP, Apple, Cisco, NetApp and Salesforce. (Note: This trek will be held virtually in 2021)
Second-year and One-Year MBA students will have the opportunity to spend seven weeks of the fall semester (Mod Two) in the San Francisco Bay Area. While based in Silicon Valley, students will take classes such as Data and Digital Innovation and Digital Product Management and have the opportunity to gain professional experience and network with tech professionals.
The student-run MBA Technology Club brings together students with an interest in tech for skill-building sessions, networking opportunities, guest speakers and conversations about the latest tech trends.
The student-run MBA Business Analytics Club provides members with resources and learning opportunities to become leaders in this fast-moving field. In addition to hosting workshops and guest speakers, the club dedicates time to inspiring conversations about the ethics of data collection and use.
The IDEA Center is Notre Dame’s innovation hub providing students from across the university with the resources and coaching expertise to bring ideas from discovery and business formulation to prototyping and commercial application. Students have the opportunity to test their ideas and vie for funding at the annual McCloskey New Venture Competition.
Tech Career Opportunities
The tech sector offers a wide range of products and services for both customers and businesses, and a career in tech can be similarly varied with numerous cross-functional roles including marketing, finance, analytics, strategy and more. A Mendoza MBA will help you find and prepare for the tech role that’s right for you.
Popular Roles in Tech:
Responsible for owning product development throughout its entire lifecycle. Includes gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering to deliver winning products.
Strategic role focused on project management and oversight of a group of interrelated projects. Requires a deep understanding of larger business objectives and ability to work cross functionally.
Responsible for promoting products and their features to an organization’s target audience. Duties include studying the company’s products, locating key features that will attract customers and creating marketing campaigns for products.
Primarily focused on enhancing and growing a company’s digital assets to generate sales opportunities. Responsible for omnichannel marketing across paid, earned and owned media including optimizing across social, email, web, and other digital channels.
Responsible for business-to-business selling of products and services to new and existing customers. Manage sales strategies as well as customer relationships in order to understand their needs and wants and create the best solution for each.
Find Notre Dame alumni working in technology on our LinkedIn page.
In Their Own Words
Erik Siegler MBA ‘21, Product Manager, TuSimple “At [Mendoza] I was able to explore my interest in sustainability and the positive impact business and commerce can make in the world […] I was able to factor this into my recruiting decision where I was not only able to find a company that had exciting growth opportunities and unique technology, but one that is trying to make the world a better place through reducing the emissions in the freight industry."
Claudia Santa Cruz MBA ‘21, Business Applications Specialist, Microsoft “Pursuing my MBA at Mendoza gave me the space to learn more about myself and the opportunities that were on the market. It helped me to analyze what next steps I could take to keep developing myself personally and professionally. [...]Technology is an industry that impacts several industries and markets to make a better planet [and] I love how innovations in this industry can make a great impact on people’s lives [with] more tech companies designing and developing solutions that make everyone feel included.”
Joe Kennedy MBA ‘22, Intern, Tesla “It's been invaluable to learn from professors who have both founded and successfully exited their own tech ventures. [...] The IDEA Center offered a chance to partner with engineers and launch real businesses. These two experiences mirror the skills needed to be successful in any company, but especially the fast moving tech world."