High powered technology companies like Facebook, Apple and Microsoft as well as Google and Amazon now compete with consultancies and investment banks for MBA graduates, writes the Financial Times. “Growing up has brought a new attitude to business education among Silicon Valley’s elite”, states the newspaper in a recent article.

UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles reported that in 2015 about 30 per cent of its MBA class were employed by technology companies – the same proportion of students went into the more traditional consulting sector.

The main employer was Adobe Systems. More students took jobs at the software company than at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deloitte. A similar pattern could be found for internship where Apple was the preferred company ahead of Deloitte, Mattel and PwC.

The increase in technology industry hirings is no coincidence. It is a mixture of graduates being lured by attractive pay packages, flexible and positive work environments but mainly also by a growing demand and interest from the industry itself. “Even five or six years ago, tech firms felt MBAs didn’t deserve to be in the technology industry because they felt they needed engineers,” Phil Han, UCLA Anderson’s director of recruiting operations, told the Financial Times. “Many of these companies are now growing so fast that they need the strategic thinking and leadership skills provided by an MBA. As a result they are coming to us more often.”

This trend is not only visible in the Californian business school which is strategically located for Silicon Valley companies, which congregate in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. A fifth of MBA students graduating from London Business School (LBS) last year also found employment in technology companies with Amazon being one of the biggest recruiters of MBA graduates not only from LBS but also from other business schools worldwide.

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Silicon Valley goes back to school to manage growth