How An MBA Helped Me Pivot My Career To Become A Product Manager At Amazon

The saying ‘it’s children who teach’ may induce a few eye rolls, but for Suh Yoon it changed the entire trajectory of her career. 

After graduating from a BA in arts in the US, Suh jumped straight into a role with the non-profit Teach For America, where she spent three years teaching science and technology to students from underserved schools. 

She loved teaching and found the job rewarding, but what ultimately struck Suh was her students’ passion for the subject.

“All my students were obsessed with technology,” she says. “I realized I was too, but I felt like I was always a consumer. I wanted to learn more about what it was like to be a creator in that space.” 

Deciding to swap teaching for the tech space, Suh felt the best way to pivot her career was to return to school—but this time, to pursue an MBA. 

Why an MBA? 

To successfully pivot from education to technology, Suh (right) would need to upskill in areas that were desirable to employers in the sector. Her next step was therefore to plunge into the world of coding.

She joined Code Nation, a non-profit set up to teach basic digital skills to kids. There, she directed programs in New York, while also managing the teaching of software development in under-resourced high schools.

But her thirst for knowledge was not yet sated, so she landed a job at an early-stage startup focused on the development of a smart school transportation system, where she got an intimate grasp on what working in a tech company was really like.

After this experience, Suh decided the next step to further establish her place in the world of technology was to gain a formal business education via an MBA. 

While searching for her dream program, she was quickly convinced to pursue the Emory University Goizueta Business School Two-Year MBA—not just because of its status as one of the top 20 programs in the US, but also its highly desirable location.

Situated in the dynamic city of Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University is surrounded by more than 200 of the US’s fastest growing private companies and a thriving technology sector.

“I liked that it was connected to a lot of local tech startups,” she says. 

With a cohort consisting of fewer than 150 students, Emory’s MBA program contains a uniquely small class size compared with other top schools. Suh was impressed by the intimate setting of the course.

What skills did you learn? 

Having only recently been in the business of education herself, one of the major facets of the Full-time MBA at Emory that stood out to Suh was the quality of the teaching. 

“My professors did such a great job making real-world content so accessible and engaging,” she says.

In the first semester, Emory MBA students complete their core courses learning the fundamentals of business and strategic problem solving. 

The curriculum offers more than 90 electives and 20 different concentrations, focusing on specialist areas such as Marketing, Global Management, and Strategy Consulting. 

The second semester then sees students put their skills to the test during the IMPACT module, in which they work as a group with a real-world business client to generate solutions for a key business issue. 

Suh says the project, which saw her team working with the gym-wear giant Lululemon, was the highlight of her experience. 

“I enjoyed making their marketing and their products more accessible and more inclusive to the community on target,” she explains.

Important learnings also came outside the classroom. With a wide variety of things to do at any given time, a crucial skill that Suh picked up on her course was time management.

Fortunately, the close-knit atmosphere fostered at Emory meant that even when the work-life balance could seem overwhelming, there were always staff members available to offer support, she explains. 

How has it helped your career now? 

As part of Emory’s hands-on curriculum, first-year students are required to undertake a summer internship in an industry of their choosing—be it marketing, consulting, or, in Suh’s case, tech.

With application advice from a personal career coach—something all Emory MBAs have access to—she was offered a dream product management placement at Amazon Web Services.

“It was basically a trial run for me and for my team. It was very fast-paced and I learned a lot,” she says. 

A top employer for Emory MBA graduates, Amazon subsequently offered to keep Suh on as a product manager once she graduated. It’s a dynamic role that allows her to incorporate many areas that she’s passionate about, including the more personal aspect of teaching. 

“It's really about being the voice of the customer and figuring out what the customer wants,” she explains. 

Day-to-day, Suh liaises with customers, engineers, and other product managers to identify ways to continually improve Amazon’s service. 

Relying on more than just good communication skills, it’s also a role that requires constant critical thinking. Suh says that she uses the mental frame-working skills she picked up in her MBA to solve problems for a variety of different clients.

Additionally, she can also leverage the strong network she built at Emory to support her when work gets tough. 

“It’s really great to have those relationships coming out of school. When I'm having trouble figuring something out, I'll just reach out to people,” she says. 

With help from the Emory MBA, and a healthy portion of self-belief and determination, Suh has managed to change from making a difference through teaching to benefitting lives by improving product services at one of the world’s largest technology companies. 

“I thought, this is what I really want to do and I'm just going to go for it, even if it means I'll fail,” Suh says. “I would encourage other people to do the same.”