Introduction
This review of the Berkeley CTO Program focuses on the online version. It allows you to compare the program’s format, curriculum, faculty, price, value proposition, and potential career impact against our Digital MBA for Technology Leaders.
The standard Berkeley Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Program, which, at the moment, sells at $29,000, is an entirely different type of program. It combines core modules, two short courses, and a three-day on-campus event. Upon completion of the program, students earn select Berkeley Haas alumni benefits, which is not the case with the online version we are reviewing here.
We will start with Berkeley’s value proposition.
(We open this review with a value proposition so that you can see if the program’s focus resonates with your expectations and needs early on.)
Berkeley CTO Program Value Proposition
The value proposition of the Berkeley Technology Leadership Program is the development of vision and skills to navigate digital transformation. The program aims to deliver that value by focusing on understanding the various technologies so that you can create a cohesive strategy around them. In other words, it’s more about the latest trends in technology than management.
Upon completion, you should, hopefully, walk away with the following:
- Techniques that advance your leadership acumen with a focus on topics that will help you gain maximum traction on your tech initiatives.
- A pitch deck for digital transformation that offers a technology-based solution to a business problem you face in your organisation (this is what a capstone project is used for).
- Frameworks that help with the practical application of AI-related modelling and possibilities of implementing AI-driven solutions in your organisation.
- An understanding of big data and the opportunities it presents for technology and innovation acceleration.
Overview of the Berkeley CTO Program
Format
The Berkeley CTO Program (light version) is delivered through the Emeritus online learning platform. All the contents are typically made available to students at the commencement of the course. However, students may opt in (on the Emeritus platform) to receive the program in a cohort-based manner. This ensures the program delivers the desired learning outcomes.
Schedule
The program is delivered online. It takes, on average, 6 months to finish it if you invest 4-6 hours per week. This does not include the orientation part of the program.
Target Audience
The Berkeley CTO Program is suitable for the following 4 types of managers:
- C-suite leaders and directors who want to ensure their organisations are prepared for the latest digital trends and disruptions.
- Functional heads and business leaders with a responsibility for driving tech innovation and strategy across their organisations.
- Mid- to senior-level managers and executives gearing up for tech leadership roles.
- Consultants who need to be up to speed on the latest technologies and business applications to offer superior solutions to clients.
Curriculum
The curriculum consists of 20 modules plus six live leadership development sessions. The former mixes live lectures, small group exercises, case studies and self-reflection.
These six sessions aim to teach you how to:
- Switch from individual to structural leadership models and back.
- Lead (influence) without formal authority.
- Communicate effectively.
- Use principles of persuasion.
- Adopt new leadership styles.
- Lead cultural change.
The List of Core Modules
- Overview of Digital Transformation
- Opportunities for Digital Transformation
- The Role of Data
- The Process of Digital Transformation
- Digital Business Models
- People and the Organization
- Technology and Policy
- Digital Transformation Action Plan
- Artificial Intelligence and Business
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning
- Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing
- Robotics and Reinforcement Learning
- AI Strategy
- Leading an AI-Driven Transformation in Your Organization
- The Future of AI in Business
- The Fintech Revolution
- The Fintech Ecosystem
- The Economic Foundations of Fintech
- Fintech Idea to Execution
- Capstone
The final module, “Capstone”, is pretty much the same thing they have in the Wharton CTO Program. You create a pitch for a digital transformation solution you came up with during the course. It includes change management and rollout plans.
But when you take a better look at the curriculum, one thing becomes clear: the least effort was made to teach you how to lead and manage. Berkeley focuses more on the latest technology, transformation, and fintech. There’s only one module discussing organisations and people and those live sessions. We’ve all attended live sessions and webinars…takes a lot more to learn how to lead, doesn’t it?
For the rest of the course, you are, effectively, learning about technologies; for example, the fundamentals of neural networks and deep learning with applications.
It just feels more like a classic I’m-on-college-learning-cool-technology-stuff than a true management course; with a coffee break where we actually learn things that interest us most.
And then there is a question of whether the curriculum was created solely to align with the lecturers’ core expertise and experience. It will make more sense after checking Berkeley’s faculty.
Faculty
7 professors deliver the lectures. These are serious names, no question about it. For example, Professor Pieter Abbeel is a director of the Berkeley Robot Learning Lab and co-director of the BAIR lab. Clearly, there is a leadership experience here. Unfortunately, Abbeel lectures more about trends and practices in robotics and AI than how to manage teams.
As you go through the list of lecturers, the curriculum starts making more sense. They are all experts in their respective fields. Prof. Katona, online marketing and social media. Assoc. Prof. Konchitchki, capital markets. Assoc. Prof. Lee, information and communication technologies. Prof. Parlour, finance. Assoc. Prof. Srivastava, social studies.
Only Mathew Stepka is currently employed in the private sector as a managing partner in a VC company.
Don’t get this the wrong way; they can teach stuff you can’t learn anywhere else. But is that really the underlying reason you are searching for executive education?
Besides these seven lecturers, there are usually three to four guest speakers. These are all industry experts from different domains. In the December cohort, for instance, there will be a Group Product Manager, a serial entrepreneur from the fintech industry and a university director.
So, that’s 10 people teaching how to become a CTO. Most of them are university employees.
Here, at CTO Academy, on the other hand, our Digital MBA for Technology Leaders includes 9 CTOs, 1 Group CTO, 1 Group CIO, 3 VPs of Engineering, 13 CEOs/CIOs/COOs and 20+ Senior Leaders as subject experts. That’s a over 50 lecturers delivering over 200 lectures. And all of them with coal on their faces.
What Sets the Wharton CTO Program Apart?
Berkeley’s CTO Program has a different focus than what you would expect from this kind of leadership education. The program is designed to maximise understanding of today’s dominant technologies and their applications.
Live sessions with faculty and guest speakers attempt to increase the traction of tech initiatives.
The Capstone project initially serves as a learning tool, but eventually evolves into an asset when proposing a technological solution with a corresponding strategy.
So it’s perhaps less about people management and more about understanding different technologies to as many details as possible, to, ultimately, apply one or more of them as solutions.
Is There a Career Advancement Potential?
If you can get Pieter Abbeel to write you a letter of recommendation, then there is definitely some potential. And it’s not a joke either. If you are in the field of advanced robotics, his name really does mean something there.
Besides the knowledge, the most important element of these leadership programs is establishing connections with peers and industry experts. Berkeley Technology Leadership Program is no exception. In fact, the program can easily become the first step toward the UC Berkeley Executive Education Certificate of Business Excellence (a.k.a. COBE).
There are over one thousand participants so far from 60 countries, and they enjoy some unlikely perks. However, the path to that alumni status leads over a minimum of four programs from each of the four academic pillars, as they call them. And that, unfortunately, requires a substantial monetary and time investment.
That said,
Is the Wharton CTO Program a Good Fit for You?
The program is primarily for those already in leadership roles. The target audience is an IT manager or even a CTO who is predominantly interested in understanding tech innovations to maintain a competitive edge.
So, it might be a good fit for you if you want to:
- Learn how to identify the strategies and processes required to lead the implementation of technology
- Explore AI applications and strategies, and identify frameworks
- Evaluate the fintech environment and correlating innovations
- Create a pitch deck for your board or CEO
- Refine your leadership style to extent
Ideal Candidates
- Senior Technology Executives: CTOs, CIOs, VPs/Heads of Engineering, or senior technical leaders aiming to enhance their strategic influence and leadership in technology.
- Mid-to-Senior-Level Professionals: Individuals in functional or solution-focused technology roles seeking to transition into enterprise-wide leadership positions.
- Experienced Technology Leaders: Professionals with over 10 years of experience responsible for building and deploying technologies within their enterprise.
- Aspiring Technology Leaders: Professionals seeking practical knowledge and experience to accelerate their career progression in technology leadership.
Eligibility Criteria
- Professional Experience: A minimum of 10 years of work experience, with significant experience in senior technology executive roles.
- Role Responsibility: Experience in building and deploying technologies within an enterprise context.
- Language Proficiency: Fluency in English, both written and spoken.
- Application Process:
- Complete an online application form capturing professional background and career goals.
- Pay a non-refundable application fee of US$200.
- Optionally, schedule a consultation call with an enrollment advisor to discuss program fit and expectations.
- Program Commitment: Ability to commit to the program’s online format, including live sessions, assignments, and a capstone project.
Recommendations
- Strong Technical Background (without it, it’s nearly impossible to grasp most subjects).
Program Cost – $7,500
Included in the Program Fee
- Teaching Fees: This covers the cost of instruction from Berkeley faculty and guest speakers.
- Academic Material: All course materials, including case studies, readings and online resources.
- Access to Online Coursework: You’ll have full access to the online learning platform and all associated content throughout the program duration.
Conclusion
Participants can learn a lot about fintech, AI, advanced robotics, machine learning, business models, and big data. And it’s Berkeley, after all. When you attach the certificate to your CV, it does add a certain weight to it.
But there are two issues with this program.
For one, it feels more “operational” than “managerial”. In other words, it’s angled toward the operational aspect. And that’s more aligned to a deputy role.
The role of a Chief Technology Officer involves strategic management and execution of technology initiatives. It is, therefore, pivotal in shaping and implementing the technology roadmap while aligning it with the company’s overall goals and vision.
What enables tech leaders to drive innovation, oversee development and infrastructure, ensure data security, and foster a culture of technological advancement is not only a deep understanding of emerging technologies and their potential impact, but also the people they lead.
In other words, it’s less “keyboard” and more “leading”. Less “tech skills”, more “soft skills”. You can design the best technology strategy; however, if you don’t know how to get your team all roused up about it, it’s in vain because you can’t do it alone.
And then there is this second issue.
Remember earlier when we said that these programs are predominantly about building connections? Well, the networking opportunities here are seriously limited because you are not rewarded with an alumni status upon completion.
At CTO Academy, on the other hand, we nurture a different approach. Students are automatically granted a membership, which enables them to immediately tap into the braintrust of a CTO Community with over 1,000 active members. Jobs, advice, recommendations, live hands-on help, frequent sessions with seasoned CTOs, and meet-ups; it’s all here at your disposal 24/7.
The curriculum of our Digital MBA for Technology Leaders may appear similar to other such programs, but, at its core, it is predominantly oriented toward teaching our students how to lead the implementation of all those solutions. Over 200 lectures, and each contains a management component.
It’s not enough to know how to teach a robot to tie a shoelace. To be a Chief Technology Officer also means knowing how to lead others to teach it without getting in their way.