The Importance of Engineering In Marketing

From Ad Age - Degree in Engineering Key to Unlocking Doors to Marketing Suite.  Interesting points:

As an icebreaker at a dinner of 15 marketing executives in San Francisco last fall, each attendee offered a personal tidbit no one at the table knew. One of the first to go revealed a career that began not in marketing but engineering.
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"We were all initially surprised to learn that so many of us had engineering backgrounds," said Salesforce CMO Lynn Vojvodich, who hosted the dinner and was among those who spent time as an engineer. "But as we started talking more about it, it made sense. Many of the skills we learned as engineers translated well into marketing."

The engineer-turned-marketer has become less unusual in recent years, especially among b-to-b brands, and their stock is rising. As marketing organizations have beefed up their data capabilities to more precisely target and message, big names like Salesforce and Emerson have turned to former engineers to help drive that effort. And consumer brands such as JetBlue and Kohl's employ senior marketers with engineering backgrounds, suggesting the trend is moving across the spectrum.

For CMOs like Ms. Lansing, the job is about more than crafting a message, but selecting the right technology, overseeing its implementation and turning the dials just right so the messaging leads to sales. It's work well-suited for a trained engineer. "What you're going to find is the people that are running marketing departments are going to be far more technical and are going to have the best of both worlds," said Ms. Lansing. "They're going to have that technical understanding, and they're going to marry it with that insight and creative that the marketing side brings."

Michael Allen, senior managing director of executive search firm Allen & Associates, said marketing's increased prominence within organizations has also created demand for engineering skills. "We had clients that years ago looked at marketing as a support function. That's changed," he said. Marketing executives with engineering backgrounds particularly have a leg up, he said. Trained engineers tend to understand product development, line extensions, supply chain and operations -- key competencies for the roles he's trying to fill.