Two Years After Completing My MBA

It has now been two full years to the day since I completed the MBA at Queen's. I find myself in the same apartment after a day at work three years after starting the MBA, two and a half years after the worst financial crisis in my memorable history and two years after completing the MBA. The economy is improving, slowly, and it is much stronger than when I graduated. The good news for me is that my chosen industry, oil and gas, is doing better than most. “A rising tide floats all ships,” as they say, and I feel like I have chosen the right tide indeed.

Right now I am working in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. However, I am not in the role I took originally. After six months in my previous position, as a Market Analyst with a manufacturer of tubular products for the oil and gas industry, I conducted a self review. I took stock of where I was at, where I was going, how I was fitting into the organization I had joined and where I would fit in the future. The tough truth was that it wasn't the right fit.

After taking time to figure out exactly where I wanted to go, I started talking to friends, colleagues and recruiters. In the end, a friend referred me to a position that I absolutely love.

I am currently an Exploitation Engineer with a large Canadian exploration and production company in their Acquisition and Divestment team. As a professional engineer with a background in reservoir engineering and evaluation engineering I have a solid understanding of the technical and economic aspects of oil and gas. With my MBA I am able to go through the financial and corporate materials of small companies we are assessing for acquisition opportunities. It is the perfect place for me to be since it satisfies my desire to learn more about the corporate finance side of the business without necessarily having to take on a banking role, while at the same time allowing me to maintain my professional engineering status I worked so hard to get in the first place.

In addition, this role is definitely helping me advance toward my long-term goal of assembling a skill set that will allow me to be a member of a senior leadership team within an oil and gas exploration and production company in the future. Also, this position came with a raise that has put me above my pre-MBA earning level. It took bit of time with the downturn, but everything is looking up now.

This past year has seen some of my MBA colleague move into new positions as they found their dream jobs. In addition, the last few people who were holding out for the perfect job were successful. With those changes, I would say that the majority of my class has been successful in pursuing the dreams they set out to achieve when they started the MBA.

The class has drifted significantly apart in the past year. I see the one classmate here in Calgary about once a month, but I only hear from my other classmates about every six months and then it is only a few select people who make the effort. This is completely understandable as people move forward with their lives. From what I have been able to tell it is the same even when there are a lot of them in the same city (i.e. Toronto).

I have been attending a few of the alumni events for the business school and for the MBA program. It is here that I stay in touch with the administration staff and meet past as well as new grads. Through the administration staff I am able to hear about what my other colleagues are up to and what is new with the program. Also, I am able to help with information sessions when the school comes to town to promote the program and the school. It is during these visits as well that I have been able to learn that the placement level of the current class has returned to pre-crash levels.

Overall, my decision to complete an MBA has been a good one. It is taking a little longer for my career to get moving again than I had anticipated, but that is to be expected with what happened in the economy. However, I can definitely see where the MBA is already helping me advance and where it will help me in the future.

Well, that sums it up for my two year entry.

Until next time,
Appleseed

One Week After Completing My MBA

It has now bee one full week since I completed my MBA at Queen's. This past week has been filled with sad "good-byes" and promises to visit people in the future. We have also had several dinner gatherings. One of these was after spending a day cruising the country side in a pair of SUVs loaded with classmates to seek out local foods which we then cooked and ate. This particular activity has been done a few times and has become known as "super-happy-fun-day". It is amazing what you can find around Kingston.

I thought that one week would be enough time to reflect on the past year and write some key insights, but, alas, it hasn't. I will try to do this in a later entry. There is just too much going on with everyone moving and my search for full-time employment going strong.

A lot of the people who will make up next year's class have arrived in Kingston. Some have made contact with a few people in this year's class and some have managed to meet-up with their fellow classmates. From the few that I have had lunch with, during their trips out to the school, as well as those I have traded e-mails with, I can tell next year's class promises to be a fun group with many great minds. Very similar to this year's cohort. I wish them all the best.

Several people are planning to stay in Kingston as they help with "transition". This is an afternoon/evening full of events where our class passes along the student council to next years class as well as introduces them to Kingston. Since Queen's is a one year program, there is no second year students that can serve as a "knowledge transfer". "Transition" is our answer to this challenge. If all goes as planned, "transition" should happen on the 16th of May.

Convocation is on May 26th and quite a few of my classmates are planning on attending, but several will still be on exchange or will be travelling and they won't be attending. Although I am not planning to attend, as I will have just arrived back in Alberta, I may reconsider since it will be a last chance for us to see everyone together. Apparently convocation is really a spectacle at Queen's and more importantly I could see all my friends again.

After saying "good-bye" to many others over the past week, it was my turn yesterday. My wife and I finished packing and left Kingston yesterday. Today we are in Quebec City and will be in New Brunswick by this evening as we continue our trek to the east coast of Canada. We drove this far out from Calgary, so we figure a few extra days to complete the trip to the Atlantic is well worth the time and money. After that we will turn south and visit a few key US locations before heading west. Since we drove through Canada out here, we are driving back through the US. Should be a good trip.

My "team", team 426, from the program has dispersed to the four corners of the earth. Two of them are in Brazil on exchange, one has gone to Hong Kong and China to visit family, one is headed to India to visit family, one is headed to Toronto to look for work and I am headed back to Alberta.

The blog. It has taken on a life of its own. It has been very useful to help me keep track of time as it flew by and to help me appreciate just how much I was learning. However, it was started with a purpose, written with a purpose and will end with a purposed as I stated when I started this blog. Therefore, I will only be making a few more entries and all of them will be focused on the MBA and my experience at Queen's. I will write one month, three months, six months and one year post-MBA entries. There may also be the odd entry to update employment stats, when I find a job and if other significant events occur, but only if they are relevant to the purpose of this blog.

On a final note, I would like to thank the many readers who have taken the time to comment or e-mail me about the blog. It was great to know that people were finding this information. Even if it wasn't necessarily useful, I surely hope it was entertaining. I hope it has provided those looking at MBA programs with some of the answers they were seeking and I hope it has provided alumni with chance to reflect on their own MBA experience.

Accommodations: Lease is finalized.

Well, sent back the lease today with my deposit. I am now committed to a fully furnished 2 bedroom suite in Kingston, ON from May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009 for $1125/month. A little pricey, but it means not moving or purchasing furniture and it provides the space my wife will need to take her correspondence course. It is also a short walk to campus and not in the notorious "student ghetto".

I still haven't seen any picture of the place.

However, from my conversations with the current tenant, whom I lucked out in meeting during my trip for my interview, and with the landlord I'm sure it is as good or better than any other place I would find.

In addition, I have been assured it is rat free. My wife is a little apprehensive about moving to a place with rats. Here in Alberta the whole province is rat free, but that is not the case in Ontario. My friend who took his engineering degree at Queen's has had more than a few stories concerning rats to share with us.

Oh well, it is nice to have this issue out of the way. Now how to raise the funds to pay for all this crazyness...

(Queen's Housing Website)

Acceptance: Sent Back Form

Today I sent back the required form, two pictures, and check for a deposit on tuition. Hopefully this will arrive before the end of the week and my spot will be secured. Now I just have to wait to see what is next.

Application: Completed!

My application to Queen’s has been submitted after a few weeks of struggling with the essay questions. All my references have submitted there required information. The website was good because it notified me as each reference completed their stuff. The request for a transcript from my undergraduate school to be sent to Queen’s has been submitted. Now I wait.

Other related entries in my blog:

• Application: Started
• Application: Completed!
• Application: Checking up
• Application: Request for Interview!