[SeeGeeWhy]

I'm half way through the program at Haskayne. The MBA is like any other kind of training, it's only as useful as you make it. The letters aren't going to magically do anything for you.

Personally, it is helping me advance my career in more of a strategic planning mould in both my day job and in my entrepreneurial ventures, moving away from my undergrad training and first 5 years of experience as an engineer. That said, I had both of these initiatives working for myself before I went into the program. My decision to do the MBA was based on my desire to receive more training in order to assist me in moving in the direction I saw for myself. I'm positive that there is little value in doing it, just to do it.

Prospects in the traditional commerce world are looking rough right now, unless you're already connected. In my opinion, the timing decision (full time v part time) will probably come down to more of a quality of life decision versus an economic one. Part time is difficult, but you're advancing your career and earning a cheque. My opinion is that if you plan on staying in the industry that you're in... do part time. If you're looking to start from square one, just go full time and get it out of the way so you're not delaying the learning process any more than you have to.

A second piece of advice is to network as much as possible while you're there, and try to get into a program that will give you some international exposure (i.e. take a semester overseas).

The surveys that Haskayne releases on salary while entering vs salary after leaving the program is a little biased as the working students are typically at the point in their careers where they're specializing anyway and are experiencing the sort of boost in compensation that typically accompanies the traditional corporate 'golden handcuff' methodology. It's very hard to assess the "financial gains" that you'll receive from taking an MBA, but I can tell you that I know a hell of a lot more about business, money, the management mindset, etc than I ever did before - and I am positive that those learnings are going to help me a lot over the years.

What direction are you thinking about taking your career? Staying in Alberta oil and gas, or something completely different?