F1GMAT: Hi Zach, Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? 
Zach: Sure, I’m a 29 year old professional engineer, and recent MBA grad, who lives and works in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. My background is in oil and gas as well as power generation where I have worked in a variety of roles within consulting companies. My most recently role, prior to returning to school, was as an Evaluations Engineer completing economic evaluations on oil and gas properties.
Now I am a Market Analyst with a large global corporation that manufactures and sells tubular goods for the oil and gas industry. When I’m not working, you will find me involved in a variety of activities, since I am constantly seeking new activities that I find challenging and interesting, but I do almost always find myself coming back to cooking, reading and fitness training.
F1GMAT: Being an engineer, which events motivated you to pursue an MBA?
Zach: First, let me state that I love engineering. I like science, I like math and I like the problem solving and applied science that is involved in engineering. As a consultant, I was exposed to a wide variety of professionals at various levels in their careers within numerous organizations. I quickly realized that although I really loved engineering now, I was not the type of person who wanted to become a technical expert working in a similar capacity when I was much later on in my career. Furthermore, as a consultant, I realized I was not in a major organization on the “fast track”, or in the “talent pipeline”, receiving the education and opportunities to move from a purely technical career path to a more managerial or business related career path. Therefore, if things were going to change, I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.
In addition, I have always had an interest in business and a natural curiosity about management and business strategy. After achieving my goal of obtaining my professional engineering status, an MBA seemed like the next logical step.
Finally, I was at the point in my life where I would need to make a decision about settling down and starting a family. Although this wasn’t necessarily a motivation for completing an MBA, it was definitely the main driver for when and how I would complete an MBA. After conducting a lot of research and meeting a countless number of MBA alumni from all walks of life for informational interviews over a cup of coffee, I decided that if I was going to do an MBA, it was going to be prior to starting a family and in a full-time program.
I had talked with people who had completed part-time, full-time, distance education, with children, without children, in Canada, outside of Canada, and pretty much any variety of possibilities. All of them, save one, did not regret their decision to earn an MBA, but I knew myself and I knew from listening to their experiences that the correct path for me was full-time prior to settling down.
These three things, my career, my natural interest in business and my understanding of when and how I wanted to earn an MBA, pretty much made it clear that if I was going to pursue an MBA, I should do it now.
About Zach
Zach is the author of the popular Blog QUEEN'S MBA: GOING THE DISTANCE and is more popularly known by his pseudonym, Appleseed. After acquiring his professional engineering status while working in the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry, Zach returned to school to earn an MBA in the full-time program at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. His blog details his research into MBA programs, decision process to return to school, week-by-week experience in the program and subsequent job search.