TheBREWCAST www.cambrewington.com

Yes, BREWCAST listeners, you read correctly - this is the last episode in this season. Don't worry, I'll do a wrap up next week to let you know what's coming next.

With all this discussion about MBAs, it’s time to talk about another option when it comes to educating yourself – the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

I’d like to welcome Bryan Dawley to the show to share his knowledge about the CFA! Bryan recently completed the program, and I was keen to chat to him about how he made the decision to take his CFA, how he worked through the massive amount of content, and some of the tactics he used to get through the program successfully.

Bryan is a P.Eng with a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering. And yes, like the other engineers I have had on the show, he tracked the hours he put into the program via spreadsheet…surprise!
We talk a lot about the differences and similarities between the two programs. A few highlights from the show:

• How the CFA is 100% self-directed whereas the MBA is very group focused - the time commitments are structured differently, and we discuss how this changes the dynamic of the program
• The considerations in terms the time and energy sacrifice required to complete an MBA or a CFA are quite similar. On the contrary, we also talk about how the delivery of the programs are very different
• We talk about the difference in cost between the two programs and how it serves as a major differentiator
• Tactics Bryan used for motivation and discipline to get through the program
• How completing either a CFA or MBA improves your performance at work

I have a new appreciation for the CFA Program, and I think it is a great alternative to an MBA. It could also compliment an MBA if you are just a little bit crazy - you know who you are!

There is one last comparison that I think is worth noting between the two programs. And that is the pass rate. I realize we aren’t comparing apples to apples here, and certainly the barriers to entry for starting the programs are miles apart, primarily due to the cost. It’s hard to not be fully committed to an MBA with the price tag, whereas with the CFA, there may be many that are just testing it out. Here are the pass rates for the CFA:

• Level 1: ~45% of candidates that sit for the exam pass
• Level 2: ~45% of candidates that sit for the exam pass
• Level 3: ~55% of candidates that sit for the exam pass

Congratulations to Bryan for finishing his CFA (all three levels) successfully, and a big thanks to him for being on the show. If you have more questions about CFA’s, send me a note and I will put you in touch with Bryan.

This episode features Farouq Datoo – one of my favourite humans. Farouq gave me a lot of advice and perspective on “the bigger picture” throughout our year together (still does!) and I’m excited that we can share some of it with you.

We talk about some of the main considerations for an MBA in terms of program selection and the criteria Farouq used which was primarily based on the term of program, the percentage of the curriculum that was online (or more importantly, that wasn’t online) and the school ranking. It was also interesting to hear some of the reasoning Farouq had around selecting a part-time program vs. a full time.

Farouq also talks about his progression through a sales career and how the MBA program has supported this. Hint – it wasn’t exactly what I expected. One of the outcomes from the program that Farouq discusses was how people started to notice how his approach to problems and conversations changed (for the better, of course).
We discuss the cost of MBAs, and how Farouq thought about the heavy investment and how he kept his mind focused on the long-term benefits of the program, everything he was learning, and reminding himself that it was “only” 1 year. I like his mantra of “if you are investing in yourself, you can’t go wrong.”

Farouq talks about some of the advice he received from his mentors – and how the feedback and direction around the decision to go ahead with an MBA weren’t exactly clear.

Building on Episode 9, we also discuss some of the conversations he had leading up to the program. These included his wife (that’s a big one!), friends, family and colleagues.

Finally, Farouq leaves us with one last quote that I will definitely be using in the future: “The MBA is a key to a door…. make sure it’s the right door!”

Thanks to Farouq for being on the show! Enjoy.

Greetings BREWCAST listeners! I’m back in Australia after a trip to the US to go riding with the SHITHAWKS (our new biking gang - see photo). You can check out my Instagram (thebrewcast) for a few videos of the adventure.

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone that has reached out and got in touch with me about the podcast. I literally had someone tell me they despise MBAs and to stop convincing people to do them. I told him to go do a CFA…haha (just kidding – sort of). But in all seriousness, my intention with this series is not to convince people to do an MBA. It is to provide the information and perspective to help YOU make the best decision. Speaking of CFAs, I have a guest coming on the show soon who has his level 3 CFA - it will be super interesting to talk about the differences and similarities between this path and an MBA.

Please keep getting in touch with me via my website, Instagram or LinkedIn!

In this episode, I talk about some of the conversations I think are critical to have during your decision process to take an MBA or any other further education. The four categories of conversations I discuss:
• Being strategic with your boss
• Getting support from your significant other
• Set the expectation with your family
• How to deal with your friends and the inevitable FOMO!

Keep the comments coming and tune in to the great conversations I have coming up on TheBREWCAST.

Cam

This is an exciting episode for me because Dave was one of the key people that helped me through the decision process when I was considering my MBA, and I’m pumped to share some of his knowledge with you.

Dave has an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, a master’s in petroleum engineering and has over 10 years of work experience as a petroleum (reservoir) engineer. He talks about how doing an MBA is “finishing school for an engineer.”

We talk about the EMBA program he completed in terms of the structure, and the value proposition of getting two MBAs (Queen’s and Cornell). Not only does this add a US component to the expansion of the network, it never hurts to have an Ivy league school on your transcript!

We dive into my favourite topic and one of the most critical for the decision to take an MBA - opportunity costs. I’m glad another engineer came on the show to back-up Raphael (Episode 2), and Dave calls me out for “tech shaming.” Fair enough! Throughout the program, Dave tracked every hour he put into his MBA. At the end of the program, this ended up being about 21 hours per week on average. If you are thinking about an MBA, consider where the 21 hours a week are going to come from. What are your trade-offs going to be?

This discussion is also a great follow up to the previous episode on the cost, because we really get into the value and investment:
• How much of the return on investment is real and how much of it is intangible?
• The often vague the correlation between career progression and completing an MBA can be in the first few years. However, we do agree that it is directly correlated to your performance.
Some other highlights from the episode:
• Dave talks about the three questions you will likely be asked, especially in an EMBA: Where’d you do it? Why’d you do it? And who paid for it?
• The 5 major things Dave got out of his EMBA
• We explore the idea of creating your own MBA
• Why Dave is an advocate for having more work experience before doing an EMBA.

Finally, some of the best advice from Dave when considering an MBA is to think about these 2 questions: 1) Why you are doing it and 2) What is the end game?

A huge thanks to Dave for being on the show and sharing some of his wisdom. Talking with Dave was extremely helpful for me when I was going through the decision process, and it’s great to have some of these thoughts out on TheBREWCAST for you to listen to as well.

Enjoy the show!

Let’s talk about the cost of an MBA. For a lot of the episodes I’ve done, it feels like a bit of the elephant in the room because I think the cost is the number 1 barrier to entry for taking an MBA. Here’s 3 examples:

• Queens Accelerated MBA for Business Grads: $82,000
• Ivey One-Year MBA: $107,950.
• Queens EMBA Americas: $139,865

Check out the opportunity cost calculator on the Ivey website. We have talked about this before. There is opportunity cost in terms of your time sacrifice which I talk about that a lot with my various guests, but this calculator is purely on the trade offs between working while doing your MBA or not. By the way, a Harvard MBA (two-year program) is $237,000 USD, not including any opportunity cost.
While this is interesting, and as much as I like the idea of the opportunity cost calculator, I think it is not the right way to look at the value of an MBA.

In this episode I talk about 3 things that will help you think about the cost, and if it is worth it for you.
• Redefining “Value”
• Get creative with your financing!
• Pay attention to what portion of the program is “tuition” and which is “other fees”.

Deciding if the cost is worth it is not a simple question and therefore not a simple solution. I can’t give you the answer. But if you start to redefine value, get to work on creative ways to finance your program, and do the research on what you are paying for in the program, I think it will get you closer to your answer.

As always, please get in touch with me if you have questions, thoughts or suggestions. There is another great episode coming up for you in a couple days. Talk to you then – and thanks for listening to the BREWCAST!

PS: The picture is my recording studio in Brisbane. This is where all the magic happens 😊