Before Nick Strange broke a career at McKinsey & Company, he worked as a field engineer in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.
It took almost four years of living for three-week-periods on a remote oil rig somewhere in the ocean west of Aberdeen to convince him that it wasn't the right path to take.
Nick was, for lack of a better word, a sinking ship.
"The ups and downs are so intense that when you're miserable, you are really miserable," he says. "It was an exciting lifestyle, too, but so stressful. You're living out on the oil rig for up to four weeks at a time."
Nick, an MBA graduate of Imperial College Business School, shares a similar background to many b-school students. After studying a masters in mechanical engineering, he was eager to launch a career in a tough industry.
He spent his early 20s' living either off-shore or in training centers around the UK.
"You couldn't do it if you didn't love it," Nick continues. "It was so demanding. An absolute lifestyle. But at the time I really believed in it. I just loved it."
So when he was offered the chance to join another project on an oil rig in Malabo Equatorial Guinea, Africa, he jumped at the opportunity.
"But when I got there I realized quite quickly that it wasn't what I signed up for," says Nick. "It looked pretty bleak and I was struggling with the lifestyle.
"You're out there on a rig with no chance of coming home. No one is coming to replace you until the job is done. I just couldn't face being in those conditions."
Yet his biggest challenge was deciding to quit. Engineering has a very defined career path and it was all that Nick had known. He spent almost five years at Schlumberger, the leading oil & energy solutions company, before calling it quits in 2012.
Flash forward to 2014 and Nick works at a blue-chip management consultancy. But when he left the oil and gas industry, he knew he had to go back to school to make any transition happen.
"It was a last minute decision to apply for an MBA," he says. "But a lot of engineers don't stay in one field. That's one of the benefits of studying engineering; there are a broad range of topics or avenues that are open to you afterwards.
"I was looking to leverage that knowledge and move into a commercial role."
And Imperial, one of the UK's highest MBA Ranking b-schools, has a close connection to the profession. The wider-university has one of the best engineering departments in the country and for Nick, it was a perfect fit.
He knew someone from a similar background who had enjoyed the Imperial experience. He also knew, as many graduates do, that London would give him access to some of the best MBA Job prospects in Europe.
"Imperial is renowned for its tech background and that fit with my profile," he says. "If you're stuck in a technical role it is sometimes hard to move away from the industry you're in. But that's where the MBA comes in."
If Nick's story is a claim, Imperial's stats are the confirmation. The 12-month program seeks to equip those from even the most diverse of backgrounds with the skills to make it in business.
93 per cent of their MBAs are in employment three months after graduation; with average salaries increased by more than 70 per cent.
Nick got a scholarship to help shoulder the financial burden, and he admits finance was a concern as he approached the end of the course. It is a risk taking such a long time out of industry; let alone switching careers.
Imperial offer a range of industry-specific MBA Scholarships for those from engineering, energy, telecoms and technology sectors, worth almost £20,000 each.
Not that Nick has to worry about income at McKinsey & Co, I imagine. It is one of the most sought-after firms in the MBA community. Competition is fierce; success is unlikely; salaries are highly desirable.
"It is ridiculously competitive and ridiculously hard to get to get into the firm," says Nick. "They recruit actively through Imperial and I got a very lucky break."
Consulting is a traditional function yet when Nick joined the firm last year there was nothing traditional about his path. The big consultancies are changing and McKinsey launched a new kind of service, McKinsey Solutions, offering specialist long-term services in specific industry sectors.
"Rather than just using a traditional consulting model, bringing in revenue, they (McKinsey) now want long-term solutions," he explains. "It's about building long-lasting client relationships and and looking at the bigger picture."
Nick works for one such branch, McKinsey Energy Insights, consulting clients in the oil and gas industries. But his first contact with the firm was through Imperial. They have a close link with McKinsey's Business Technology Office - as result of the b-schools strong tech reputation.
How did he succeed where so many have failed? Nick shrugs off the question. There's no great secret. "They were just looking for real industry experience. They wanted people with my profile," he says.
But he is adamant an MBA has helped. And not just by providing the initial contact with the firm. "A business qualification is a really good addition," he says. "An MBA is recognized; if you've got one, you can start a few pegs up the ladder. That’s the added value there. People will have different opinions, but it's true of these big firms."
So would he have been able to grind his way up the corporate ladder without Imperial? Nick isn't so sure. It's a question he often asks himself.
"It should've been feasible without it, but in truth it wasn’t," he says."I needed the time and space to think. Imperial was a great experience and I think you need those resources provided at business school."
McKinsey comes with its own set of challenges. It was tough to break into the firm, but it is even tougher operating as a consultant. The interview process was a warm up.
"It’s a tough transition from engineering because it's such a different line of business," Nick says. "It was stressful in my previous job because the rigs are so expensive in terms of time.
"But here at McKinsey, it is even more stressful - if a little different. It is a different world. Now, I'm trying to create value for clients through Microsoft Power Point and Excel."
That is a far-cry from the physical graft of field engineering in the North Sea. Yet with an MBA in the bank, Nick is on to harder challenges.
The beds may be more comfy, but the tasks now are just as tough.
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