Soon to be College Grad looking for Real Estate Development advice

[Maxwell Knostman]

Hello BP community,

My name is Maxwell Knostman, I am 22 years old and a soon to be graduate from Texas A&M university with a construction science degree. I will be beginning my first full time job in January as a Project Engineer for a large commercial contractor, most projects are large scale commercial from interior build outs to ground up and industrial / data center. I started learning about real estate development years ago and have a grown a keen interest in getting involved in development. I know the construction industry well and have experience managing projects from $800,000 - $500mm. I am looking for some advice as to how to leverage my knowledge and experience to get my way into the real estate development industry, whether that is trying to get in with an existing developer or try to go on my own. I read, learn, and talk to real estate professionals frequently but feel lost as to what real ACTION I can take to start achieving these goals of mine. I have been told I will need to go back to school to get an MBA because I will not be credible on the financing / market analysis side of things. Is this generally true? I have taught myself basic finance and financial modeling. Any advice from any of you experienced guys out there would be much appreciated.