Transitioning from broker to job in other areas of real estate

[Andrew Smith]

Is it possible to start out as a real estate broker, then switch to a non-broker job such as property management or development? How commonplace is this, and what type of experience and requirements are necessary to make this transition? Do you typically need a certain amount of broker experience? And is a MRED or MBA necessary for those jobs?

Just wondering if being a broker could serve as a steppingstone to other career paths within the industry. I am not employed in the real estate industry at the moment; I'm just dissatisfied with my current job in urban planning and have long been intrigued by the real estate field. As a result, I am in the very early stages of investigating a possible career change. I'm just not sure if it's worth my time to start out as a broker, especially if I decide later on that I'd like to pursue other areas of the real estate industry.

I don't have an MBA or MRED, but am wondering if I'd need to acquire one of those degrees in order to even get my foot in the door with an entry level non-broker real estate job.