[TheReturn]

As of late I've been considering enrolling in a construction management program in Toronto, I live in the GTA. It's an applied degree, something you Americans might not be familiar with. A sort of degree below the value of a regular degree due to it being more practical and less academic/higher-order. The typical jobs that people seem to be getting out of this program, from a linkedin search are as
-estimators
-project co-ordinators
-site superintendents
and for the one's who make it up the ladder it seems
-project managers
-directors

Anyone have insight into the industry to share? Any canadian members know about these specific programs? Really anything of value I'd love to hear.

Right now I'm enrolled at a run of the mill large-uni in Ontario, Western University, doing a B.A intending Law School. But this industry and career path really piques my curiosity. When I read the job postings, it just seems like just the kind of challenge I like.

http://www.georgebrown.ca/T312-2016-2017/

[scotian]

(02-24-2017 01:33 AM)TheReturn Wrote:  

As of late I've been considering enrolling in a construction management program in Toronto, I live in the GTA. It's an applied degree, something you Americans might not be familiar with. A sort of degree below the value of a regular degree due to it being more practical and less academic/higher-order. The typical jobs that people seem to be getting out of this program, from a linkedin search are as
-estimators
-project co-ordinators
-site superintendents
and for the one's who make it up the ladder it seems
-project managers
-directors

Anyone have insight into the industry to share? Any canadian members know about these specific programs? Really anything of value I'd love to hear.

Right now I'm enrolled at a run of the mill large-uni in Ontario, Western University, doing a B.A intending Law School. But this industry and career path really piques my curiosity. When I read the job postings, it just seems like just the kind of challenge I like.

http://www.georgebrown.ca/T312-2016-2017/

I've done quite a bit a construction work over the years, mostly in heavy industry like oil refineries, mining, power plants, ship yard, etc. I don't think I've ever worked with any construction supervisors who had one of these type of degrees though, most of the superintendents I worked under were guys who worked their way up through the trades. I checked out the website for the program and it seems decent, also includes a work term which is good as you'll at least have a few months of work experience before you finish the degree. Hopefully your BA could transfer a few elective credits too, you should look into that.

Still, I don't recommend that you take this degree and the reason why is that you just spent 3-4 years in school being a broke ass student, do you really want to do another 3-4 years? Sometimes more education isn't the answer, you should get out into the real world and make some money and get hands on work experience. So I recommend that you look into taking a skilled trade, depending on what type of work you'd like to get into.

Basically there's three options for industries you could work in:

Residential: As the name suggests, building houses, condos, etc

Commercial: Building business buildings, shopping centres, arenas, etc.

Industrial: A wide range of things like oil and gas, nuclear, city infrastructure, green energy, etc.

There's a variety of trades to choose from and some can cross over into all of the above industries such as electrician or carpenter, others are limited to industrial such as pipe fitter or boilermaker.

The best part about taking a trade is that you'll be making money right away. So let's say that you decide to become a carpenter in Ontario, you go knock on doors until you find a business willing to hire you on as a labourer and eventually an apprentice. So you bust your ass being a journeyman's bitch for 6-12 months then you go to school for your first block of eight weeks in school training, you do that every year for four years and then eventually you become a certified journeyman carpenter who can work anywhere in Canada. That's a skill that will remain with you for life and you can always pick up work somewhere building something, plus you'll have a sense of pride after building a house or a school or whatever and being able to point at it and say "I built that!"

Having the JM certification opens many doors, you can remain on the tools and keep building shit or you can get into a supervisor role such as foreman-general foreman-site superintendent. You could also open your own contracting company (like Mike Holmes), or you could get into the office/business side of things (sales, management, etc). You could do a business degree part time or online which would certainly help if you want to get into management. Basically, I would say that a guy who is a JM carpenter with four years of direct work experience looks better than some guy who just spent four years in a classroom. Plus you'll have money in the bank as a certified journeyman as opposed to a broke ass student, so you'll have more options and won't have to take jobs you don't want as you won't be desperate for money.

Another option if you don't want to go the trades route is to take a two year diploma in technical engineering, there's tons of programs like these at community colleges and polytechnical schools in Canada. These would be electrical, civil, mechanical, chemical engineering. These programs will get you a job in your desired field in less time than the four year degree.

There's tons of options really, I think you should first get some type of labour job on a construction site maybe framing houses or a plumbers helper, something like that to get exposure to a job site environment to see if you like it. Contact some of the local residential companies in your area or the big construction companies like PCL, Bird Construction, Kiewit,Aecon, etc.

Good luck and if you have any other questions, let me know.

[Eddie Winslow]

I currently work for a close friend's firm in an office manager/accounting/project coordinator type role, although I have recently taken an estimating class and tried to absorb as much information as possible on project sites. My friend saved my ass and gave me a job after my own business venture in a completely different field failed. I lucked out because I would have never been qualified otherwise. That being said...

In my very limited experience (<1.5 years), I believe the most important skills needed for doing an excellent management job are not related to technical construction knowledge at all:

-Organization (by far the most important)
-Communication Skills
-General Project/Human Management Skills
-Attention to Detail

I work on the commercial/industrial side of construction management, which, luckily for me, means that there are usually a lot more sub-contractors, architects, engineers, and other experts that I can defer technical questions to. As long you have the right team in place, you are gold. It is challenging and you get to see the fruits of your hard work slowly appear right in front of your eyes - it is pretty damn cool.

Also, as a young gun, you can provide major value if you are technologically savvy. It's amazing how many expert plumbers and electricians, many who own their own successful businesses, barely know how to send a fucking email and see no reason to learn how to do so. Combine technological knowledge with construction knowledge and I feel like there is a lot of opportunity for you.

You'll need a degree or some type of formal training/project management experience to get any type of job, unless you have a lucky connection like me or know where to find one. All in all, I think it's a great field.

[Monty_Brogan]

Scotian gave you an amazing response. Checking in from The U.S.A, the young superintendents on the major jobs I've been on -30,45,49, and soon to be a 93 story, have been absolutely fucking clueless and receive zero respect. I've always said that the Marine Corps gets a couple things unquestionably correct. One of them is promoting from within. The Corps has the highest ratio of Officers who came from the Enlisted ranks -Mustangs.

Or in your case, men who started out sweeping out shantys, lugging plywood around, carrying Journeyman's tools, busting knuckles on wrenches, getting screamed at for fucking up, and dealing with the extreme climate 6-7 days a week for years... make the best superintendents.

Learn a trade first, then if you really want to be in the office, take some classes after you become a Journeyman and apply for a super job. The best supers in my company came straight from the field and didn't even go to college. The only time you really need a degree is if you want to break that ceiling between supers and upper management.

Lastly, who do you think will better be able to handle a slow down: the super with no skills other than "management," or the tradesman with years of experience and god knows how many connections he has made throughout?

[ronsaur]

What is your goal or reason for entering this sector? If it is to make money, independent sales reps (example: one might represent a portfolio of different companies that all make windows, and you carry a quota for each company) make a ton of money, and once you have your networks in place, it's relatively low stress.

[TheReturn]

^Ronsaur: The reason I want to go into the industry and particularly these kinds of roles especially one day is because of the challenge. This is the kind of challenge I want in my life. Let's put it this way, I'm a fan of the work.

Scotian/Eddie: After taking in both your responses I'm seriously going through a process right now of deciding whether or not to get into working as an electrician. The IBEW in my area, London ON, I was told are having an intake around right now so I'm going to get in touch with them. Either I drop out of school and get into the apprenticeship while availabe, or I take the roughly 2 years left and finish with a BA, probably in philosophy. I know not really practical. Do you guys think it would benefit me to finish the degree, whatever be the subject, then get into an apprenticeship? There's no guarantee there will be intakes in locations I qualify for. So I might end up non-union.

One thing's for sure, I don't just want to be a journeyman or perhaps eventual foreman, I want to progress into something more i.e project manager, independent contractor. Just heard from my room mate recently that his dad worked as a contractor, did it well, and is currently at 4 mill net worth, another guy he worked for was making $27k / month wiring up new houses in residential and all he did was come in at the end of the job done by his apprentices and put together the breaker. Not that I want to work less, but I'm ambitious.