If you get fascinated with the construction of buildings and the processes taken to develop infrastructures, then this is for you. This article contains guidelines that will help influence your decision to acquire a degree in construction management.
What is Construction Management?
Succinctly, construction management is the management of construction projects. Unlike project management, construction management has more constraints that pertain to designing and building construction projects.
Generally, a construction manager takes charge of contracts or undertakings that concern building construction (project planning, coordination, budgeting, and supervision).
What to do with a Construction Management Degree?
Now, you may ask, what does having a degree in construction management have to offer? As this field of study covers a wide scope, so are the available career opportunities.
The Minister of Public Works recognizes construction management degree examination as a “specified recommendable formal test” based on the agreement described in the Project and Construction Management Professions Act (Act No 48/2000) and the Chartered Institute of Building.
About 36% of construction managers get employed as quantity surveyors six months after becoming graduates in the United Kingdom.
According to studies, roughly 15% of graduates work as chartered surveyors, while 9% work as production managers and directors in the construction industry.
Jobs related to a construction management degree include
- Arbitrator,
- Site engineer,
- Building services engineer,
- Fire risk assessor,
- Building surveyor,
- Estates manager,
- Building control surveyor,
- Sustainability consultant, and
- Estimator.
Skills that aid employment after a Construction Management Degree
A degree in construction management enables one to gain insight into how construction at a site works (the processes) alongside practical experience while on the job. However, this isn’t enough to help boost employment; specific skills are vital.
These skills include:
- Analytical thinking, computing and numeracy
- An understanding of health and safety
- Technical expertise areas and interest
- Strong leadership and management skills
- Communication skills and teamwork as well as the capacity to work Independently with and without supervision.
- Ability to deal with and manage issues when planning and managing projects that relates to construction.
- Ability to handle the technical and complex project details and demands.
Skills a degree in construction management will offer you
During your course of study, you will also learn how to:
- Assimilate new Information rapidly.
- Critically analyse and examine diverse Information sources that will influence decision making.
- Collect, summarise and present Information clearly
- Go in-depth in search for problems and solutions
In addition to the skills mentioned above, a degree also helps one develop skills such as self-reliance and initiative, awareness of business, and building relationships and networks in this Industry.
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Important facts about Construction Management Degrees
As the job requires you to have a bachelor’s degree, the same goes for construction management job requirements. Nowadays, construction management degrees are becoming increasingly common.
According to the National Student Cleaning house Research Center, studies have shown that in 2019, there was a 5.7% increase in the registration of the undergraduate program, which is for four years in the construction trade.
A degree in construction management from a college or university provides one the opportunity to get lessons on the various dimensions of construction management from a series of learning programs on planning, budgeting, and managing and controlling a workforce.
Acquiring a degree allows one to handle a project from the stage of conception to the completion and then the delivery of the project.
Now, let’s move onto the pros and cons one should think about before pursuing a degree in construction management.
Pros of a Construction Management Degree:
Construction managers are in high demand:
The demand for construction managers is becoming increasingly popular these days. To that effect, this makes a degree in construction management the most wanted requirement by employers (and customers).
Not having a degree doesn’t mean you won’t get a job. However, it doesn’t give you an edge over those with degrees. It is synonymous with going hedge-on in a battle you will lose.
In line with the “Bureau of Labor Statistics,” it is a norm that construction managers must possess a bachelor’s degree.
Besides having a degree, you must also have actual on-the-job experience with large construction firms that pertain to the construction industry or a similar field.
For instance, it is pretty easier to pull customers to one’s side if there is evidence of one’s credentials in business. The same goes for getting a job in construction management.
The degree is vital to experience:
While the knowledge gained in the classroom can’t be compared or replaced with actual on-the-job experience at a site or the construction site, the combination of the two (theoretical knowledge and on-the-job experience) can be used to obtain maximum results.
However, during the program, one learns diversified systems and techniques used in running a project more efficiently and in an organized way.
An adage goes thus; “a degree enables one to keep pushing whilst you fall rather than grumbling around while you learn slowly through the process of trial and error.”
A degree gives you that confidence or huge boost while on the job at a construction site because all you do is apply the knowledge gained in the classroom.
In the course of your degree program, you get to learn things about construction management you never learnt while working at a construction site (on the field).
If probably you do, not right away, learning could take some time.
Cons of a Construction Management Degree :
No doubt, getting a degree in any course of study brings more benefits and yields great results. However, a degree comes with a lot of sacrifice and compromises, of which one is working for long hours (inclusive of classroom lessons and practical experience).
This could, in turn, deprive one of sleeping. Notably, depriving oneself of sleep for long periods is termed unhealthy and detrimental to both the body and mind.
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Conclusion
Evaluating the pros and cons of a degree in construction management is wise to influence choices and the most suitable decisions.
As you know, four years of your life is being sacrificed to get that degree asides from fees payment. Deciding to get a degree in this field could be challenging.
However, it’s best to put your interest and passion first before any other thing. After that, you take that plunge!
Awesome one; I hope this article answered your question.
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