The ol Engineering to Real Estate Development gambit
Hey I have a question for those of you that have made the transition before from pure engineering work into the development field. How many years of experience would be sufficient to qualify as "enough experience" before taking the leap into real estate development? I imagine the exact time frame is dependent on the jobs you have, but a rough estimate would be much appreciated.
[{"id": "igle4cu", "text": "Civil engineering or MEP/structural? I know a few civils that left after ~5 years experience (usually with their PE). It depends on your experience for the most part. Are you doing the same small part over and over or are you getting exposure to the whole process and different project types?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iglhir8", "text": "I would suggest that it depends on your project exposure more so than # of years. How many site plans have you designed, how many times have you testified in front of a planning board, how regularly do you troubleshoot complicated sites and new environmental regulations, how much experience do you have coordinating with the project architect / land use lawyer / traffic engineer / landscape architect on a project, etc.\n\nIt'd be easier to make the transition if you've been involved in several deals from the inception / initial sketch thru securing entitlements than if you've focused on just one part without much interaction with the rest of the development team.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igmrrqb", "text": "3 years. You don't need any more time in industry to be applicable for RE for grad school at least. If you're direct pivoting, the earlier the better.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igqdlpg", "text": "How about the engineering to brokerage swing? Anyone?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igt75bc", "text": "yes, eng background is nice to have, but at the end of the day, what helped me was the disciplined thinking/process acquired in eng school and subsequently working on eng projects.  pe license is a nice feather in in your cap, but not necessary.  you just need to be able to call out bs when you see it. there're a lot of facets to development so you want to see the forest for the trees.\n\ni changed from civil/structural to real estate (i.e. development/asset management).  As an engr, i worked primarily in heavy infrastructure/energy/defense work (ie power plants and dod, doe).  got tired of calculating moments, shears ands stresses, but my company offered paid for my ms in engr and i promised my parents i'd get my pe so I stuck around to get them. i left soon after for b school and then got a job underwriting real estate development deals in europe for a major us financial institution before moving on to am.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]