Trying to go from architecture to CRE
Hi all. I'm looking to make a career change into commercial real estate from architecture. I was hoping to get some advice on how best to use my background to make this change.

As far as my background, I have a Master's in Architecture and have been out of school and working for about a year and a half. With internships I have over two years of experience working in architecture firms. I am not a licensed architect yet. My experience so far has given me enough insight that I know I want to make a career change into real estate development. Much of my problems stem from not knowing what jobs I am qualified to apply for based on my education and work experience. I am also curious as to what I should highlight that might make me stand out. I've been looking at assistant/associate project manager positions because that is the job I'd ideally like to have right now but I don't know if I am seen as too under-qualified for those positions. I have essentially no management experience and have only really been involved in producing construction documents and presentation material. Is a project coordinator position maybe more inline with my experience level? Are there other positions in real estate development that may be suited to someone with an architecture background?

Transitioning from that point, what skills/knowledge from architecture are seen as beneficial in real estate development? What can I highlight to try to make myself more appealing for a position in development? Any advice would be appreciated.
[{"id": "dacfjsg", "text": "I did what you are trying to do. I went from working as an architect at an engineering firm early in my career, to a project management role for a boutique developer, to a brief stint in lending, to a weird PE/Developer/Mezz lending firm after an MBA. If you can't build a basic project proforma in excel, you will need to learn.\n\nPlay up you construction administration experience and try to get into the industry through an owner's rep or property management role. Real estate development is largely being able to find and interpret good information and keep a lot of balls in the air. \n\nYou will also want to talk about your site analysis skills. It still blows my mind that my boss has a hard time visualizing anything on a site. She doesn't even visit the sites until we are about to pull the trigger -  she wants to know square footages, unit counts, and rough construction numbers. If you can pull quick ideas together on sketch plans, that is time and cost saving if you are working with new build or adaptive reuse projects, value-add not so much.\n\nIf you are chasing real estate because you think it will make you rich, keep in mind that you probably aren't much better off than working in a design firm. You have to have money to make it in real estate in most cases.\n\nPM me if you have other questions.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]