CCIM, CFA, CAIA, or nothing at all?
Aside from grad school, I'm looking for ways to broaden my commercial real estate education, beyond the work environment. Do you have any of these designations? What was the process like and was it worth it? Those who've been in the industry long enough, do these titles mean anything to you? Thanks! 
[{"id": "d0t088o", "text": "What do you want to do? Many of my friends have CPM\u00ae and they are always sought after, highly paid.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d0uy9oc", "text": "To echo /u/jaydotzee, what do you want to do in CRE?  That could drive a lot of it.\n\nCPMs are big in property management.  I know people who have the CCIM but I don't fully quite understand the benefits yet (I'm looking into this myself).\n\nAs for the CFA, I think it's overkill for a CRE career unless you work for a large money manager or private equity fund.  Real estate is just a subset of alternative investments section which is a subset of a host of other topics so you end up spending 3 years studying for 3 exams with little relevance to what you're doing unless you're in one of the organizations mentioned above.  You also need another CFA to sign off on relevant experience to get the designation.\n\nMy vote would be just to get your real estate salesperson or brokers license to start.  There's a lot of good information to learn from this, even if you don't plan on being an agent or broker.  (I got mine several years ago and many of the executives and senior management at my company have theirs even though no one is in brokerage here.)\n\nOnce you figure out what you want to do, it will help determine what other designations you want to pursue.", "replies": [{"id": "d0wh0mp", "text": "Happy to answer any questions regarding CCIM.  I am a designee and been involved for quite some time.  I agree with many of the comments that it is driven by what you want to do.  However, I would say that there is diverse group of occupations that have obtained the CCIM designation.  ", "replies": [{"id": "d1axn8h", "text": "How early in your career did you become a designee? I'm currently debating if it is worth it this early on while I'm still getting my feet under me. ", "replies": [{"id": "d3i9cbp", "text": "Early, yes get it now while you have time, while it might be tough now (deals vs. cash flow in), it will benefit you in the long run.  Hope that answers your question.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "d0w6twq", "text": "CCIM is strategic management of real estate investment portfolios and some financial modeling.  Asset Management.  Course work is modeled around:\n\n* Financial Analysis of R/E\n* Market Analysis\n* User Decision Analysis\n* Investor Analysis\n\nFinancial analytics to compare unlike properties and situations for investment decisions.  Real estate portfolios can be as diverse as stock portfolios.  Understand your client's risk tolerances and preferences as an investor and you can model their real estate portfolio to match.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]