Commercial Development

It definitely is possible, but I think it is tougher than other industries such as investment banking because as with most "buyside" jobs, developers run lean and most don't have the resources to train you from scratch. Development is a local business, so although there are big firms like Tishman//Hines/etc... there are many "no name local developers" that compete with the brand name companies in their respective local markets. These "no name shops" usually don't offer training programs and usually hire development analysts with at least 1 year of experience, unlike investment banking where they hire and train hundreds to analysts each year. But you also don't need to go directly into development out of college. You could gain very relevant experience working in a job that touches on certain aspects of development and this will help you in your future development job and if you were to go off on your own one day; jobs such as debt/equity advisory (JLL, CBRE, etc..), Investment Sales, Lending, Any real estate investment shop, construction management. Experience in any of these verticals is 100% transferable to development. I have a friend who started as an architect and went to get his MSRE to learn the finance part and pivot to development. He's absolutely fucking killing it now and making bank because he has both the design/construction from his architect days and knows the finance part from his masters. He's literally every developer's wet dream, although this was a very long path (~5-6 years). So yeah, my point is that you don't need to work for a developer straight out of college and most don't

Big name shops don’t train either

Very hard to get hired out of undergrad. Good dev shops run lean and a true development role requires to much base knowledge on different aspects - finance, legal, arch/design, construction, etc. to be able to teach you everything straight out of school. Personal opinion is best route would be to work for either a debt/equity team or investment sales for 1-2 years, then network your way to Dev analyst/ Assistant PM job. Could be a client of yours or through a recruiter, either way that first 1-2 years of experience on sellside will get you up to speed on terminology and how deals are made/closed, so you can provide some level of value to a Dev shop day one, while learning the other aspects you’ll be lacking on the job.

I'd recommend to either start at a brokerage or doing construction management for 1 to 3 years. That way you have some understanding either about how deals get put together, or how projects are built. 

Try to find a local developer near your school and work your way into an internship. This will get you experience in development while you’re in school.

This was my path. I was fortunate to find a developer offering a $10/hour internship to college kids and I worked for this company during my last two years of school. The developer was a lean team but with a national presence and my main responsibility was underwriting new deals and a small amount of development project management tasks. The company had in house construction company and at the time I graduated, they needed more help on the construction side and offered me a Project Engineer role which I declined because I wanted to stay on the development side. Even with this experience, it was very difficult as a 22 year old to find an entry level development job at a different company. I was competing with 25-27 year olds who already had full time experience. After months of rejections, I finally found a role at another developer.

In my experience, the three developers I have worked for all really value knowledge of entitlements/permitting and construction for younger hires.

Got a job at a reputable local developer in a primary market out of UG. Majored in real estate finance in college. Cpgame is right about having modeling skills, wouldn't say mine were "lights out" but I understood the basics and could build a simple model from scratch. Future upside is key. Coming into development out of UG is a steep learning curve. I was essentially creating graphics and charts for 6 months while listening in on meetings and getting mentored by senior employees.

A company that values loyal employees/tenure will put time into mentoring a recent grad if they think you'll be with them long term. They will pay you below market because of all the time they will invest. I'm 2 years in and still below market pay but the gap is closing. As a senior in college I was super set on development but honestly if I got a job as a investment sales broker for 1-2 years then switch to development I think that would have been a good experience as well. Every role in the CRE industry provides a different perspective and developers like to have a diverse knowledge base from their team members.