Real Estate Developer Goal - What should I do to land a role!

Hi Guys - will try to keep this short and sweet. For the past year I have worked for an electrical sub/gc (I say GC because we are a rather large sub). I have enjoyed my time here and find building large skyscrapers to be one of the most fulfilling and interesting careers that exists. I love the design, the permanence, and the tangibility of what I work on. It just feels like it matters.

I focus mainly on the electrical as I am a PM in that department. However, I am fascinated with the Developer side, and by what I see and hear from the developers we work with. I would like to be the person I work with on the dev side in 10-15 years, not my current boss. 

To this end, my dream is to get a shot with a big or small developer that focuses on commercial (or residential) towers or similar in NYC. Not necessarily the big firms (related, Hines etc), as I would be very open to a smaller firm to learn the ropes/get my foot in the door. I went to NYU, and have tons of family there. Currently in a Tier two city on the East Coast.

What I would love is people it this forum who are in RE dev or REPE or who have similar background to please tell me what I should do. I am ruling nothing out. I would take an internship, I would go back to school. I would try to network with the developer I work with for a job, but they are Chicago based. Again, NYC is the goal. 

Thank you in advance

5 Comments
 

The biggest impediment is going to be the financial side of things. What is your undergraduate degree in and would you be willing to consider graduate school? 

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I would definitely be interested in getting my MBA or MSRE. I did not major in business or econ, and it sounds like that is going to hold me back from any job with a developer outside of the scope I am currently involved?

 
Most Helpful

There are two ways to get into development. You either come in with finance knowledge and work as a development associate where your responsibilities are related to finance/financial modeling, dealing with LP's/lenders, manage entitlement process, keep track of the budget, manage third parties, etc...or you come in with a background in construction/architecture, engineer and you work as a project manager mainly managing the GC. Given your background, I would advise working for a construction company/general contractor (Skanska, Turner, Aecom etc....)and 2-3 years and then lateral to the construction arm of a developer as a project manager. Your experience may be enough to get you into a construction company, but if not, you might want to do a construction management certificate program at your local college.

 

Thank you for the reply. The thing is, I would rather move to a developer to focus on both the financial and the building side of a project. Simply put, I do not want to transition from a construction guy at at GC to a construction guy at a Developer. Sounding more and more like an MBA is the only path if I am understanding this correctly?

 

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