Real Estate Opportunity For Civil Engineers
Hi all,
I am currently a student enrolled in the BS Civil Engineering. I have an entrepreneur mindset and I really don't wanna grind from 9 to 5. To heat up the game, I do work for some of my projects which include websites and stuff.
Can anyone guide me on how can I make my first move to start earning some money or leave money, just start a professional life in the Civil Engineering?
It's my second year and I still lack direction. I had some interest in making websites and software but I am more passionate about construction. So guidance needed here. I need to start up ideas with minimum investments
It's a long and brutal process, but at least you're starting out early. I studied CE, but spent 5 years after school doing structural engineering. 2 years in and I realized I was way too entrepreneurial to be stuck doing calculations all day. I spent 3 years on a conquest and finally made the leap into the development world.
I won't speak to "earning some money", but if you're interested in something along the lines of development: If you can, minor in finance. If you manage to get in a room with a developer, seeing "finance" on your resume seems to be what these people are looking for. Start cold emailing developers/real estate agents/REPE/GC guys in your alumni network. Google "(your school's name) real estate development linkedin" or "(your home town) real estate development linkedin". Reach out to those people. Meet them for coffee and get your story out there. Try to land internships at some small shops or get in a few days of shadowing.
The coffee chats and informational interviews are extremely important. Start doing that now, so you can network in hopes of landing an internship for summer. Peruse this site for some tips and tricks for cold emails/informational interviews/etc. (especially the investment banking forums) - it really helped me out. Meeting with different professionals in different roles in real estate will help you better understand what you want to do and what interests you.
One problem and mistake I made when studying engineering was not knowing how specialized and limited the exit opportunities were. If you don't think you want to be an engineer, make sure you set yourself up for success by adding on a business/finance minor - you have more routes with that. CE is a good skill to have (granted you won't really know how to do anything until you spend 1-2 years in the industry). Another option I almost took was work for a couple of years and do an MBA or MRED. Sorry my response was rapid fire, but got excited - you don't see too many engineers on this site.