Education is always a very touchy subject in construction.\u00a0 I’ve certainly noticed some unspoken dissention between th![\"CEM\"](\"https:\/\/constructonomics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/CEM.jpg\" "\\"CEM\\"")
e school of hard-knockers and the book-smart engineering kids.\u00a0 One time when we were setting up a new office in the storage closet of the building, a boss told me that nobody with a master’s degree is allowed to use the power tools.\u00a0 C’mon guys can’t we just respect each other?<\/p>\n
The reality is that education has forcefully permeated the construction industry right down to the subcontractor tradesman.\u00a0 Unfortunately for some, it is not going away and it’s only going to get bigger and more specialized.\u00a0 So the question we need\u00a0to ask is not\u00a0if we should go to\u00a0grad school, but rather, what kind of graduate degree\u00a0is best for a career in construction.\u00a0 So, what is it?<\/p>\n
I’m sorry, but the answer is just not that simple, and after getting a master’s degree in Construction Engineering and Management, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there is rarely a right answer for anything.\u00a0 This makes things difficult when making decisions because you can’t just knee-jerk to accepted convention – you actually\u00a0have to think about the situation and make a unique individual decision.\u00a0 God forbid.<\/p>\n
However, the accepted convention exists, andthat is of course to get an MBA.\u00a0 I am personally not a huge fan of\u00a0the MBA (don’t tell my brother or girlfriend, but it doesn’t really matter because they’re too busy throwing money around to read\u00a0my blog anyway).\u00a0 I took a couple of real estate development courses in the\u00a0business school at Colorado and got the feeling that while these people were very pretty and articulate, when it\u00a0came to substantive knowledge about the construction industry,\u00a0 they were way off base.\u00a0 They were real-estate developers and they\u00a0couldn’t tell you the difference\u00a0between a soil classification, a shear-moment diagram, and a CPM schedule.\u00a0 However,\u00a0I will admit that they had\u00a0a much better\u00a0handle on the finance and accounting of construction projects – although, its really not that hard to figure out.<\/p>\n
I am in favor of more specialized degrees than the MBA and degrees that will emphasize ethics and sustainability rather than greed and accumulation\u00a0of money.\u00a0 I know that MBA programs have more recently started to push harder on leadership,\u00a0ethics, and sustainability, but after the accounting scandals,\u00a0exorbitant CEO pay, and mass-layoffs of recent years, I really think this effort is\u00a0too little and certainly far too late.<\/p>\n
I am much\u00a0more in favor\u00a0of specialized degrees in Construction Management, Engineering Management, and even MS degrees in accounting or economics.\u00a0 We live in a specialized world and an MBA is just far too broad in my opinion.\u00a0\u00a0I will also\u00a0say that any\u00a0further education beyond undergrad is better than no education beyond undergrad, but if you’re gonna do it,\u00a0go the specialized route.<\/p>\n