A LETTER TO A CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT FRESHMAN
Hey freshman! How is your first week? I hope you’re enjoying the new environment.
This letter is what I would tell the little boy in me in my first year.
First, welcome to this great profession. ‘CONMAN’ Probably one term you’ll come across in ADD. It simply means Construction Management. I must mention that you’ll be told that you can work as an architect or probably they’ve told you that already. It’s something that almost all those that have been before you have been told. Please, get into your head and dig that shit out. There is an architecture department on ADD third floor. That’s where architects are trained & not on the other side in the Construction management studios. You are here to become a Construction Manager. ‘To thine own self be true!’
It’s okay to be confused as a freshman but the earlier you set clear the path to follow to develop your career the better. Don’t wait to learn from the school of hard knocks.
Ask yourself, what do you really want to become? A construction project manager? A contractor? What skills are required for these professionals? For the four years in ADD work on that. Four years is a short time.
Take charge of CRESA & bring that body back to life.
As you walk down to St. Paul, view the magnificent Nairobi expressway, up club 36 or as you stroll along state house road think of how many projects have stalled in this country, those than have been finished a year plus behind schedule, those that have been completed overbudget, those that have zero return on investment and those that have collapsed in the process of construction. Do you really want to go through a course on construction management for four years and be involved in such? Get to work immediately, we have an industry to work on.
I will give you a plan that I am certain it will work. In your years in school observe & interact with the industry, take time to acquire a few basic skills while still at school then after the four years come out and experiment.
The earlier you join a professional body the better. ACMK is there. I am sure they are ready for you. This helps you network & also you get to know what happens on the other side of professional practice after school.
Please find time to enjoy every bit of your campus life. As you work on your career be in some adventure too. ‘All work without play makes Jack a dull boy’ Au sio?
All the best & cheers to a better construction industry!
+Anthony Muoki 27th September 2022
