In the early days, eager to consume as much information as possible I remember attending every BIM event available and joining every possible webinar that I could fit into a working day. A pattern started to emerge in that it was the software resellers putting on the events and the theme would be that we would all need to buy Autodesk Revit to ‘do BIM.’ The idea of BIM-in-a-box grew some legs and many of the early adopters bought a few licenses and started promoting their BIM proficiency. How many people remember the companies promoting how they were doing BIM Level 3, 4 & 5? and as somebody mentioned, the early days were akin to college students talking about sex - none of them are doing it and the ones that are, are doing it wrong.

After exhausting the webinars I found myself looking for training courses that would provide a recognised certification required by the industry. Initially, the BIM training courses were provided by industry groups such as the BRE and training on any BIM authoring tools would need to be delivered by software resellers. I checked with the local community colleges who couldn’t offer anything beyond 3D AutoCAD, a qualification I’d completed years earlier, and the best I could find was a BIM module bolted on to a degree in architecture at the local university. Not much use for M&E engineers.

The education sector was massively falling behind and not responding to the demand for graduates to have a knowledge of BIM and the application of the digital tools we use.  With a lack of education covering BIM, those entering the industry didn’t have the skills required and the people who had the skills were well looked after. Recruiting became a minefield and several opportunists entered the marketplace on the back of a 3-day training course. Like many companies, we decided to find the BIM champions within our existing pool of staff and empower them with implementing BIM within the business.

We look to employ a young person every couple of years and in the early BIM years we have had to rely on sending staff on outdated courses long over due modernising and only due to on the job training would our staff gain first-hand experience of BIM. In recent years have we started to see BIM included within higher education and entire courses dedicated to the subject, however only now does it feel like the tide is starting to turn for those entering the industry.

Our latest apprentice has recently enrolled on a 3-year Digital Engineering college course where he will perform the role of Digital Engineering Technician. The course is designed so the apprentice will support a Digital Engineer in completing the day to day tasks and over the next 36 months, the role will see him produce detailed solutions to achieve the optimum performance of built environment projects via digital models and presentations using software, sketches, and electronic visualisations. Not only will the utilisation of the tools and processes be beneficial for his certification but he is learning skills that are sought-after and can be put to use straight away.

As more of these courses come to fruition, the construction industry will become a more attractive proposition for entry-level digital natives only if colleges can demonstrate that the skills they will learn in the classroom are required immediately by companies up and down the country. It may have taken 10 years but a scenario where college graduates are entering the workplace with an understanding of the processes, standards and a demonstrative knowledge of the BIM authoring tools is a positive for us all and one we will be right behind.