5 tips for choosing your BIM training

New digital paradigm has generated unique professional opportunities that are stirring up the market. In order to ensure your employability, it is crucial to keep yourself updated on the latest trends in the sector. And for that, training is essential.

The Importance of a Well-defined Professional Path

We all have some kind of a roadmap in our lives, be that professional or personal. When we choose a job, it is usually related to our ambitions for the future, improving our working conditions as well as better projection of our professional profile. Right training can be the way to reach your professional goals: improve your skills and abilities, land a promotion or find a better job.

How Do I Choose the Best BIM Training for My Career?

The indisputable advance of BIM and its imposition by law in many countries, has created a necessity for more and more companies to incorporate professionals with BIM expertise in their teams. The growing demand is stimulating the need for training of many professionals in the AEC industry. If you are one of them and you have decided that in 2019 you’re going to learn BIM, then we propose 5 key points to take into consideration when choosing your Master´s:

1. Teaching Staff Skilled in BIM

The reputation of the institution is key when choosing your Master´s, but so is its teaching team. That the best teachers in the sector are part of the institution is often synonymous with high quality. In addition, in technologies and work methodologies as innovative and evolving as Building Information Modeling (BIM), the teachers being updated on the subject is essential for optimal training, as some concepts and practices may become obsolete in short periods of time. Therefore, when choosing a training it is important to bear in mind that teachers combine teaching with their professional activity. Consult the professional trajectory of the teachers and know their experience in the BIM world!

2. Level of Flexibility and Compatibility with Your Professional Career Path

The new technologies open a world of possibilities for those professionals who seek to train without having to give up their professional career. When it comes to a BIM training, the online format acquires even more meaning, not only because it facilitates the application of the knowledge acquired practically immediately, but also because, in case of seeking a change of employment, the opportunities will multiply. The best way to benefit from all the advantages of an online master without giving up the possibilities offered by face-to-face training is to find a program that combines both formats. Each year Zigurat organizes its own events for students, in order to promote knowledge and present real projects executed by our teachers, leading companies in the sector and collaborating associations of different training. It is the perfect opportunity to meet them in person and do some networking! Check out the last Zigurat Student Summit in Barcelona.

3. Professional Certifications

When it comes to BIM, it is important to have a certificate that can back your skills, especially if you want to work in a foreign country. There are two different types of certification available: academic and from the industry leader. It is important to be mindful of the first when in the country where we want to work, the companies require an university degree; the second one is an accreditation supported by reference associations of the industry and software providers; most relevant at the individual and professional level. Choose a program that allows you to obtain the recognition and certification of leading organizations and references in the international sector, this will help you access new job opportunities anywhere in the world. All the BIM training of Zigurat has a double degree by the IL3 - Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and with the certification of institutions such as the prestigious Canada BIM Council (CanBIM), CIAT and the scientific association in the United Kingdom BRE Academy. In addition, it also has the most important BIM software endorsement worldwide.

4. Simulation of Real Processes and Collaborative Work

Look for a training that stimulates your collaborative side. Designing and building is a job that involves many agents, it is an interdisciplinary and collaborative task. And that's what you're going to have to deal with in a real project. The sooner you become familiar with this way of working, the better. Therefore, it is essential to look for a training that, first, is not based only on software, but also prepares you to understand and develop work processes. And second, a program where you work collaboratively in teams, through BIM servers, simulating exactly the roles and experience first-hand the realization of projects. One of the requirements best valued by today's companies in all sectors is the ability of their employees to provide a new strategic vision for their businesses. And if it has global ambition, even better.

5. Job Opportunities and International Projection

This last point goes hand in hand with the previous one. That is, forging a global and multidisciplinary profile will allow you to open doors to many more job opportunities. A well-trained professional with emotional skills is a vital requirement for companies and, in this sense, BIM will enable you to be the candidate with all the guarantees. Many countries in Europe and other parts of the world have already incorporated BIM as a work methodology in public tenders, so training in this will automatically open new paths in the international labor market. To train in BIM is to open yourself to the world. The tendency on the part of the companies to incorporate profiles of international vocation is on the rise and will continue in crescendo. So, if something is clear, it is that with BIM you will achieve all the professional goals that you propose. Think big and decide for a program that opens the doors to the market!