This article in pbctoday, has echoes of David Throssell’s expert career tips and the emphasis on BIM as technology and process, not a discipline.

Melanie Dawson – Digital Lead at Graham – talks about the influence of BIM technologies in construction and, specifically, how Graham have successfully been using drones, BIM360 and QR to deliver meaningful benefits on live projects.

It’s important to heed the subtleties behind Melanie’s article and the stronger message from David.  Don’t lose the bigger picture perspective, BIM is not a discipline!  Yes, there are ‘BIM careers’ and there will be for years to come but these titles are temporary place holders as digital construction matures.

BIM (and ‘digital’) are the tools and processes.  They should already, and certainly will be, ‘business as usual, ‘BAU’ for Architects, Technicians, Design and Project Managers etc.   The pace of digital transformation is accelerating, albeit slowly (see ‘the great leap forward’ article by Paul Newby in BIM+).  It is gradually becoming BAU.  Hopefully, within a year or two, we can remove BIM from the BIM Career Ladder and elsewhere.

In the meantime, keep honing your BIM skills (see the BIM Competency Table) and use the BIM Career Ladder to target progression – the BIM tasks and who does them will always be relevant regardless of what it is called.  However, it is notable that some companies have already dropped the BIM prefix in their organisational charts.