An architecture degree gave Kandice Rogers a 30,000-foot-view of the building trades, but now she is on the ground, getting her hands dirty in the sheet metal industry and thankful for an “unexpected” new career perspective. “I wish I would have known this option was here prior to going to college,” says Rogers, who received her bachelor’s in architecture from the New York Institute of Technology. “I would have saved a lot of financial stress and headache.”
The “this option” being, a job in the skilled trades. Rogers was fresh out of college when the U.S. housing bubble collapsed, freezing the job market and her hopes of working in the building trades. Then a position as a BIM coordinator for a local HVAC contractor introduced her to the sheet metal industry. “I was approached by my best friend’s father, who was a Local 28 sheet metal worker for over 20 years. His company started a job that required them to provide a BIM coordinator,” she remembers. “I had experience from college working with 3D programs so I was hired for the position.”