BIM Roles: What Does It Hold for Professionals?
If you do an internet search for a job in BIM or try to employ a BIM professional you get bombarded with options. Great, many to select from! Then you start looking at the role descriptions, person capabilities, software knowledge, future skillset, and the list just goes on.
This has confused me over the years as to what skills go where and how you plan for a position if there is no clarity between what you need and what is available, and you can’t even compare 2 people.
So to make it simple, I’m going to break down and define the 4 most common roles in the industry that you need to be aware of and what I believe is the fundamental structure of the so-called “BIM” departments. Now, each organisation will have different needs and more or less people will be needed in various roles, so take this rather as a framework than a ‘set in stone’.
The BIM Roles
In his book, BIM and Integrated Design, Randy Deutsch refers to 4 roles in the graph ‘The Unspoken hierarchy of BIM-related roles and titles’; and for the purpose of this article, this will form our base.
The Unspoken Hierarchy Analysed
let’s have a quick look at the X & Y axis against these points.
- Discipline: In your industry, you will gain experience on how to do your job better, if we look at this from an Architectural point of view, this would mean that you will understand how buildings are designed, documented, managed and executed on site.
- Technology: For the most part, we will focus here on the software, the more experience you have in using the relevant tools to do your job which includes modelling, documenting and executing project files.
- People: Colleagues, leaders, business owners, other consultants, the public, contractors, etc. There are a lot of people that are involved here, and the more you are aware of the person you are engaging with, their needs and area of expertise and the relationships you will have with them.
- Processes: There is quite a bit of process here, however for the article, we will take into consideration what we know of BIM processes, including ISO 19650 (very lightly), and the relevant organisation and industry processes.
The Y axis talks about Experience, the areas of experience of your discipline, industry and organisation you are working with; the experience of working with people; the experience of engaging with the relevant technology to your field and position and the experience of processes which includes more than the relevant industry or local authorities process and expands to global standards and requirements. Normally, experience is of the working variety, the more you work within the industry, the more experience you have.
The X-axis talks about Responsibility, now this will be different to what we normally believe when we finish our studies and join the industry, we typically associate responsibility within an organisation by leading projects or teams, taking ownership of certain sections of a project and so the list goes on. When we look at the responsibility of BIM departments, we have to change our perception of it by looking more at how we own processes and technology and how we integrate with our colleagues and the industry to show our capabilities (responsibility) in these areas.
Roles
What I like about this chart, it showcases the 4 roles and the different ways a person can grow in these areas.
By understanding this graph, the experience and responsibilities, and what would be required of yourself in each role.
The second set of info this graph showcases is the “cluster” of users and different skills that will and should overlap with each other, as an example, a BIM Operator and a BIM Modeller can assist each other in terms of content creation for and on a project.
Before we go ahead and define these roles more, I want to take a step back by covering two topics:
- The difference between role and position.
- Growth between traditional discipline and “BIM”.
Role vs Position
In most cases, I see many people specifying that they are a BIM X person and there are very few cases that you will only be doing “BIM”.
In most cases you will have a dual role, one will be the position within the organisation, let’s say technologist or draftsperson, and then the role within a project, let’s say BIM Coordinator. The reason for the ‘split’ is that most companies don’t require a pure BIM department but only a few fixed positions within the company and the rest on a project-by-project basis and the project will define the relevant skills for those roles.
Most organisations will look first to fulfil the BIM Manager role who will have multiple skills then the BIM Modeller and these folks are required to model the project.
Traditional Growth and BIM Growth
We can see there is a difference between role and position. This gets escalated in the growing understanding when we look at how you progress within an organisation.
Within small organisations there is only one way of growing is to do whatever is needed and get involved with as much as possible. This has been largely my experience in architecture, working on projects and getting involved with every part of a project.
However, within larger organisations, different things happen, good or bad, but they normally involved your exposure to different sections of a project and how you handle yourself in different situations. The more you can show as a technical person the more they will let you grow.
Now when we start looking at how you grow there are 2 ways of growing.
- Traditional: This normally requires you to spend hours working on and within projects. Taking the time to learn from senior colleagues, learning about the industry and understanding the ins and outs of how to do architecture, how to collaborate with others and ultimately how to build buildings. As you become more adaptable in your dealings with the industry and your skills grow you can grow within the organisation by becoming a team lead, project lead, project manager, etc. This all depended on what you do and where you are within the organisation.
- BIM: There is now an alternative route that you can follow, the BIM route, this is where you people become so adaptable in technology, processes and people and, in most cases, the design and building of the architecture become less important. Not that you are not interested in the end results, you did start this because you enjoy it, but you find the other areas of the process more important. The more you spend time in the ‘other world’ of buildings the more you get involved. Gaining experience and showing how responsible you are or have become can give you the growth you want.
In the end, you have to decide which direction you want to go, there isn’t a right or wrong. There is only your passion.
The Roles Explained
Now that we have covered some of the backgrounds on the differences and the future of where you can go. Now we can look at the difference in roles and the potential of positions.
BIM Modeller
One of the more common roles is the BIM Modeller which, in short, is the person doing the modelling job on a project. Now this sounds quite simple, however, there is quite a bit of complexity that comes with the job.
When companies hire these days, they test your software knowledge and expertise. Ultimately, this means that anybody working in any design industry should at a minimum have the relevant technical skills for the position. This excludes any other position requirements.
This has become the biggest need for most firms that I work with is that there are not enough employable people that have the modelling skills down, they can do architecture, they can do design, and in some cases, they can use 2D drafting software. When it comes to 3D modelling software, there is a concern. Now I’m not saying that people can’t model, I’m saying there is a gap between what people can do and what is needed.
I have a strong opinion here. I believe that modelling correctly is the 21st-century equivalent of writing, typing on a computer, using a cellphone, etc. Using the relevant software to your area and industry must be second nature and you should be able to do what is expected of you at your appointed position or project role.
Most universities or colleagues that I’ve seen don’t spend enough time teaching students on the tools and if they do, it typically covers fundamentals and then expects the students to learn the rest for themselves. When you were taught to write, did the teacher only show you the first 15 letters and left you to do the rest? This is really a concern to me as I’ve, effectively, made a living of knowing the software’s ins and outs and teaching people how to use it adequately for their position or role.
I believe that the software skills we need for the industry are one of the fundamental issues we are facing and the future
Until this skill is ingrained into the industries as a standard, there will be a need for people that specialises in the required skills.
BIM Coordinator
Now, if you’ve shown capabilities within the software, some technical know-how, and you’ve shown capabilities to lead a team of modellers or designers and how to ‘build’ buildings, you are more likely than not to end up in the coordinator's role.
To break this role down to its essence, your job in this position/ role is to set up, manage, share and maintain the project files to achieve the BIM deliverables. This includes, with a major focus on, the 3D Coordination or Clash Detection of models between disciplines. Review the constructability of the project and validate the related information associated with the model.
In larger organisations, this can definitely be a permanent position and team. As projects require continuous management and the various tasks are time-consuming and can become complex. However, for the majority of the time, the project requirements for a coordinator are to initially set up the models, share principles and then come back when clashing is required or to do project health checks along the way. Once a project reaches a certain completion level (call it the tender stage) then the person moves on to the next project; and if it’s a full BIM project (digital deliverables, AM/FM handovers, etc.) this person might stick around at key milestones and even afterwards to assist the clients with the integration of data.
BIM Coordinators typically have two separate growth paths, one is to continue their growth into the possible BIM Manager position or move back into a more team leader or project management position within the organisation since the overlapping skills between Coordinator and Project Manager/ Team Lead are quite close to each other; just a technology focus difference.
It’s not uncommon to have people fulfil the responsibilities of Team Leader and BIM Coordinator; especially with smaller projects or organisations.
BIM Operator
One of the roles/ positions that are a bit more lacking or misunderstood is the position of BIM Operator. Other terms for BIM Operator are BIM Technicians and Content Creators. BIM Operator is often confused with BIM Modeller.
An operator is more of a content creator for the company or a project, their role is to develop relevant content to be used in different projects for team members to build and use in their projects. They also assist the BIM Manager with shared responsibilities on things like technical support, technical management, training, template updates, software and hardware management with IT, etc.
The focus goes on the technical side of the technologies within a firm. The above refers to 3D modelling software, such as Revit. However, it can also extend to other tools like lidar scanning and visual scripting.
I see this position as an early development of a superuser, similar to the traits described in the book Superuser by Randy Deutsch.
Many organizations avoid hiring BIM Modellers because they still rely on their traditional staff to fulfil this role on projects. However, some organizations are starting to hire BIM Operators, who can develop into BIM Managers, or contract with BIM Consultants to create high-quality content.
BIM Manager
The most common role and position that is showcased everywhere is the BIM Manager. The first role, I believe, was “announced” as an industry requirement. Most commonly the people that get this role where are normally the tech guy in the office, the one that has a great understanding of the technology. I’ve seen it countless times where the person that has an affinity for software gets this position, this is basically how I got my job and how I became so interested in the digital world. This isn’t actually the purpose of the role, most people have confused BIM with Technology and by association believed that is the type of person needed.
The role of the BIM Manager within a project is simple, they normally get involved in setting up the project standards, BIM Execution Plan, collaboration protocols, etc. and then hand it over to the team to follow through. They normally do checkups and validate that the project is still on track but rely on the information provided by the BIM Coordinator.
Within an organisation, they are responsible for so much more, from template development, research and development in new workflows and software, standard operation protocols (SOP), training, etc. to ensure that the company's digital path is successful. They do have a focus on bringing more BIM-related benefits into the firm.
To me, BIM Managers, bridge the divide between business leaders and technical implementation. They have to motivate the value of what is presented upwards and then ensure it gets implemented downwards and achieves what is expected or set out.
Some mistakes I believe are important to highlight around BIM Managers:
- Small companies start with this role and pretty much give a person the responsibility of creating templates and content whilst having the person work on projects as well.
- They rely on the BIM Manager to be able to program (visual scripting or using official languages). I do believe it’s an added benefit to the program however it’s not a requirement - you get programmers to do this.
- Believe that BIM Managers are only technical-orientated people. They have multiple responsibilities that are more than just tech.
Roles Last Thoughts
Hopefully, this brings clarity to a “BIM Department” or team within a company. I’ve read various research papers over the last few years and looked at multiple CVs and job applications and know there isn’t consistency in the roles and responsibilities. I don’t think there ever will be. In part, because BIM is constantly evolving with technology and processes and the adoption will change.
What I do believe is that each organisation should look at the outcome they are after from these roles and then make the necessary responsibility list. I do caution companies and people to not make the lists of skills and requirements a ‘unicorn list’ but rather give a guiding framework and let people interested in these areas explore, grow and develop their paths. A lot is happening in the world of digital transformation, BIM is one such area, and different user skills will be able to cross-pollinate other business, technology and social requirements.
Follow me for my unravelling of the big bad world of BIM, my insights and my analysis, on LinkedIn and the CitizenBlog Blog. And if you feel up to chat, agree or disagree on a topic, please let me know here.
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