Why Students Should Pursue a Career in Construction

June 22, 2023

Albert Marquez, mentor and owner of 1 US Construction. If you’re looking for a promising career, the construction industry might be the answer. Just ask Albert Marquez, the owner of Dallas-based 1 US Construction.

“Construction is like a hidden secret,” Marquez said. “Everyone wants to be a banker or lawyer or scientist but … if you’re into making money, come to construction. There’s a lot of money to be made.”

Marquez went on to dispel the notion that construction is a “grab a shovel and go at it type industry.”

“It certainly is not,” he said. “People who have that perspective are wrong.”

Instead, Marquez said, the lead carpenters and superintendents in his company must know algebra and trigonometry to work certain projects. Additionally, everyone must possess writing skills.

Introducing the ins and outs of the construction industry to the younger generation is something Marquez has embraced over the years. He has been a mentor to multiple Dallas College students over the years as his company has taken part in the college’s Fellowship Program.

“Working with Dallas College students has been very gratifying,” Marquez said. “They’re young. They’re ambitious. They have a hunger for knowledge and a thirst to learn. We took the attitude that we were going to mentor and help them.”

For Marquez, it takes him back to his early roots when he taught classes in a part-time role at Dallas College’s Mountain View Campus in the early 1990s.

“I really loved being in that role, teaching young colleagues and professionals,” he said. “I’ve always taken the mentor approach. You’re there for them, just like the fellows. You’re there for their benefit, not your benefit.”

Most importantly, Marquez knows the types of benefits available for those who pursue a career in construction. When Dallas College hosted the TEXO Foundation BID (Building in Dallas-Fort Worth) Expo at the Construction Sciences Building in Coppell last fall, there had been 800,000 construction job openings in the state of Texas within the last year.

That trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon, either. Marquez shared that he recently had an open position that drew in very few applicants. Why?

“It speaks to everyone who is working. There are very few actively looking for a job,” he said. “Everybody who wants a job has a job. If you’re without a job right now, it’s not going to take you long to land on your feet.”

For those interested in getting into the construction industry, Dallas College is the place to go as it’s home to the oldest and largest accredited two-year Construction Management program in the country. The Construction Management program has two associate degree tracks, specializing in either commercial or residential. Or students can obtain commercial construction assistant superintendent and residential construction foreman certificates.

Dallas College’s Construction Sciences Building at its Coppell Center is a state-of-the-art, 97,000-square-foot building that opened in October 2021. It features 11 interactive high-tech laboratories and 24 classrooms to support education in the latest construction technologies, systems and methods.

Inside Dallas College Construction Sciences Building.

As Marquez said, “Construction is a hidden gem. There’s a lot of people who don’t want to do it because you might get your hands dirty and you’re not sitting in an office, but it’s where the money is at.”

This story and others like it can be found in the Student Newsletter. Check your Dallas College email to see the latest edition.

 

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