Becky Nichols, Project Manager, Associate at Pirie Associates

How many years have you been in your current field? 13 years

Which project, deal, or transaction was the “game changer” in the advancement of your career during the last 10 years? For me, the game changer was not a project – it was joining Pirie Associates. The type of “career advancement” that’s important to me is engaging my purpose more deeply and having a bigger and more positive impact on the world. We are encouraged to explore our personal interests and how they can feed into the development of our practice. It creates a rich atmosphere of creativity and fertile ground for new ideas to take root and cross-pollinate. Also, I am a strong believer that humans do their best work when they have balance in the time and attention they give to their work, their friends and families, and themselves. We have that here - it’s not as common in our industry as it should be. 

What would you tell your daughter about entering this profession? I think it would be helpful to talk to our young adults about their career decisions in terms of reciprocity. What is it inside of yourself that you feel the urge to share with the world? What are your expectations about what you’d like to receive in return? Will the path you choose support the type of reciprocity you seek? My daughter just turned 2. I would love to think that by the time she would be making the decision to enter the design and construction industry, gender and ethnicity representation will be balanced – or at least well on its way. If not, I’ll tell her not to be deterred, but to be prepared to sometimes have to work harder and sometimes have to fight.