KCRag Forum

I see a lot of people here that are involved in some capacity of KC's development, and was wondering if you all had any advice for someone looking to transition their career into development, specifically in KC. I do have about 2.5 years working in the CRE industry, but am not seeing job postings for development positions. Whether it's ground up or renovations, a big firm doing $200M deals or a smaller team doing sub $1M deals, it doesn't matter.

Are there certifications I should get? People in private/public sector to talk to? Meetups to go to? Work for free in exchange for knowledge? What would you recommend focusing on?

I have found it somewhat difficult to figure out who the smaller to mid-sized active players are in our Metro area, and so any advice would be appreciated.

I would highly recommend attending the monthly meetings of the local chapter of the Incremental Development Alliance, Small Developers of KC. Each month a speaker will come and give a presentation to the group. Plenty of great networking opportunities and it's a lot more KC/community oriented than other "REAL ESTATE INVESTORS, COME MAKE DEAL$$$" type sorta meetings. If you have a Facebook, the group's page is a great place to find out more info!

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/504657603335347/

It kind of depends on what kind of development
Your closest is an opening with the city for a planner. The city tends to want a master degree in engineering for these roles, I can't tell because their HR site is down.

If you're looking more on the practical constriction side of things, this degree tells you the skills you would want.
https://mcckc.edu/degreescourses/degree ... gement.pdf

You could go get a job working for a builder and try to get into a role where you're a project manager. You would want to handle paperwork, coordinate trades and the like. You should be able to do basic construction tasks, when we built a house even the owners would do work.


The idea of gaining practical construction skills while you go to school for that associates could be smart. The best developers can do the numbers and do the work.

JE Dunn started with a man who owned a lighting supply company, then built homes before starting today's company (I'm sure what I read is over simplified but it shows they started with something simple)


If you're looking for names, pick up the Parade of Homes booklet. It will give you every current developer of new homes.

I'd go through all the developers listed for projects here: http://nextkansas.city/development-database

Find their website, email or an employee on LinkedIn. Reach out for a coffee. Offer some free work or include some thoughts on their development(s).

Industry knows a lot about itself, so talking with the people in it everyday is going to get you the most insight / opportunities. Sounds like you've got the conviction to be in CRE, be intentional about that in meetings!