Random: Yes, although I'm in private practice today, I have spent about 40% of my career so far in real estate development. I have an MBA in addition to my degree in architecture. The advanced degree opened some doors that probably would not have been open to me otherwise. But, I do know a fair number of architects who have transitioned to RE without special education in the field. As with many career transitions, at the end of the day it's all about who you know and what you can actually do.

While RE does tend to pay a lot better that architecture, you cannot necessarily rely on the RE industry to provide significantly more job security than professional practice -- after all, the conditions that cause architectural activity to fluctuate tend to originate in RE.  As a general statement, when jobs are hard to find in architecture, they're equally hard to find in RE. During slow periods, the lack of proper credentials can make finding a job in RE almost impossible, unless you're incredibly lucky or extremely well connected.

Nevertheless, RE development can be a very interesting way to earn your living. Working in RE will make you a better architect if you approach the work in the right way. You will work every bit as hard as you do in architecture (maybe harder) and the work is different in some very important ways. If you aren't accustomed to exercising financial discpline in your work, the transition can be very difficult since almost every important decision is based on the economics of the project. While design (as we define design) is important to some RE firms, most are primarily concerned about minimizing risk and maximizing profits. If that's not your mindset, IMO you should be very careful before you make the leap.

Good luck!

Thanks! While I am not about to make a transition anytime soon, I do think about it from time to time. (My primary focus is on researching urban evolution as related to public health issues and zoonotic disease.) If I were to make the change, assuming I am not well connected, would an MBA be a better path than a degree focusing on real estate development only?

May I ask what made you transition back to private practice?

Random: I'm probably not the best person to ask about the currently preferred type of supplemental education to support a RE career -- at the time I obtained my MBA, focused graduate degree programs in real estate were fairly scarce. My MBA has served me well, as a general business education. However, if one wants to concentrate on RE long term, perhaps a closer look at focused RE education might be warranted.

I returned to private practice for a number of reasons. First, I had made a fair amount of money in RE and could afford to practice architecture again. Second, the RE firm where I worked encountered hard times during an earlier severe recession -- there really wasn't a lot for me to be doing there. Third, I was offered an ownership position in a design firm operated by a group of my friends. And fourth, I missed private practice and wanted to return. I have no regrets about that decision.

I transitioned from Ergonomics to Quantity Surveying to Urban Economics and from there to (new-build residential) Development. I think It is the breadth of experience that makes me useful as a developer. Of course this depends on the type of developer that you want to be. We tend to do <10 units and engage with interesting architects. If you want to make dollars, go and fund some soulless schlock from a finance house.

I wanted to be closer to the projects, and to have elements of risk and reward that is unavailable in most of the percentage-based construction professions. Also, initiating the project - seeking money, site, knowledge, seeing how they fit together and dishing out the work - it's a reward in itself, and, you can't get run off the job.

Although I've focused my architectural career primarily on the design track, I've spent the majority of my career straddling the fence between architecture and RE Dev. Knowing and working in real estate will undobtedly make you a better architect, but it's a high-risk profession dependent on shrewd decision-making, good timing, and entrepeneurial energy. Most people are not temperamentally suited to doing it.

Personally, I believe that the re-engagement of architecture with RE Dev and construction is the key to our survival moving forward in very difficult economic times. We're staring a global depression in the teeth and pretending that the old model of consultant practice is still viable. The sooner we break out of that, the better chances we've got. Incidentally, that goes for developers too. The old model of high-leverage financing is dead. The future belongs to equity. The model of commodity building production is also dead.

Even if you don't intend to do RE Dev yourself, it will serve you well to know a lot about it. Whoever controls the purse strings controls the quality and value of the end product. As a designer who has done a lot of RE Dev myself, I find it very useful to be able to use speak the language of RE finance in defense of good design.