Textiles to AEC – Building Industry Career Advice from Graeme Wicks

In this episode, we talk to Graham Wicks, a civil designer, about his current job, career advice and industry needs that should be discussed more.

More About the Show

The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.

In this episode, Tim and Carolina talk to Graham Wicks, a civil designer at architecture and engineering firm Robertson Loia Roof, located in Atlanta, GA. 

Graham’s Current Projects

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Currently, Graham is working as a civil designer at Robertson Loya Roof, who focuses on education for large commercial projects and has corporate sponsorships with companies such as Kroger and other larger food retailers. 

A normal day for Graham consists of designing stormwater systems for Kroger and Kroger fuel centers. It’s a big concern for larger companies as they have large buildings and large parking lots that can see a lot of rain. While customers don’t think about the parking lot they drive on and walk through to get to the store, it takes a lot of creative design to ensure that water is flowing across the parking lot correctly, instead of pooling. 

Origin Story

Graham started out in California, working on mechanical testing for a kayak and boat company in San Diego before moving back to Atlanta. Thanks to his work at his previous company, he knew how to create CAD files, which helped him get a job with Nichiha, a fiber cement panel company. 

Working at Nichiha gave him great experience with the construction process and how everything fits together. This inspired Graham to learn more about larger construction projects, and so he moved to his current job at Robertson Loya Roof.  

The Versatility of CAD

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Learning how to create and manipulate CAD files was a big turning point for Graham. While CAD is usually associated with architecture and building, it really has applications with a lot of different industries and design work, from injection molding and design to product design to mechanical engineering from the smallest toy to the biggest jet engine. 

By learning different CAD design programs, Graham was able to apply different aspects of his career journey. He was able to take what he learned in the kayak and boating industry and apply it to construction-related tasks with relative ease, as CAD design is a portable skill.

College Takeaways

Graham went to North Georgia for college, majoring in polymer fiber engineering. However, he feels like the main issue with college is being forced to pick a life path at 18, when you are still a kid. 

The main takeaway he got from his engineering degree was resourcefulness. His teachers prepared him to tackle problems out of left field, as topics they didn’t necessarily teach during class would show up on tests. He learned to apply learnings from other parts of the class to new topics on the fly, a trait that’s served him well in the field. 

Most Memorable Career Moment

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Graham doesn’t have a specific moment to point to but says that any time you get to see your work in real life is memorable. There can be a disconnect when your point of view on a project is just your computer screen. But when you can get out in the field and actually see the project being built and talk to the contractors on why you designed your part the way you did, it makes the entire thing more real and lets you see the physical impact you are having through your work. 

Mentors in His Life

While it was never stated out loud, Graham has had several people in his life that he would consider mentors looking back. One was an old boss Jim, who would help Graham solve problems and give advice based on his life experiences, helping Graham grow as an employee and a person. 

Carolina was a mentor at Nichiha, as their time there overlapped. She helped him figure out not only specific problems on projects but next steps in life and career. His uncle also helped with life decisions and coaching him along. 

Graham got to go back to see Jim and his coworkers a year ago and was surprised to find that everyone from his time there remembered him. They even still had some pictures of him up from when he worked there. It was a good reminder that you make a difference and create an impact everywhere you go, from work to home to job sites. 

Advice to Industry Veterans and Newbies

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If you can get into the field, do it. With an increase in urbanization and more people moving to highly populated centers, the opportunities to solve problems are increasing as well. There are so many opportunities opening up in an industry that can be set in its ways that we need a fresh perspective from people from other industries and backgrounds to help solve these problems that we don’t even know exist yet. 

We need younger people who are more conscious of the issues in today’s world to join the industry and ensure that these problems are being brought to the forefront. It’s not that older generations don’t care about the environment, it’s that they weren’t trained to think about it, so they need younger, new perspectives to remind them of these types of issues that are so critical. 

Younger people with less experience are more likely to question the status quo and bring new ideas on how to make processes more efficient and less costly. They see the areas that need improvement immediately thanks to fresh eyes, areas that range from organization to policy. There’s room for improvement to make experiences smoother in all kinds of areas. For new people coming into the industry, Graham advises you not to just accept things as they are but to tackle small changes at a time and see what your impact could be.  

Important Topics That Need More Discussion

An important topic in the industry that no one seems to be talking about but Graham thinks should be brought up is baseline building materials. Things like plywood and gypsum installation and drywall haven’t changed in decades. They have become standard, go-to materials with no innovation. 

The industry should look at these types of materials and see if they can find something better, even if it comes at a cost increase, to balance cost with efficiency and create better buildings. It’s time to start looking for a new standard. 

It would also be great to find a way to recycle unused materials from projects to make them more sustainable. 

Organizational and Industry Resouces

Graham stays pretty old school when it comes to tools to organize his work. He uses binders and notebooks for his projects, along with email as a way to ensure he is keeping on track for every project. He creates a subfolder for each project and then he can just scan through those subfolders to have a bearing on where the project is in the process. 

For industry resources, he hasn’t found a good Google alert yet, but he loves lunch and learns. He’s found presenters are happy to talk afterward about their industry, what’s happening, who is doing new things, and more. 

Join the Conversation

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s episode! Shoot us an email at buildperspectives@gmail.com.