For more on the when did it start question, I took the CDT and CCS in April 1994, and I believe John Bunzick was in the same room taking the beta test version of the CCCA that day.
Current age: 70
Higher education: Yes
Major? B.ArchEng, M.BldgSci
Age when first prepared specs: 42
Have a mentor: Yes
Mentor Relationship: Associate who worked for me
Age at first formal spec education: 22
Education provider: Univ. of Penna.
Age at CCS: 43
Age as full-time specifier: 42
Note: Started spec consulting firm before writing my first spec. SOP all the way.
Current age: 68
Higher education: Yes
Major? Civil Engineering
Age when first prepared specs: 28
Have a mentor: Yes [Everett Spurling]
Mentor Relationship: CSI member and employer
Age at first formal education: 37
Education provider: CSI MOP in preparation for CCS exam
Age at CCS: 37 [based on CCS starting in 1978]
Age as full-time specifier: 30
Robert: It might be interesting to add gender to the final tabulations to find out what % of our profession are male or female.
Ronald: Happy Birthday!!
Current age: 42
Higher education: Yes
Major? BS Construction Administration
Age when first prepared specs: 33
Have a mentor: Yes
Mentor Relationship: The firms previous spec writer was my supervisor and a terrific mentor
Age at first formal education: 33
Education provider: CSI spec writing Seminar in KC and MOP in preparation for CDT exam
Age at CCS: 34
Age as full-time specifier: 33 (although it took most of a year to shed my CA responsibilities)
Current age: almost 56
Higher education: Yes or No yes
Major? BA Urban Studies
Age when first prepared specs: 24 for interiors projects; 26 for a small building
Have a mentor: Yes or No ; yes, Director of Architecture; Director of specifications (two people)
Mentor Relationship: boss’s boss
Age at first formal education: none
Education provider: self taught (took CCS when first offered, before classes were offered)
Age at CCS: 27
Age as full-time specifier: 24; was an assistant to a consultant before that for 1 year
Current age: 63
Higher education: Yes
Major? Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 33
Have a mentor: Yes, two of them
Mentor Relationship: CSI chapter member; business partner
Age at first formal education: 26
Education provider: community college
Age at CDT: 57
Age as full-time specifier: 43
Current age: 58
Higher education: M.Arch
Major? Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 30
Have a mentor: Yes
Mentor Relationship: Director of Specifications
Age at first formal education: 37, study for CDT and CCS.
Education provider: CSI CCS Instructor
Age at CCS: 37
Age as full-time specifier: 35
Current age: 54
Higher education: Never really stop, do we?
Major? Physical Sciences
Age when first prepared specs: 21
Have a mentor: More of a motivator
Mentor Relationship: Firm Owner
Age at first formal education: 25
Education provider: DC CSI Avoiding Material Failures Class at AIA HQ,~1980. CCS prep class at VA HQ in DC - 1987. Been teaching ever since.
Age at CCS: 32. CCCA: 43
Age as full-time specifier: 24
Listed as Specifier w/CSI.
Ken:
I recall this education program well; especially since I was the EdComm chairman [toot toot]. IIRC, it was conducted over a 6 to 8 week period with 60+ in attendance.
I think Metzger in there also.
yes I was there Ron; may even still have my notes squirreled away somewhere.
They were good classes
Current age: 42
Higher education: MArch, MBA, working on my JD.
Major? All the above
Age when first prepared specs: 24 ish
Have a mentor: I had several for the first 10 years of my career
Mentor Relationship: Firm Owner, co-workers
Age at first formal education: 23 ish - took CDT class
Education provider: Phoenix Chapter CSI
Age at CCS: 32.
Age as full-time specifier: 32
Listed as Specifier w/CSI.
This is me - Robin Snyder - can’t seem to remember my username and password…
Current age: 59
Higher education: Yes
Major: Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 31
Have a mentor: No, actually sort of but not really
Mentor Relationship: Outside consultant to firm
Age at first formal education: 36
Education provider: Baltimore CSI
Age at CCS: 37
Age as full-time specifier: 40 +/-
Revised results from first 36 responders:
Age:
High: 73
Low: 41
Average: 55
Median: 55
Age at writing first specs:
High: 49
Low: 21
Average: 31
Median: 30
Age at first formal specification education:
High: 56
Low: 20
Average: 35
Median: 33
Age at achieving CCS:
High: 55
Low: 27
Average: 40
Median: 39
Age at becomming full-time specifier:
High: 60
Low: 20
Average: 38
Median: 38
The expanded results from 36 people are not significantly different from the first 26.
So based on this limited survey, today’s “average specifier” would be 55 years old with an architectural education (75%), wrote their first specs at about 30 years old, had a mentor (75%) in their office (81%), got their first formal specification education from CSI (76%) in their mid 30’s, achieved CCS certification at about 40, and became a full-time specifier at about 40. We can further update this data if we get a significant more number of responders.
There are a few that started in their early 20’s, but not many (16%). This would seem to indicate that lack of young specifiers in today’s world is not a new story and that most people do not become specifiers until they have been around the “professional block” a few times and discovered where their talents lie and what part of the profession they are most interested in.
Response to Ron Beard: 19% of the responders have been female. One significant difference with the females in compared to males is that on average they seem to have started in specifications a few years earlier in life.
Current age: 63
Higher education: Yes. B.Arch., University of California, Berkeley, 1970
Major? Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 32
Have a mentor: Yes
Mentor Relationship: Instructors in CSI chapter education series
Age at first formal education: 32
Education provider: San Francisco Chapter, CSI
Age at CCS: 35
Age as full-time specifier: 48
Sorry I’m late in responding. My data won’t change the median numbers much.
Current age: 64
Higher education: Associate Degree; Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 32
Have a mentor: None specific
Mentor Relationship: CSI members
Age at first formal education: 33
Education provider: Univ. of Wisconsin; Construction Specifications (1978): Univ. of Wisconsin; Construction Contracts (1981)
Age at CCS: 36
Age as full-time specifier: 33
Late as well:
Current age: 56
Higher education: B Arch (5 year) Master Arch.
Major: Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 27
Have a mentor: None
Mentor Relationship N/A
Age at first formal education: NA
Education provider: N/A
Age at CCS: 40
Age at CCCA: 45
Age as full-time specifier: 37
FYI here are progress results of the survey which includes responses in CSI Forums:
Age:
High: 73
Low: 41
Average: 56
Median: 56
Age at writing first specs:
High: 49
Low: 17
Average: 31
Median: 30
Age at first formal specification education:
High: 56
Low: 20
Average: 34
Median: 33
Age at achieving CCS:
High: 55
Low: 27
Average: 39
Median: 37
Age at becomming full-time specifier:
High: 60
Low: 20
Average: 38
Median: 40
So based on this limited survey, today’s “average specifier” would be 56 years old with an architectural education (77%), wrote their first specs at about 30 years old, had a mentor (74%) in their office (81%), got their first formal specification education from CSI (73%) in their mid 30’s, achieved CCS certification at about 40, and became a full-time specifier at about 40. We hope to further update this data if we get more rssponses from specifers.
There are a few that started in their early 20’s, but not many (14%). This would seem to indicate that lack of young specifiers in today’s world is not a new story and that most people do not become specifiers until they have been around the “professional block” a few times and discovered where their talents lie and what part of the profession they are most interested in.
Again, we would like to expand the number of specifier responses to see if the above results are accurate.
Current age: 53
Higher education: Yes
Major? BS Architecture
Age when first prepared specs: 28
Have a mentor: Yes
Mentor Relationship: Vice President of firm (FCSI)
Age at first formal education: 29
Education provider: LA Chapter CSI CCS prep class
Age at CCS: 29
Age as full-time specifier: 29
Robert; what is the size of your sample?
43 as of 7/28 in the summary above.
Have the responses from a few more that have not been imputed into the spreadsheet yet.