Her Story
About Rina
I began my career in 2000 teaching AEC subjects at the post-secondary level, including drafting and computer-aided design, working at various schools and community colleges until 2016. That year, I got the opportunity to step back into industry, which was very exciting because industry is where most of the action is. I accepted a role as a BIM Specialist, which was quite a switch because my background was primarily AutoCAD, but the company was a 100% Revit shop, a completely different authoring tool and way of working. Once I got over the angst of missing my old tools, I just read whatever I could read, networked, and met and learned from some of the best people in the industry. After that, there was no looking back. I stepped up to do a couple of BIM manager roles and continued to learn. One life-changing experience was being nominated by my company to attend Autodesk University 2017. I had offered between 3,000 and 4,000 solutions on the Autodesk forums, and people would stop me in the hallways thanking me for helping with their projects. A colleague tapped me on the shoulder and asked why I wasn't an Autodesk Expert Elite, then walked me over to the right person, and by 2018 I received that credential. I was invited to be an author for Autodesk certification exams for AutoCAD, Revit, and the BIM certification exam pilot. I first presented at Autodesk University 2019, and I've spoken every single year since, taking three Best Speaker Awards. I've authored two courses for LinkedIn Learning and currently author for Global E-Training. I moved to the United States from India in 1998 with plans to get a master's degree and go back, but I stayed. My career has gone through quite a trajectory, and what I'm doing today is completely different from what I was doing in 2010 or 2015. If you ask me if there's anything I would do differently, my answer would be no. This trajectory has made me who I am.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rina
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be flexible. Watch out for opportunities. You get an opportunity, you take it. In the process of my career, I've taught in the classroom, I've taught K-12, I even worked in a bank. Just learn to roll with the punches. You can't just go into life thinking, this is what I must do, this is what my dream job must be, and I won't settle for anything less. Don't do that. You can never tell what other opportunities might roll your way. When I was offered my first position after being in post-secondary education, my first response was, please don't hire me in as a BIM specialist, please hire me in for production, because I want to be involved with creating beautiful buildings. And you know what? That was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was not in production. I stayed in an advisory, mentoring, ivory tower kind of role as a BIM specialist, and from there, I progressed on to where I am now.
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