Senior data architect skills for your resume and career

Flexibility in thinking and the ability to understand other people's perspectives. Basically, to get along as a team while keeping the negativity to a minimum.

Revit and CAD. Especially as these relate to performative design. What I mean by performative design are technologically feature-rich buildings to respond to atmospheric and environmental conditions that support human occupation and productivity.

A combination of fundamental scientific understanding married with data science knowledge (machine learning, neural networks, etc.); it is crucial to juxtapose these against the backdrop of industrial landscape, as well as state & federal policies.

I am thinking and problem-solving. I find young people often shy or scared to think hard. It does not work when a person (student) wants a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems. They have to have the guts to think and take risks, and risk-taking is rare these days, as is thinking. No technical skills matter if a person cannot or will not believe it.

Next is collaboration. No one works alone (except maybe artists, writers, etc., but they have agents, so even they do not work alone. In business, everyone works in teams, so all graduates must know how to work with others. That means good communication skills, and that means being straight-forward and entirely honest with all peers. If people cannot contribute to a team, they have no future in business.

Next is self-learning. Graduates must be interested on their own, without a mentor or teacher telling them what to consider next. The rate of technological change is so fast that waiting to be told what to do next is a non-starter. No textbook can be written fast enough to relate to new trends. Successful young people learn what is being developed and master it independently with assistance from no one. No one can hide, and the business expects high-performance from everyone.

Here is a baseline of technical skills, usually related to the software used in the office, but software changes. I was in a conversation recently with Christiana Moss, who is a partner at Studio Ma, and she had a great quote. She needed recent graduates "who could be useful." This meant being able to think on their own, to ask questions, and to be able to take on a project without the need to be told how to do everything. We don't expect graduates to know everything they need to know to build a building, but they should be aware of what they don't know and be able to ask good questions, work collaboratively, and also independently.