Announcement
I’m going solo! I’m starting CodedConstructs as an independent firm that focuses on consulting, creating some software products and a few other adventures I’ll share along the way.
I’ve spent months deliberating this and everyone tells you how scary it is to “take the leap”. But no one warns you how weird the time leading up to the jump actually is. I have pivoted between being grateful and then wanting to be rid of the job. And the best of all, teetering between full of self-doubt and full of confidence.
It’s really was a strange time to be in.
I’m allowing myself to feel all of it because I think that’s the best way forward.
The weirdness of being a digital person in the AEC
CodedShapes has been my way of trying to make sense of this weird field. Working through story on what it actually means to be a technology person inside an industry that doesn’t need technology to deliver its work.
AI and Grasshopper are great, but at the end of the day, a building just needs a drawing printed on paper. As long as getting there isn’t too expensive, most companies actually don’t care.
Through these articles, I kept circling the same question from different angles. Finding the right things to build. Debating billable vs internal tools. Hammering on the point of understanding first, before building.
All of it has been me trying to answer: how does digital work actually fit inside AEC?
When I say “digital” I mean everything : Building plugins, Excel macros, Grasshopper scripts, standalone applications, web applications, … everything
Proving Ground put it well in 2017 when they wrote that computational design was largely misunderstood. That it should be treated like a problem solving methodology instead of an actual role. The article even goes on to suggest ways of working with digitally forward people at a time where “computational design” was just a new thing.
In my view, the best indicator you have found the right fit for your team will be in how well the applicant can convey their thought process, and that it aligns with your aims and values. Ultimately, they should be interested to learn about the design challenges specific to your firm and describe a computational vision that can help lead your business to the best possible solution. - Proving Ground, 2017
But here we are, almost a decade later and no one has a good answer. People still don’t know if the computational designer is a BIM person or an engineer or just a software developer. And even operation wise, is the role project focused? Is it just R&D? Is it both? How do we budget it?
And now with AI, we’ve arguably moved even further from understanding what these roles are. Since it’s made tool-building more accessible, a lot more “normal” people are making tools now, which blurs this line even more.
Is a senior structural engineer that uses AI to build tools the same as computational design? I don’t think so, but some companies might.
I still believe in the vision of “describe a computational vision that can help lead your business to the best possible solution” but I just don’t think doing it from a company works anymore.
What working inside taught me
I’ve spent most of my career working inside structural engineering consultancies. Building tools, scripts, workflows, and digital systems around the company and it’s projects. And it’s been a bumpy ride. I’ve built tools that entire projects depended on. And I’ve built tools that never saw the light of day, months of work just sitting in a folder somewhere because it wasn’t thought out properly. Or because someone thought it was a good idea to automate the small 1% of their work.
And what I have found is that even though it’s a deeply technical area, the things that actually dictate the value of computational design are communication and understanding, which are both very human problems.
As I “climbed the ranks”, I kept pushing to understand the entire delivery chain for digital work in this industry. Not just the tool building but the scoping, the selling, the maintaining, the finances, basically, everything.
But as I pushed for more ownership while working for companies, I met an equally increasing resistance that stemmed from all the classic “corporate” reasons. Politics, budgets and status games.
It was reaching a point where the role didn’t fit the work I wanted to do anymore.
Walking the walk
It’s easy to complain about companies not giving me what I want. It’s much harder to do something about it. So, this is me walking the walk.
I’ve spent years writing about how computational design works (and should work) in our industry. And now I want to put that to the test on my own terms. Going independent forces me to stress-test my own philosophy, which has always been to understand first, then build.
In a world where building new tools is fast, focusing on the human elements like communication and understanding seems counter-intuitive but it’s the right instinct to act on now.
The industry still doesn’t know how to position this work. And just building things quicker with AI is not going to solve that.
But the other hard truth is that I also don’t know what the answer here is either.
Starting my own consultancy forces me to find that answer because you can’t sell something you can’t explain. I can’t hide behind budgets or politics anymore, I am forced to confront the market with my ideas. I have to find the fit between what I believe and what people actually need.
Which is why it’s taken a lot of deep soul searching and incredibly difficult work to arrive at this decision. But ultimately it became clear that this was the only way forward.
What is CodedConstructs
To me, CodedConstructs is not a completely new thing. It doesn’t change the work or who I am. It’s a clearer container for the work I’ve already been doing and want to do more of. Well, this container needs to pay my bills at some point.
I want to build tools and workflows that teams can actually adopt, maintain, and use to be more efficient. Not built for marketing or because some director decided the company “needs to do more AI.”
The work I care about sits between design, delivery, and software. And it’s always been about ensuring the tool fits the way the team actually works.
What’s next
Nothing changes on the CodedShapes (this newsletter) front. But it does mean I am fully open for business.
If your team has a design, modelling, documentation, or reporting workflow that feels too manual, too fragile, or too dependent on one person, I’d be happy to chat. Even if it’s just to think through what makes sense, that conversation is free.
If it doesn’t work, I’ll tell you and I’ll never take payment from you before the next steps are clear.
Subscribe to follow me on my solo journey! Let’s see how I do in the next few months
I am at that point in my job. Where i have outgrown my current firm but have no idea how to make that jump. Scary and uncertain.