Matt Degan
“It’s a good personal benchmark, it’s a good target to try and achieve. It’s a good goal for career development. I’d say it’s equivalent to a degree.”
Matt Degan, GSC, Project Manager, Urban One Builders
Growing up, Matt was surrounded by Construction influences. His father was an Electrician and his uncle was a General Contractor. He openly and proudly admits to following in his family’s footsteps. However, and most importantly, he loves what he does. Today Matt works as a Project Manager for Urban One Builders in Vancouver, BC. He described loving his job because “Vancouver is such a busy city, there’s always something new getting built and worth getting involved in. Every day is a little different, and that’s what I love the most.”
Matt states that a lot of his coworkers already have their Gold Seal Certification. In this circumstance they’ve earned it not for the purpose of differentiation, but because it’s the go-to certification that distinguishes an employee as a senior level practitioner. He especially likes the Gold Seal Certification program because of the length of time it took him to complete the courses. Matt went on to say: “to earn your Gold Seal you have to have a certain amount of training and experience. The time you put in at your job, pays you back towards earning your certification.”
In November 2015, Matt earned his Gold Seal Certification. Part of what drove him to get certified was the curiosity of knowing he had the potential to earn it. Earning his certification allowed him to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing he stood on par with other high ranking professionals in the field. Now Matt feels confident that he has something that acknowledges he isn’t a junior player in the field anymore.
“Construction is 90% experience, you have to be there and soak it up to be good at it. Gold Seal recognizes that, and gives you the credentials that tells others that you’ve been there, you’ve seen it, you’ve done it.”