Avvir Pro Spotlight: Caity Taylor, Director of Solution Engineering

At Avvir, we’re proud to have employees with real construction experience on both the Owner and General Contractor sides of the business. These individuals have joined the many other talented employees at Avvir to help us truly understand the core of what our customers, and the construction industry needs.

This year we’re shining the spotlight on a few of those individuals who’ve helped Avvir become what it is today. So for our 2nd Avvir Pro, we have Caity Taylor, Director of Solution Engineering at Avvir. Prior to being a key member of our company, she worked at WeWork (where she met our 1st Avvir Pro, Kyle Johnson), CASE Design and The Walt Disney Company.

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Let’s get to know her better.

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Caity, how and why did you pick construction as a career?

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I come from a family of engineers. When I was 10  years old, I was tasked with creating a fire escape plan for school. Most kids used crayons for the task, but with my Mechanical Engineer Dad’s help, I created a scaled plan in AutoCAD. With only a few CAD commands and a natural passion for hitting the space and escape button, I remember having so much fun with this new tool.

On one occasion,  I tagged along with my Dad to drop off a roll of drawings at the architects' office. During this trip, I stumbled upon the sample room and I was fascinated by all of the brightly colored interior paint samples, tiles, and fabrics. From that moment, for better or for worse, I decided that I wanted to be an architect.

When I entered the practice, it became apparent pretty early on that my idea of what architecture was and what actually being an architect meant, were two very different things. And I found that just because I liked buildings, it didn’t mean that I had to limit myself to design. I ended up becoming much more interested in the process of designing and building and the people and systems that make it happen. 

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How did you hear about Avvir and why did you decide to be part of this journey?

‍In my last role as a Development Project Manager, I was overseeing anywhere from 20-30 projects across various phases all the way from lease negotiation through construction close out. I worked with a lot of talented people who were ultimately responsible for each of those phases, but as the PM, I needed to always be aware of which projects could be at risk.
To evaluate and report on risk, a lot of my time was spent on jobsites and translating whatever I knew to be true to some spreadsheet. I can admit now that the basis of my reporting was at best an informed guess – and you would not believe how many decisions were made with the assumption that those numbers were fact.

I knew that there had to be a better way of keeping everyone informed. 

At an opportune moment, Kyle Johnson reached out about a role that had opened up on his team at Avvir.  Kyle and I have worked closely together over the years and I have always been interested in his work. He gave me a quick demo of the product and I knew that this was something that I wanted to be a part of.

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What would you like to see at Avvir and in the industry moving forward?

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At Avvir, I think we are on the brink of a technological shift. We are merging digital and physical worlds and as reality capture becomes more accessible and autonomous, we can continue to close that gap. 

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In the industry, I’d like to see greater collaboration among the various software and hardware solutions. This would enable our mutual customers to utilize integrated systems, resulting in fewer instances of data loss during critical hand off points.

I’m also happy to be a part of Hexagon AB (our parent company) where sustainability is a major initiative. The construction industry contributes to ⅓ of the world’s waste. We have a huge opportunity here to make a big impact.  

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Alright, last one Caity, what are your top 3 pro tips for anyone in construction?

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1. Lean on your team

I’ve always been fortunate to have amazing colleagues and mentors and I truly believe in the power of collaboration and teamwork. I think Adam Grant summed it all up really nicely when he said,  “Seeking advice doesn’t reveal incompetence. It reflects respect for another person’s insight. Requesting feedback doesn’t signal insecurity. It demonstrates that you care more about your learning than your ego. Asking for help doesn’t display weakness. It builds strength.”

2. Don’t put yourself in a box

It’s a strange thing to pick your career choice as a child, or even an 18 year old, but that’s the expectation for so many of us. But just because you went to school for one thing, it doesn’t mean that you are limited to a life of doing just that one thing. 

Skills are always transferable and you can leverage your past experience to bring some really valuable perspective to your new role. In my own career, I have found that leaning into opportunities and taking risks has always led to growth. Each time I've made a career transition, the skills and knowledge I gained in my previous role have helped me to be more successful in my new role.

3. Communication is Key

Effective communication is critical in any industry, but it’s especially important in construction where you have complex projects and multiple stakeholders. Ensure that everyone is on the same page by communicating regularly, clearly, and transparently. Listen actively and ask questions to clarify any misunderstandings. Good communication can make the difference between a successful project and a disastrous one.

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We really appreciate Caity for taking the time to go through her experiences and what got her here today. We also think her pro tip about not putting yourself in a box is truly important, especially as our industry is on the brink of technological change. Skills and experience are transferable, and as people evolve into different roles, they can take their collective past experience and apply that to their new learnings and knowledge, creating an industry that not only values the future and what’s possible, but also where we’ve come from and what we’ve accomplished.

If you’d like to get more insights from Caity, you can check out her Avvir Pro video interview and watch out for her content on the Avvir blog.