There are some excellent posts on a CSI LinkedIn Group discussion.  I’m going to quote them here, since not everyone can see that discussion. 

Robert Johnson posted a quote from Kevin Phillips, who wrote about a time when he was starting his first intern job:

“About a month after I started my employment, I took my CDT (Construction Documents Technology) exam offered through CSI. This was my first introduction to CSI. I passed my exam and received a certificate as a Construction Documents Technologist. Studying and taking that exam opened my eyes to a whole new world. I learned so much about construction documents and the industry as a whole. I felt that I had a HUGE advantage over my peers because I learned much more about the industry than they had…in a short period of time.”  (Kevin Phillips)
 
And I wrote a follow-up:

“The SHORT PERIOD OF TIME is key. A lot of architects think that learning about construction contract administration has to be EITHER a ‘baptism by fire,’ OR ELSE a decade-long apprentice period involving a lot of copying over of someone else’s shop drawing review notes. 

“There is a third option – study for the CDT exam (in conjunction with a little baptism by fire and some copying over of shop drawing review notes) – and you’ll have such a greater understanding of what your role is as the architect on a construction project, in a MUCH shorter period of time than it takes others who don’t take the CDT!”  (Liz O’Sullivan)

Robert Johnson followed up:

“I agree with Liz about the basic knowledge that the CDT education course will give you about contract administration – the roles of each of the elements of the contract documents and the basic roles and responsibilities of the participants during the construction stage.

“Taking the CCCA education course after CDT will carry that to a much further depth. You will now learn more detailed information about the roles and responsibilities of the owner, contractor, and design professional during each of the activities of the construction period. This will include preconstruction submittals, preconstruction meetings, submittals, meetings, closeout submittals, site visits, quality assurance and quality control, interpretations, substitutions, claims and disputes, measurement and payment, and project closeout to name some of the topics.

“As with other similar areas, you can take the long and painful route of learning from your experiences without any education to go with it. The quality of the resulting education will relate to the quality and knowledge of your mentors and how comprehensive your experience is in terms of involvement in all the construction period activities, types of projects, types of project delivery, etc.

“The CCCA education will make your experience much more fruitful and better prepare you for new unexperienced situations in the future. The combination of a good education and experince can’t be beat! If you have contract administration responsibilities and don’t take the CCCA education course, you are shortchanging yourself.”  (Robert Johnson)

Here’s a link to the members-only discussion.  If you’re a CSI member, you can become a member of the group. http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=40132348&gid=706547&commentID=30710997&trk=view_disc