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hile working as an office manager, Annette Fitzmaurice says she found herself taking on more and more building management tasks. “The landlords where I previously worked owned five buildings, and the facilities manager couldn’t be in all five places at once, so in certain circumstances, I did find myself doing more tasks relating to the physical aspects of the office than perhaps I had originally been employed to do — I enjoyed it and I was happy to do it of course.” The company Annette worked for then, has a culture of learning and development and Annette was encouraged to sign up for courses and better herself in any way she chose. “The firm was planning office renovations, so I tried a Project Management course. It was an online, self-paced course, and I found it difficult to dedicate myself to this style of learning. 46
I felt I needed more of a structure, and other people learning alongside me with whom I could interact, so there’s some accountability between us. I found out about the facilities management course at Bermuda College and felt that it would be a good fit for me.” The facilities management course is developed by BOMI (Building Owners and Managers Institute) and offered through Bermuda College’s PACE division. (Professional and Career Education). It leads to a Facilities Management Administrator (FMA) designation, a designation that opens doors to a career managing any type of property — commercial buildings, condominium developments, sports grounds — as well as project management and construction management. Annette explains that there are eight ‘modules’ to the course, each of which is
taught in one semester. “There is what I call a rolling admission. That may not be the official description, but it’s how I would describe it, because you can start the course at any time, and work your way through each of the eight modules, one semester at a time. I started in 2019, and we had a good number of live classes before Covid hit, and then we went to Zoom, and then back to live classes.” Annette’s employers paid for her tuition; however, funding is available to those that qualify through the Government’s National Training Board. “Everyone on the course had a full-time job” remarked Annette. “I not only had a full and a part-time job, I was on my daughter’s PTA, and heavily involved in other community activities. When I look back, I don’t know how I did it, but it does go to show that it’s possible to study BUILDINGBERMUDA2023
