Ravi Pariah will moderate a special expert panel discussion at the inaugural UCLA Extension Construction and Career Industry Summit on Nov. 5. For more information and to sign up, visit the event homepage.

The largest residential project Ravi Pariah has ever worked on is 28,500 square feet. It has nine bedrooms and 30 bathrooms and is a jewel within the prestigious Beverly Park neighborhood. The project was massive and took an enormous amount of coordination to construct. Completing it drew on everything Pariah had learned in the field, plus the skills he picked up in UCLA Extension’s Construction Management Certificate Program.

Pariah now teaches multiple classes in construction management at UCLA Extension, drawing upon his lived experience to help set up his students for future success. Moving from student to instructor, he is able to instill the practical experiences that his instructors previously taught him.

“I do take a lot of information from my day-to-day jobs into the classroom,” he said. “I try to show the daily challenges that we face onsite from a management position and a coordinator position.”

Often the lesson plan will veer into a topic Pariah is dealing with in real life, and he has no qualms with sharing how he and his colleagues worked to solve it. Whether it is reviewing a current RFI or plans and sketches of ideas, he walks the students through the thinking behind every workaround or proposed solution. He also augments the learning in class by having architects, engineers, consultants and waterproofing experts as guest speakers during most of his classes.

“Construction is about relationships,” Pariah said, adding that he is still in contact with many of the instructors who taught him years later, and he wants to be that sort of mentor to his current students.

Pariah grew up far from the hustle of Los Angeles on Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. The whole island can be explored in about a day, and it is home to roughly 1.2 million people. High schoolers were offered different focus areas and Pariah gravitated toward design, completing a capstone project about building a home.

“Growing up, my parents would always be expanding the house. My uncle was a contractor, and I’d always be helping out. I really liked that,” he said. “So, I suppose that’s where my love of construction began.”

But if he wanted to thrive in his area of choice, there were not many opportunities on the island. Pariah embarked to the University of East London to study architecture. He was a hard worker – taking a full-time job on top of a full course load.

Pariah enjoyed architecture, but once he landed in the workforce, he felt something was missing. After a few years in the industry, he also completed his project management professional (PMP) certification

“I realized that project management was more of an option for me than architecture,” he said. “I really love that interaction between the site and the office -- being able to give that guidance and seeing something built as opposed to it just being theoretical design.”

He met his wife in London. She is originally from the United States and returned there for her training and fellowship at UCLA Medical Center. In 2008, Pariah followed her to the U.S.

“We’ve been very connected to the UCLA family from the onset,” he said with a smile.

While it took a second for Pariah to find his bearings during a challenging economic period, he eventually found his footing in the premium home market – high square feet, premium materials and name designers. He started as an assistant project manager, was later promoted to project manager, but found he needed more education to further his career from there.

“At some point I felt like there was something lacking – in terms of skills, in terms of leadership, in terms of knowing a little bit more with building a schedule and managing the project,” he said. “That is definitely something that pushed me toward the UCLA Extension Construction Management Certificate Program.”

Completing the UCLA Extension Construction Management Certificate Program in 2014 helped Pariah level up his career and handle bigger projects with large teams.

“It helped me learn quite a lot of the skillsets that I didn’t have,” he said. “And a lot about teamwork, which I try to promote in my classroom. At the end of the day, you are always working in groups, always working with someone.”

Then, life took a turn when his family had the opportunity to relocate to Switzerland and Pariah used the move to earn an MBA with a focus on general management. He went on to work at a family office, where he advised on real estate deals and worked on the financial side of real estate investment.

But construction kept pulling at him. Years later, an opportunity opened up to return to construction management in Los Angeles, and he took it. A few years after that, his wish to pass on what he’d learned brought him back to UCLA Extension – this time as an instructor.

He now teaches Reading Construction Blueprint Drawings and Construction Materials and Building Systems. The classes are designed for novices to experienced professionals, with students coming from backgrounds in law, architecture, construction, engineering and more.

“When you come to UCLA, there is no point in showing you a simple project,” he said. “I want to make sure that when you leave my classroom, you are equipped with the best foundation and techniques to bring to the working world. When you go out and actually sit down with plans, nothing should scare you. You should have that confidence.”

While he admits it’s a little cliché, Pariah has enjoyed his full circle moment at UCLA Extension and is eager to help his students gain the same benefits he did from attending the program.

“At the end of the day, yes, there are advancements with technologies. But when you boil it down, this business is still about that human-to-human connection,” he said. “You still need to manage your budget, schedule and know what the process and workflows are. That’s where UCLA Extension comes in.”