Hamza Janjua pursues a head-start to his civil engineering career. While many earn the degree before working professionally, Janjua works to be one step ahead.
The civil engineering senior also is a licensed general contractor in the state of Iowa. His new business, SSB Construction, LLC, thrives in Ames with his first project – a Burger King being built just west of Interstate 35 on 13th Street. “SSB,” Janjua said, stands for “scope, schedule and budget – the three basic things of project management.”
Born in Baltimore, Md., he grew up in Abbottabad, Pakistan, about 70 miles north of Islamabad. At age 18 he moved to New York City. In nearby Valhalla, N.Y., he earned core credits from Westchester Community College. From there, he transferred to Iowa State University to follow his family’s legacy in civil and construction engineering – his great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and now Janjua, have owned construction companies.
“(Civil engineering) is in my blood. It’s a family tradition; and besides that, it’s very constructive,” Janjua said.
Janjua said that lessons learned in Iowa State reinforced concrete design (CE 334) and project management for civil engineers (CE 306) courses serve him well in everyday work decisions. In addition to attending civil engineering courses, Janjua worked for Khurram Mian to develop an understanding of the construction business. Mian owns Mian Group of Companies, an Ames-based group that owns and manages many restaurant chains throughout Iowa.
Janjua interned for Mian last year as a project manager. He also pursued a previous internship with Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. These valuable experiences and a construction industry upbringing gave him the know-how to launch SSB Construction this past May. “If you decide to run a business, then you just have to step in,” Janjua said.
Janjua talks more about his story in the video below.