Welcome to the September edition of The gigBench Update.
This monthly update brings together the most useful platform news, company updates, industry events, community stories, and resources so you can get the big picture quickly and dig deeper where you want to.
September brought a lot of progress across gigBench. We launched new ways to learn and connect, rolled out major platform improvements, introduced a refreshed visual identity, and continued building our presence across the AEC community.
Here are the highlights.
What is new on gigBench
September brought several meaningful improvements to the gigBench experience.
Learn and connect in gigBench
Webinars and Community are now live, giving members new ways to learn, participate, and stay connected between projects. Live Sessions can happen directly inside gigBench, while Community gives freelancers and firms spaces for posts, polls, surveys, and events.
Communicate more easily
Messaging has been rebuilt with file sharing, improved conversation tools, meeting scheduling, and video calls in one place. The goal is to make more of the communication around an opportunity possible without leaving the platform.
Explore a refreshed platform
New firm and freelancer dashboards are live, along with interactive maps, dark mode, and the refreshed gigBench brand. Freelancers can explore firms on a 3D globe or flat map, while firms can view talent by metro area.
Better matching, with mobile on the way
Matching continues to surface relevant opportunities as the marketplace changes, while the gigBench mobile experience continues toward an end-of-year launch.
| For the full feature-by-feature story, see the September Platform Update. |
Meet the refreshed gigBench brand
You may have noticed something different. gigBench has a new look.
Over the past several months, we have been refining not only the gigBench platform, but also the brand around it. The result is a visual identity that better represents the professional community we are building.
The refreshed gigBench is designed to feel more like the industry it serves: confident, modern, credible, precise, and built around meaningful professional relationships.
You will begin seeing the new identity everywhere, including our website, social channels, content and resources, marketing, and throughout the platform itself.
We are rolling the new identity out in real time, so you may notice different parts of the gigBench experience evolving as everything comes together.
| Take a look around and see the refreshed gigBench in action. |
Where we will be this fall
One of the best parts of building gigBench is getting out from behind the screen and talking directly with the people shaping the future of AEC.
7×24 Exchange Northeast Regional Conference
October 6-7 | Atlantic City, New Jersey
gigBench will be at the 7×24 Exchange Northeast Regional Conference this October. With professionals from across the data center and mission-critical infrastructure community coming together, this is an especially relevant event for gigBench as we continue building relationships among firms and highly specialized AEC professionals.
If you will be there too, we would love to connect.
We will also be adding more conferences and industry events to our fall calendar, so keep an eye on gigBench for updates on where you can find us next.
Community spotlight: Meet Samina Iqbal
This month, we are featuring Samina Iqbal, an architect and building enclosure expert with more than 20 years of experience.
Based in Pennsylvania, Samina brings deep expertise in building envelopes, Passive House principles, and high-performance design. Her specialized experience reflects the kind of AEC expertise gigBench is built to connect with firms.
Her story is one example of the experienced professionals who make the gigBench community valuable, bringing years of judgment, specialized knowledge, and practical experience to the firms and projects that need it.
From the Resource Center
The AEC Knowledge Gap: How Senior Freelancers Can Help Close It
Staffing pressure in AEC is not only about having enough people. It is also about making sure hard-earned knowledge and judgment stay connected to project teams.
In this Resource Center article, we explore how experienced independent AEC professionals can provide more than additional capacity. They can also support technical reviews, mentorship, project leadership, quality assurance, and knowledge transfer when firms need it most.
Build your bench. Or join one.
For AEC firms
Access vetted, discipline-specific professionals when workload increases, specialized expertise is needed, or hiring another full-time employee does not make sense.
For AEC professionals
Put your expertise in front of firms looking for what you already do well, and pursue project-based work that fits your skills, schedule, and goals.
Thanks for being part of the gigBench community and for following along as we continue building. We look forward to sharing more platform updates, industry insights, community stories, events, and resources in the months ahead.
| Flexible AEC talent. Built for the way the industry actually works. |