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Mid to Late Career Architects- What are you Doing these Days

Broadstreetexpresstrain

Ok mid to late career architects with 20 plus years of experience.......is the recession finally over?.......after many years of architectural drought. there are finally several architecture positions posted on the jobs boards, however they are typically for the very young (up to 7 years of experience) and relatively inexpensive.

Not many posts out there for the mid to late career architects.........other than opening up your own company (which I know a few of my colleagues have done with  mixed reviews and mixed success) what is the mid to late architect to do?  .........what have others done.....what have been some of the other career choices that mid to late career architects have taken ....that are lucrative, relative to their years of experience....my experience with my peers has shown that roughly 50 percent of experienced architects have moved onto other careers. What have you seen? What has been your experience?

I am currently considering several alternatives after spending the past 20 + years as a relatively successful architect with large complex, urban buildings in my portfolio.

During the Great Recession I was out of work for a year ...and I cannot let that happen again..Thankfully, due to divine intervention- literally , I gained employment in 2010 and have Been working in an allied career ever since.

I am interested to know because, I am currently at a career crossroads......do I continue continue to pursue this career as an Entrepeneur wih mixed success or do something altogether different?

What are others doing....and what does this all mean for all of the young employed architects out there 10 years from now........as we know that recessions happen every 12 years.

Thanks

 
Mar 26, 15 9:36 pm
JeromeS

"divine intervention, literally"

What did God commission you for?

Mar 26, 15 9:40 pm  · 
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12 years between recessions?!

That's optimistic.

Mar 26, 15 9:59 pm  · 
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Carrera

Not many "old guys" on here, I'm one, but see things more from a firm owner perspective.... will say that the work environments changed near the end of my career, and experienced real problems with young guys running the old guys off....experience seems to be an asset, up to a point, then it seems to turn into a liability in architecture.... at 40 something it might still be okay, and I would encourage you to try to find a fit.... and at the same time look to the construction industry for a fit, those guys bring old guys out of retirement.

Mar 26, 15 10:24 pm  · 
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TIQM

Most architects don't do their best work until they are 60.  It takes that long to get any good at it.

Mar 26, 15 10:38 pm  · 
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shellarchitect

where are you? the firm i just left loves to hire "oldsters"  

Mar 26, 15 11:16 pm  · 
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quizzical

Broadstreetexpresstrain: "I was out of work for a year ...and I cannot let that happen again."

I certainly understand that concern. However, the inconvenient truth is that any "allied field" also tends to be susceptible to the same ups-and-downs as architecture. So, job security doesn't necessarily come from leaving the profession for something related.

Like Carrera, I'm happily retired now and, for that reason, you may want to take what I have to say with a grain of sale. Nevertheless, over the course of my career I engaged in three meaningly different lines of work: a) traditional architectural practice (both as employee and principal); b) real estate development, with a RE firm (both as employee and principal); and c) self-employed non-design consulting practice. All of these activities were "allied" to architecture in one form or another.  And, unfortunately all three rode the same cyclical roller coaster that whipsaws the profession periodically.

Truthfully, I never was unemployed over the course of my career - but there were periods where I definitely was under-employed and other periods where I was working a more-than-full-time schedule, but wasn't realizing very much income.

All things considered, I survived the ups-and-downs by always concentrating on versatility -- being able to perform lots of different tasks at a reasonable degree of proficiency. That gave me (and my employers) more flexibility when the nature of the business started to change or evolve. I also conducted my personal life (and managed my personal finances) with the idea that my income could drop precipitously overnight - which, for example, is exactly what happened during the months immediately following 9/11.

If you enjoy the profession but are not keen to start your own firm, you may want to consider different ways of making yourself more versatile (and, to a degree, less expendable) by acquiring (and demonstrating) a broader set of skills so your employer will be reluctant to let you go the next time work begins to wane.

Good luck.

Mar 27, 15 4:38 pm  · 
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Carrera

^ quizzical – Ditto!

Mar 27, 15 5:51 pm  · 
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I'll say this, it doesn't happen every '12 years' because the cycles are not evenly spaced.

Recession happens all the time but some are localized to certain occupations. It is more in how the wealth is being moved around. Economics is very fluidic. Some have felt the smaller recession in late 90s, early 2000s and then again in 2007/2008 so it is hard to say but we have had recessions happening within 7 years to 15 years so it varies. There are national, regional and even more local recessions periods as well. 

It would be foolish to think we won't have recession cycles impacting any of us until 2019/2020. 

Mar 27, 15 6:45 pm  · 
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timothy,

I'm not sure what you mean by "just can't stand in front of what you make the same way"... elaborate as that would inform my response to that line better.

The UX/UI field makes sense for those familiar with design background but it does help and important to have some fundamental computer science and understanding of computers and how they work. However, you wouldn't necessarily lead a project in this field without being being a software architect or senior game designer or such and that would involve knowing programming. Remember, in the software field that experience and accomplished programmers often are the ones that become the lead director of such projects since they see how the software / game is structured, design and engineered. An architect can become a software architect but they need to have some software under their belt that you created because you need to sort of intimately understand how computers operate, process instructions, data, etc from microscopic to macroscopic perspective.

Game design has another layer of things because it isn't just the abstract of game mechanics of code engineering but bringing it all together. I've done it since the 1980s.

So, you can't assume to just come in with an architecture degree and lead a software or game development project without at least some sense of what's going on under the hood of computers when you are directing programmers, graphic artists, etc. You should have an idea of what they are doing to lead them effectively... makes sense.

However, I am sure, if you took time a little bit at a time, there could be opportunities to get in the field but one avenue is indie game or software development to supplement  what you already do in architecture. Work on something small and manageable. Not all games have to be MMOs.

  

Mar 30, 15 4:37 am  · 
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mightyaa

Ya, it’s rough for older architects.  A big fear out there is your salary expectations; They love the recently licensed and 6-10 year group because they have just enough knowledge to get by, but don’t ask for ‘real money’. 

The other big fear is bringing in this stranger at a senior level and assigning them a client.  If they screw it up, they can burn the relationship with the client.  Basically, hiring someone who can jack up the firm is scary stuff versus moving up someone in-house where you know their strengths and weaknesses.   Essentially there is a fear level they have of us that doesn’t happen with lower positions.  A background person is easy to remove without a lot of explaining to do to a client… A senior manager isn’t.

I’ve got several options on the table.  It comes down to my goals.  Sort of funny, but most older architects I know have had that blind ambition and pursuit of money burned out of us.  We’re simpler and wiser; We just want to get up in the morning and look forward to going into the office.   We’ll pass on the PITA high stress, long hours.. (there are exceptions, but they have to love that..)

As such, I decided to close the doors “sort of” on my firm and join another.  My firm will plod on in the background as sort of project broker essentially taking that work that comes in from my network and hiring other architectural firms to run the project.  My new employer is fine with that (they do bigger stuff); sort of a first right of refusal.  I might also continue to moonlight legal support in the background; it helps my portfolio and my marketability for the new firm of ‘highly qualified’ staff.  That will be the next 6 months or so while the new firm and I feel each other out for fit.  It’s basically where I am; jack of all trades and not entirely reliant on a single source of income.

Mar 30, 15 11:35 am  · 
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What am I doing these days? Some of my best work ever. 

Mar 30, 15 2:58 pm  · 
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