Hi, I'm new to the forum and would like to ask for any advice on my problem. I'm sorry this is long, but I would like to hear someone's opinion on my job situation.
I recently graduated from a two-year college with an Associate Degree in Architectural Design & Technology. During my final semester, I got a paid internship position at a cabinetry company as a CAD technician. I really enjoyed the job even though I only worked twice a week and felt very fulfilled and challenged. When I was an intern, I was busy making renders and animations in the software my company wanted to bridge into their workflow since I was the only one who had experience with these new programs. After I graduated, I was hired full time and it seems like my job completely changed. I've been working as an "official" employee for 5 weeks now, don’t have any projects to work on, and am literally up to my own devices. I work 10 1/2 hour days, so by the end of the week, I feel miserable.
When I ask if there are any projects for me to do, my managers look stumped and say there isn't any. This week, a manager told me that, "This is normal. Sometimes we have slow days." I have a hard time believing it because a week ago, we had several meetings about our tight deadlines and our excessive overtime hours this month. To compare, there are 5 of us in the office and two other drafters have 14 projects each. A couple days ago, I mentioned it was cold in the office (as in temperature) and the same manager joked that I feel that way because "I don't do any work."
To stay busy, I look through old plan sets and redraw them so I can become a better employee. I rewatch videos, take notes (I've already filled two whole notebooks), try to look for ways to improve the software pipeline, etc. However, I now feel like I'm stuck, bored, and unnecessary. We keep time sheets to record what projects we do every day, so I feel embarrassed to write that I did "Microvellum practice" for 10 hours straight every day. When I get my pay check, I feel guilty like I'm getting paid to be babysat. What exactly happens in an architectural firm when the projects are slow? Is it similar to what is happening to me? I feel like I should try applying to another job, but am not sure if I should give my job some more time to see if it changes. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Companies like yours (and mine) experience waves; sometimes for estimating or project acquisition (where you are) and then production. Likely the tight deadlines are on the production side. Enjoy the slow period- they are going to cornhole you when the work flow flip-flops.
Don't feel guilty about the pay check. They acquired talent they wanted when they hired you. They may still be figuring out how best to use you. Keep asking how you can be of assistance to the guys doing all the work.
What happens when it gets slow in an architecture firm? In my experience, there are a few weeks of you doing the "honey-do" projects around the office that were back burnered when things were busy (such as printing project pictures for decor around the office, filing, research, etc...). That's in the hope that things will pick up in that time, and if it doesn't then they lay you off.
My advice for you is to leave. It appears they don't value you, and if you feel miserable you should move on.
Bad manager, that isn’t “managing” or communicating to you how to manage your workday. Would wonder if he was the one who hired you…have seen managers freeze out new hires they had no say in hiring, in protest to higher-ups who control the hiring…might consider talking to the person who hired you if not the manager.
You’re doing all the right things to stay busy…it may not seem like “work”, but it all benefits the employer in the long run…for now just keep repeating to yourself - “It all pays the same”.
May I say, that you are young to profession and please enjoy yourself, as you self-educate yourself at the office expense. If you are being paid for being the youngster on staff, "the check does not bounce!"
I realize you are trying to find actual work to do, but I'll mention this anyway. Be careful with so many hours spent self-educating and not on billable projects. At some point, someone is going to take a look at each employee's profitability, and if most of your time is spent doing "microvellum practice" your going to probably get a stern reprimand at best (at worst, you'll be fired).
Your managers' and supervisors' jobs, especially for new employees, are to keep you busy. For the first week or so, I would expect you not to have a lot to work on. But after 5 weeks, you should have projects or tasks to work on and be mostly billable.
m_mask, if it's crunch time, they simply may not have time to teach you in addition to the work they need to get out the door, so the more experienced employees are overworked while you have nothing to do. I'm sure they wish they could dump some of their workload onto you, but they can't if there is not time allotted to properly review and correct your drawings.
I would check in each morning with your manager and let him know what you plan to do that day to increase your knowledge and understanding of their process, unless they have any specific suggestions. Then leave them alone, present a good attitude and continue showing them your work ethic. Think of it as a right of initiation. Even if the manager did not want you, if you show that you will be a good team member, they will eventually find a use for you, and eventually you will become indispensable.
If they do give you any suggestions, listen to them carefully and follow through on what they are telling you. I used to be in your manager's position and would recommend website or books, or even bring in my own books, to help get the new hire up to speed. The employee rarely so much as cracked open a book, seemingly wanting to be spoon-fed the information I wanted them to know, or thinking that they already knew enough to be useful. They did not last long if they did not show a true desire to learn.
From my experience I noticed that Fall/Winter is typically busier seasons for planning and designing. Spring/Summer busier season for construction (depends on where you are) Listen to Wood Guy great advice. If they let you go you will still have self respect that you did your all and a job reference. And I really don't what you're doing for 10.5 hrs if you're not work on anything. Immortal words from Kat Williams " If your not working and you're not smoking weed I really don't know what you are doing, I really don't." When I was younger and in the same situation as you working for a healthcare casework contractor I reduced my hours and worked part time at an architecture firm. One thing led to another and now I'm working in a bigger firm doing exciting projects. This is an opportunity for you to start exploring what you really enjoy doing.
Thank you all for replying to me so quickly. I'm just going to reply to everyone in one kind of choppy post.
Based on Wood Guy's advice, I think I will try to get some woodworking/machining books so I can better understand the terminology that I need to know. Then, I can ask my main manager (not the one I mentioned) questions that come up. I didn’t say it before, but I literally sit back-to-back with him in the same cubicle. The other manager faces my main manager in his own cubicle.
Everyday Intern, thanks for saying what you did. I am now going to write more specific things that I do every day so I am more careful. I will also try to talk to my manager to ask if I could reduce my hours like JeromeS brought up. Maybe like Anob said, I could try to work at another place to get experience elsewhere so I can eventually move on.
I am planning on visiting my college teachers to ask for their opinions on the jobs available in the area. Since they know past students, hopefully they can advise me on some jobs that might suit me better. I think I will try to talk to the HR person at work, too, about the situation because she also checks our time cards. I'm not sure what I'll say to her yet, though.
This week, I am working on turning our current AutoCAD template to have dynamic blocks, annotative text/objects, and instructions on how to create and use them. I'm also going to try to learn about Excel logical functions since Microvellum uses them. I genuinely had a fun day learning about it with my manager last week, but he goes from being helpful, encouraging, and talkative one day to being completely silent most days. The majority of the people in my office are anti-social or ornery, so I guess I have been letting it get to me too much. I'm going to think about what everyone said and work on my own confidence/attitude.
Jun 20, 16 6:35 pm ·
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Help! My firm never has work for me to do
Hi, I'm new to the forum and would like to ask for any advice on my problem. I'm sorry this is long, but I would like to hear someone's opinion on my job situation.
I recently graduated from a two-year college with an Associate Degree in Architectural Design & Technology. During my final semester, I got a paid internship position at a cabinetry company as a CAD technician. I really enjoyed the job even though I only worked twice a week and felt very fulfilled and challenged. When I was an intern, I was busy making renders and animations in the software my company wanted to bridge into their workflow since I was the only one who had experience with these new programs.
After I graduated, I was hired full time and it seems like my job completely changed. I've been working as an "official" employee for 5 weeks now, don’t have any projects to work on, and am literally up to my own devices. I work 10 1/2 hour days, so by the end of the week, I feel miserable.
When I ask if there are any projects for me to do, my managers look stumped and say there isn't any. This week, a manager told me that, "This is normal. Sometimes we have slow days." I have a hard time believing it because a week ago, we had several meetings about our tight deadlines and our excessive overtime hours this month. To compare, there are 5 of us in the office and two other drafters have 14 projects each. A couple days ago, I mentioned it was cold in the office (as in temperature) and the same manager joked that I feel that way because "I don't do any work."
To stay busy, I look through old plan sets and redraw them so I can become a better employee. I rewatch videos, take notes (I've already filled two whole notebooks), try to look for ways to improve the software pipeline, etc. However, I now feel like I'm stuck, bored, and unnecessary. We keep time sheets to record what projects we do every day, so I feel embarrassed to write that I did "Microvellum practice" for 10 hours straight every day. When I get my pay check, I feel guilty like I'm getting paid to be babysat.
What exactly happens in an architectural firm when the projects are slow? Is it similar to what is happening to me? I feel like I should try applying to another job, but am not sure if I should give my job some more time to see if it changes. Anyway, thanks for reading.
Companies like yours (and mine) experience waves; sometimes for estimating or project acquisition (where you are) and then production. Likely the tight deadlines are on the production side. Enjoy the slow period- they are going to cornhole you when the work flow flip-flops.
Don't feel guilty about the pay check. They acquired talent they wanted when they hired you. They may still be figuring out how best to use you. Keep asking how you can be of assistance to the guys doing all the work.
What happens when it gets slow in an architecture firm? In my experience, there are a few weeks of you doing the "honey-do" projects around the office that were back burnered when things were busy (such as printing project pictures for decor around the office, filing, research, etc...). That's in the hope that things will pick up in that time, and if it doesn't then they lay you off.
My advice for you is to leave. It appears they don't value you, and if you feel miserable you should move on.
what do you do for 10.5hr a day?
And why do you stay for 10.5 per day? Why not ask your manager to dismiss you after an 8 hour day until they fold you into the process?
Bad manager, that isn’t “managing” or communicating to you how to manage your workday. Would wonder if he was the one who hired you…have seen managers freeze out new hires they had no say in hiring, in protest to higher-ups who control the hiring…might consider talking to the person who hired you if not the manager.
You’re doing all the right things to stay busy…it may not seem like “work”, but it all benefits the employer in the long run…for now just keep repeating to yourself - “It all pays the same”.
May I say, that you are young to profession and please enjoy yourself, as you self-educate yourself at the office expense. If you are being paid for being the youngster on staff, "the check does not bounce!"
I realize you are trying to find actual work to do, but I'll mention this anyway. Be careful with so many hours spent self-educating and not on billable projects. At some point, someone is going to take a look at each employee's profitability, and if most of your time is spent doing "microvellum practice" your going to probably get a stern reprimand at best (at worst, you'll be fired).
Your managers' and supervisors' jobs, especially for new employees, are to keep you busy. For the first week or so, I would expect you not to have a lot to work on. But after 5 weeks, you should have projects or tasks to work on and be mostly billable.
m_mask, if it's crunch time, they simply may not have time to teach you in addition to the work they need to get out the door, so the more experienced employees are overworked while you have nothing to do. I'm sure they wish they could dump some of their workload onto you, but they can't if there is not time allotted to properly review and correct your drawings.
I would check in each morning with your manager and let him know what you plan to do that day to increase your knowledge and understanding of their process, unless they have any specific suggestions. Then leave them alone, present a good attitude and continue showing them your work ethic. Think of it as a right of initiation. Even if the manager did not want you, if you show that you will be a good team member, they will eventually find a use for you, and eventually you will become indispensable.
If they do give you any suggestions, listen to them carefully and follow through on what they are telling you. I used to be in your manager's position and would recommend website or books, or even bring in my own books, to help get the new hire up to speed. The employee rarely so much as cracked open a book, seemingly wanting to be spoon-fed the information I wanted them to know, or thinking that they already knew enough to be useful. They did not last long if they did not show a true desire to learn.
I think that Wood Guy gave you pretty good advice. But, if you hear any more snarky comments about you not doing any work, bail.
From my experience I noticed that Fall/Winter is typically busier seasons for planning and designing. Spring/Summer busier season for construction (depends on where you are) Listen to Wood Guy great advice. If they let you go you will still have self respect that you did your all and a job reference. And I really don't what you're doing for 10.5 hrs if you're not work on anything. Immortal words from Kat Williams " If your not working and you're not smoking weed I really don't know what you are doing, I really don't." When I was younger and in the same situation as you working for a healthcare casework contractor I reduced my hours and worked part time at an architecture firm. One thing led to another and now I'm working in a bigger firm doing exciting projects. This is an opportunity for you to start exploring what you really enjoy doing.
Damn, I knew being an architect was worth something!...when I see quotes like this:
"If your not working and you're not smoking weed (drinking merlot), I really don't know what you are doing. I really don't"
brilliant!
Thank you all for replying to me so quickly. I'm just going to reply to everyone in one kind of choppy post.
Based on Wood Guy's advice, I think I will try to get some woodworking/machining books so I can better understand the terminology that I need to know. Then, I can ask my main manager (not the one I mentioned) questions that come up. I didn’t say it before, but I literally sit back-to-back with him in the same cubicle. The other manager faces my main manager in his own cubicle.
Everyday Intern, thanks for saying what you did. I am now going to write more specific things that I do every day so I am more careful. I will also try to talk to my manager to ask if I could reduce my hours like JeromeS brought up. Maybe like Anob said, I could try to work at another place to get experience elsewhere so I can eventually move on.
I am planning on visiting my college teachers to ask for their opinions on the jobs available in the area. Since they know past students, hopefully they can advise me on some jobs that might suit me better. I think I will try to talk to the HR person at work, too, about the situation because she also checks our time cards. I'm not sure what I'll say to her yet, though.
This week, I am working on turning our current AutoCAD template to have dynamic blocks, annotative text/objects, and instructions on how to create and use them. I'm also going to try to learn about Excel logical functions since Microvellum uses them. I genuinely had a fun day learning about it with my manager last week, but he goes from being helpful, encouraging, and talkative one day to being completely silent most days. The majority of the people in my office are anti-social or ornery, so I guess I have been letting it get to me too much. I'm going to think about what everyone said and work on my own confidence/attitude.
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