Archinect
anchor

Cons of Being An Architect

BulgarBlogger

Rules:

Each entry must be pre-numbered. Example: Con #1, 2, 3, etc...

To make this as diverse of a thread as possible, I ask that everyone please post only one numbered Con in this thread.

I'll start (you can follow my numbering example):

Con #1: Architects don't get paid as much as they should be. 

 
Jan 14, 14 6:54 pm

Are you kidding? There aren't any cons to being an architect. We are arbiters of taste, style and fashion.

Jan 14, 14 6:56 pm  · 
 · 
curtkram

con #2.  you're not allowed to type with capital letters or print with lowercase letters.  also, you're not aloud to wear any color.

maybe that counts as 2?

Jan 14, 14 6:57 pm  · 
 · 
BulgarBlogger

Let's see which one of these threads will still be here in the morning. It will determine whether or not the pro's outweigh the con's. 

Jan 14, 14 7:00 pm  · 
 · 
gruen
#3 not allowed to take kickbacks like interior desecrators are
Jan 14, 14 7:01 pm  · 
 · 
LITS4FormZ

#4 Soul-crushing student debt

Jan 14, 14 8:50 pm  · 
 · 

#5 That self-serving hypocrite  Ayn Rand deeply and wrongly influenced the public perception of what an architect does, and we are still trying to overcome that damage.

Jan 14, 14 9:05 pm  · 
 · 

#6 Clients who don't pay.

Jan 14, 14 9:10 pm  · 
 · 

#7 You can't afford to sue clients who don't pay.

Jan 14, 14 9:11 pm  · 
 · 

#8 Decorators. 

Jan 14, 14 9:13 pm  · 
 · 

#9 Other architects. 

Jan 14, 14 9:17 pm  · 
 · 

#10 Building inspectors who either don't have a clue or want a payoff.

Jan 14, 14 9:19 pm  · 
 · 

#11 Clients who make changes solely to demonstrate power, without any idea of the effects or consequences.  

Jan 14, 14 9:25 pm  · 
 · 
observant

# 12 - how far down the totem pole architects are for the said (hot) babes described in "pro #2" who are actually savvy and know how economically challenged, eccentric, effete, and egotistical architects can be and will therefore pass on them

Jan 14, 14 10:52 pm  · 
 · 
mespellrong

# 13 - When someone tells you to go f#$k! yourself it's an architect that your f&*king.

Jan 14, 14 11:00 pm  · 
 · 
mespellrong

I think I meant to put that in pros. I think.

Jan 14, 14 11:01 pm  · 
 · 
Wilma Buttfit

#14 Entry to the profession from a low SES is near impossible.

Jan 15, 14 5:05 am  · 
 · 
boy in a well

#666 People asking you to follow their example.

Jan 15, 14 5:24 am  · 
 · 
DeTwan

#15 You feel the need to give your change to that drunk homeless guy every once in while...why?

Jan 15, 14 5:46 am  · 
 · 


^ Because he's probably an architect.  


Jan 15, 14 9:02 am  · 
 · 
DeTwan

Thank you Miles. First archinect laugh of the day.

Jan 15, 14 9:04 am  · 
 · 

16.  Computers.  there is far too much of that techno-jumbo in the profession these days.

Jan 15, 14 9:14 am  · 
 · 
SneakyPete

17. Knowing computers better than the pencil pushers. Nobody ever asks if you want to help design the facade (even though you can draw & design with the best of them ) because you're too busy helping a senior associate figure out how to open their f&*$!ing email.

Jan 15, 14 9:16 am  · 
 · 
Sarah Hamilton

#18.  Going to school for a minimum of 5 years, and still not being taken as a professional.

Jan 15, 14 9:25 am  · 
 · 
Sarah Hamilton

#19  No one REALLY knows what you do.

Jan 15, 14 9:26 am  · 
 · 
Sarah Hamilton

#20  Having to explain that you're NOT an architect because you haven't completed IDP, passed your exams, and gotten your license, when at a party.

Jan 15, 14 9:27 am  · 
 · 
BulgarBlogger

#21: #20

Jan 15, 14 9:29 am  · 
 · 
Benjamin_

#22: Being called Ted Mosby. 

Jan 15, 14 9:50 am  · 
 · 
MyDream

#23 Making it all the way thru school just to make little to no money apon graduation.

Jan 15, 14 10:55 am  · 
 · 
x-jla


#24 having grey hair at 32. 


Jan 15, 14 11:09 am  · 
 · 
x-jla


25. Not being able to watch a movie without thinking about the architecture in the movie.  


Jan 15, 14 11:11 am  · 
 · 
chigurh

26.  if you win the lottery, you can practice architecture till it's all gone

Jan 15, 14 11:54 am  · 
 · 
observant

27.  Using the word fabric, and automatically having people think you are talking about cloth.

Jan 15, 14 12:18 pm  · 
 · 
gruen
28. Positive space > negative space
Jan 15, 14 12:44 pm  · 
 · 
SneakyPete

29. NCARB

Jan 15, 14 1:06 pm  · 
 · 
Non Sequitur

30. Having to endure interior decorators' constant explanations that their expertise is on-par (and often better) than yours because that's what they were told during their 3 semesters in CC.

Jan 15, 14 1:13 pm  · 
 · 
observant

31.  The high pissiness quotient. 

*throwing the scarf over my shoulder and leaving the office with an indignant huff*

Jan 15, 14 1:17 pm  · 
 · 

#31 Being able to talk like this.

Jan 15, 14 1:17 pm  · 
 · 
observant

Having to explain that you're NOT an architect because you haven't completed IDP, passed your exams, and gotten your license, when at a party.

Ha.  But you know the state boards would have stacks of complaints up to their eyeballs if they had to enforce that, and people do it anyways to economize on words.

33.  Designing personal residences where the non-working spouse, generally the wife, thinks they know more about architecture more than you do, conveniently overlooking the intricacies of how a building goes together,.

Jan 15, 14 1:27 pm  · 
 · 
Roshi

34.

Having had professors that talk like this.

Jan 15, 14 1:30 pm  · 
 · 
Roshi

35.

Having to reformat specs given to you by contractors to meet your office's standards (what I am doing right now. :( )

Jan 15, 14 1:33 pm  · 
 · 
DeTwan

36. Architecture does not come with a surgeon's general warning like a pack cigarettes.

Jan 15, 14 2:14 pm  · 
 · 

#37 You can be fabulously successful without a grain of design talent.

Jan 15, 14 4:36 pm  · 
 · 
observant

38.  Having to go around with an index finger poking at your chin, feigning discernment, when, to most people, it would imply "shit on a stick."

Jan 15, 14 4:59 pm  · 
 · 

25. Not being able to watch a movie without thinking about the architecture in the movie.

I can handle the architecture in movies alright because even hollywood puts some effort into it.  But it's the architecture and interiors in porn that always ruined it for me.

Jan 15, 14 5:53 pm  · 
 · 
geezertect

Having to endure interior decorators' constant explanations that their expertise is on-par (and often better) than yours because that's what they were told during their 3 semesters in CC  

39.  Standing in the unemployment line and harboring the persistent suspicion that they might just conceivably be right.

Jan 15, 14 6:06 pm  · 
 · 
IDEA Architecture College

Well, I won't call it a major con but it is a part of Architects work to come up with new ideas and design, whenever they get the new project.

Jan 16, 14 1:33 am  · 
 · 
Wilma Buttfit

40. The powerful abstract thinking that you spent so many hours developing in school is not considered valuable by anyone else in the construction and real estate who think you went to (or should have gone to) tech school to learn to serve them with CAD drawings. 

Jan 16, 14 7:27 am  · 
 · 
Sarah Hamilton
#40. Yes. Powerful, abstract thinking is not appreciated in any field, I am finding.
Jan 16, 14 8:08 am  · 
 · 
DeTwan

^ i'll definitely 3rd that one.

Jan 16, 14 8:30 am  · 
 · 

^ Disagree. Powerful abstract thinking is absolutely required to secure payment for services or just make a living as an architect.

Jan 16, 14 9:21 am  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: