At what age were you licensed? I am 29 starting march in a few months. I think I'll get my masters by 32 and hopefully get licensed by I am 34. (I have 2~3 years of work experience). I know that's not too late according to some of the posts I read in this forum but I am just curious when other people got their license.
senjohnblutarsky
Jun 20, 17 1:47 pm
29.
SneakyPete
Jun 20, 17 1:52 pm
Don't sweat it. You'll be fine. There's room in the profession for you.
mightyaa
Jun 20, 17 1:54 pm
28
greyhound
Jun 20, 17 2:10 pm
30
tduds
Jun 20, 17 2:16 pm
I'm 31 now. taking my final ARE in 6 days. I should have everything wrapped up before I turn 32.
tduds
Jan 7, 19 7:02 pm
Welp, that didn't quite happen. Finished it before 33 though.
Josh Mings
Jun 20, 17 2:30 pm
32, which NCARB says is average.
march'17
Jun 20, 17 2:39 pm
"As a result, the average age of a newly licensed
architect—33.3 in 2014—is at its lowest since 2001"
Remember that architects generally don't do their best work until they are 50, so you have lots of time. :)
Non Sequitur
Jun 20, 17 3:16 pm
29.
citizen
Jun 20, 17 4:37 pm
29.
citizen
Jun 20, 17 4:46 pm
According to Wikipedia (and a little interpolation), George Costanza was 30 or 31 when he first pretended to be an architect.
So he's right in there...
thisisnotmyname
Jun 20, 17 6:12 pm
38.
quizzical
Jun 20, 17 6:38 pm
27
Orhan Ayyüce
Jun 20, 17 7:34 pm
50, it was a birthday present to myself;). It is never too late and it wasn't any easier to pass some areas. Things I knew well, weren't asked that much. I am glad I got a valid license. Very worth it. If you want to get hired to design, your clients would appreciate if you are registered and nowadays it is almost a prerequisite. There are also many unlicensed designers out there who are really good at it. A lot of reputable firms have talents like those. But, pick up your license early if possible.
shellarchitect
Jun 20, 17 8:53 pm
35
Donna Sink
Jun 20, 17 9:35 pm
33 or 34, I can't remember. It's a big deal and super important and wonderful to get it! But I can't remember the date.
Colby Cline
Jan 7, 19 6:52 pm
Nice.
Chuck71
Jun 20, 17 10:14 pm
25.
b3tadine[sutures]
Jun 20, 17 10:52 pm
15
march'17
Jun 21, 17 1:52 pm
dang. youngest I've seen so far! congrats!
sameolddoctor
Jun 21, 17 2:17 pm
I bet he is REALLY successful now
citizen
Jun 21, 17 2:25 pm
Like one of those pre-teen geniuses headed to Harvard Medical School... amazing!
b3tadine[sutures]
Jun 21, 17 9:51 pm
I was screwing the teacher.
Josh Mings
Jun 22, 17 12:09 am
Pretty sure Doogie was too.
JeromeS
Jun 21, 17 6:13 am
42
kjdt
Jun 21, 17 10:30 am
I was 36 when I got my license. It was about 6 years after my M.Arch. It took that long, and a couple job changes, to get experience in some of the IDP categories (I had more than twice as many IDP hours as I needed by the time I finished, but had a hard time getting the last bits in some mandatory categories). The IDP requirements have been lessened in recent years, and there were 9 tests then as opposed to 6 now, so the younger staff seem to be getting through more quickly after gradation, on average.
There's an ARE study group in my office right now - it has about 15 members ranging in age from late 20s to mid 50s. Frankly I have doubts that the third of these folks who are in their 40s and 50s will ever follow through and get licensed. They could prove me wrong, but these are people who graduated from architecture school 20 to 30 years ago and have got along without a license until now, and they seem to be having more difficulty than their younger coworkers at getting into study mindset/motivation at this point.
shellarchitect
Jun 21, 17 4:06 pm
sometime around 2010 I saw a graph of actual licensure ages, there was a big cluster of 50+ old people finally getting their licenses that really skewed the median age.
kjdt
Jun 22, 17 12:46 pm
I remember that, but I believe the fine print on that is that the uptick in older people finally getting licensed over the year or so prior to that was due at least in part to NCARB and many states having instituted the time limits ("rolling clock") on testing, which put an expiration date on a lot of tests that fell into the transition period (i.e. tests that weren't so old that they were grandfathered) - so for those people who'd started testing and passed some number of tests, and then slacked off for one reason or another, if their old tests now fell into the use-it-or-lose-it time frame they felt a little more compelled to get their act together and finish during those particular years. I doubt that if we were to look at data from 2016 we'd see the same trend, because any old test results that fell into that transition period have long since expired.
gwharton
Jun 21, 17 12:48 pm
28. 3 years after graduation from arch school.
Jamb'd
Jun 21, 17 5:10 pm
38. M.Arch 31.
David Cole, AIA
Jun 21, 17 9:56 pm
40 for me, but I was about 20 when I landed my first job in the business. It took me forever to finish my undergrad degree due to a combination of health problems, money problems, and some stupid decisions. Once I finished my MArch degree, though, I took the exams and got my initial license within just over a year. I figured I had already been waiting long enough.
citizen
Jun 22, 17 1:35 am
^ Regarding our "stupid decisions," there's not enough room on the internet to cover all of those...
archiwutm8
Jun 22, 17 4:54 am
One day I will be you and maybe finish my master's.
accesskb
Jun 22, 17 10:31 pm
congrats! What age did you start your MArch? 39?
David Cole, AIA
Jun 23, 17 2:16 am
35. I took a year longer than the rest of my class so that I could take an extended co-op placement in Los Angeles, and because the university's transition to a semester-based calendar screwed up my structures sequence.
David Cole, AIA
Jun 24, 17 5:53 pm
That said, the extra time I spent on co-op counted toward my IDP requirements, so it probably had no impact on my age at licensure. I finished IDP and passed the last of my exams at around the same time.
carryhaddis
Jun 22, 17 12:00 pm
29
Quentin P
Jun 22, 17 1:26 pm
29
spiketwig
Jun 22, 17 1:52 pm
31, 6 years after receiving my M.Arch. I was lucky enough to graduate right at the beginning of the recession, so getting gainful employment (read consistent IDP hours) took some time. Actual testing took me a bit under a year, and I completed IDP about 4 months before I finished testing.
If you don't already have a substantial (1/3+) portion of AXP complete already, I think your 2 years timeline to licensure is optimistic (but not strictly impossible). Either way you're certainly not to late by any means, as all the other answers can attest.
Wilma Buttfit
Jun 22, 17 2:09 pm
Completed IDP at 30. Started ARE at 30. Left profession at 30. Re-entered profession at 37. Licensed at 39.
Wilma Buttfit
Jun 22, 17 4:09 pm
I should add... was asked to be a partner at age 30. Rejected offer of partnership at age 30. Glad I did - ever since.
nicetomeetyou
Sep 29, 22 4:40 pm
Why are you glad you rejected?
LITS4FormZ
Jun 23, 17 11:17 am
29
About 4.5 years of full-time employment, post-MArch
william wynne
Jun 24, 17 9:46 am
32 in California
TED
Jun 24, 17 11:47 am
25
Broadstreetexpresstrain
Jun 25, 17 1:36 pm
31 after trying fervently to be one of the youngest licensed practicing architects in Philadelphia in the late 90s..... At that time I was working in a highly competitive design firm and competing with other young professionals in the race to licensure by or before 30.......I didn't feel ready to take the exam until 28 and started to take the exam when 29........I spent a lot of time studying and preparing....all while working on significant projects with significant workload, commuting for project meetings between Philly, Princeton, Atlantic City and Newark New Jersey.......I put so much time and effort into work and studying For and taking the exam that I literally made myself sick and wound up in the hospital........I learned to slow down a bit after the hospital visit and finished the exam by 31.
Don't overly obsess about licensure, but try to get it as soon as possible so that you can put years between the year that you attain it and future career opportunities.
ivorykeyboard
Jun 26, 17 1:30 pm
27
z6jbishop
Jun 27, 17 11:43 am
29
Architectural PE
Josh Mings
Jun 27, 17 1:03 pm
So you aren't a licensed architect?
nicetomeetyou
Sep 29, 22 4:40 pm
Architectural Private Equity?
Jeremy Quinn
Jun 29, 17 3:08 pm
39. Got license in the summer, then lined up two clients and walked out of my job that fall.
OneLostArchitect
Jan 7, 19 7:15 pm
29.
whistler
Jan 7, 19 7:47 pm
Architecture 30
Landscape Architecture 31
Opened office 32
tduds
Jan 8, 19 7:07 pm
What extra requirements were necessary for the landscape license? Do you need a separate degree? I'm suddenly curious...
whistler
Jan 8, 19 7:17 pm
I did my Bachelor of Landscape Architecture before my Master's in Architecture. Smallish practice that is mostly a blend of site planning, urban design and architecture, not very many projects are solely Landscape oriented. I was in school for 7 years. I interned in a a couple Landscape Architecture offices but always got work in Architecture offices as the "Landscape Fluffer" ( not really ) but it certainly helped bring a new skill set to an interview that set me apart from other applicants, I actually have a fairly strong design background so it was a real asset as a young architect trying to get my foot in the door of offices .. particularly when times were slow.
Kurt West
Jan 8, 19 11:43 am
Just recently at the age of 37.
Was out of the profession for 4 years during the recession. Got married at 31, got my MArch at 32, had a kid at 34, first ARE at 35, second kid at 35, started a firm at 35, licensed at 37. Crap, I have another kid coming....
JLC-1
Jan 8, 19 11:45 am
go back to work,;-)
zonker
Jan 8, 19 11:57 am
It's interesting, the profession is time bound, almost like the Air Force.
You have to make captain by a certain age, then major, and if you don't make make major, you will never be a colonel.
Or in architecture, if your don't get licensed by 35. you never will
Bench
Jan 8, 19 1:00 pm
Except for all the people above and elsewhere who get their license after 35 ...
randomised
Jan 8, 19 2:11 pm
So, Xenakis how old were you when you got your license, if you ever did ;)
tduds
Jan 8, 19 7:08 pm
Life is time-bound.
thatsthat
Jan 8, 19 1:35 pm
Graduated at 25. Licensed at 30. Took 5 years of working experience to fulfill state requirements for license.
ks239
Jan 8, 19 5:25 pm
26. I knew I'd never have more free time than when I was just out of school and I was watching 30- and 40- somethings in the office try to fit studying in while balancing kids, spouse, workload, etc. THAT looked so much harder than getting it done out of the gate, before you forget how to study. Also, it helps to learn the things they don't teach you in school, like contracts. I also became a little more capable in conversations with contractors. Totally worth it to get it out of the way early, IMO.
sameolddoctor
Jan 8, 19 8:43 pm
Dont hurry to get licensed, you will still be paid peanuts after you get it.
Thayer-D
Jan 9, 19 11:55 am
44
bennyc
Sep 29, 22 5:43 pm
40. Its not about when you get licensed, its about when you are ready to practice on your own.
atelier nobody
Sep 29, 22 6:00 pm
Old.
OM..
Sep 30, 22 12:38 am
28
justavisual
Sep 30, 22 2:29 am
Architecture 28
Landscape Architecture 29
Opened office 30 - working for self full time at 34
Chad Miller
Sep 30, 22 10:23 am
Pffft, I was born with a license
.
Non Sequitur
Sep 30, 22 10:41 am
Licensed earned at conception.
Chad Miller
Sep 30, 22 10:45 am
Any license isn't valid until you're viable.
____
Mar 13, 23 9:49 am
Well, if the bar is open for betting, I believe I was reincarnated. I remember something about doric columns and pyramids.
RJ87
Sep 30, 22 11:22 am
26
trimtab28
Mar 11, 23 10:50 pm
26. Rushed to do it for the pragmatic benefits (money, liberation and a control of my own destiny to a greater extent), and had all my exams done within 9 months. Glad to have it over, and I don't doubt it was the right decision. Also, left me after the fact flailing to figure out what's next. I climbed this mountain and didn't think what I'd be up to after I got to the peak, and am definitely at an inflection point at my life now in multiple respects
ivanmillya
Mar 13, 23 7:51 am
I also did this. Got licensed at 25, because I had my hours, and was motivated to take my exams so that I could get the short-term benefits of licensure I don't regret getting it done quickly, and have found tons of personal agency and professional growth by getting my license quickly, rather than waiting.
SQUARED B
Mar 12, 23 11:47 am
34, but that was only after a couple brain surgeries threw me off the path for a number of years.
NCARB's latest By the Numbers still says 32 is the average, so not too bad, all things considered.
natematt
Mar 13, 23 1:34 pm
31. Could have managed at 30, but I'm in that state with the extra requirements :)
At what age were you licensed? I am 29 starting march in a few months. I think I'll get my masters by 32 and hopefully get licensed by I am 34. (I have 2~3 years of work experience). I know that's not too late according to some of the posts I read in this forum but I am just curious when other people got their license.
29.
Don't sweat it. You'll be fine. There's room in the profession for you.
28
30
I'm 31 now. taking my final ARE in 6 days. I should have everything wrapped up before I turn 32.
Welp, that didn't quite happen. Finished it before 33 though.
32, which NCARB says is average.
"As a result, the average age of a newly licensed architect—33.3 in 2014—is at its lowest since 2001"
from www.ncarb.org
Close enough. Point remains - don't worry about how old you'll be.
NCARB By the Numbers Report says 33 in 2015. Might be around 32 for 2017 looking at the overall trend. https://public.tableau.com/profile/ncarb#!/vizhome/NBTNAges_large/AgeatLicensureContinuestoDrop
NCARB Agrees with me.
I was right all along.
26
in the US?
26.
Remember that architects generally don't do their best work until they are 50, so you have lots of time. :)
29.
29.
According to Wikipedia (and a little interpolation), George Costanza was 30 or 31 when he first pretended to be an architect.
So he's right in there...
38.
27
50, it was a birthday present to myself;). It is never too late and it wasn't any easier to pass some areas. Things I knew well, weren't asked that much. I am glad I got a valid license. Very worth it. If you want to get hired to design, your clients would appreciate if you are registered and nowadays it is almost a prerequisite. There are also many unlicensed designers out there who are really good at it. A lot of reputable firms have talents like those. But, pick up your license early if possible.
35
33 or 34, I can't remember. It's a big deal and super important and wonderful to get it! But I can't remember the date.
Nice.
25.
15
dang. youngest I've seen so far! congrats!
I bet he is REALLY successful now
Like one of those pre-teen geniuses headed to Harvard Medical School... amazing!
I was screwing the teacher.
Pretty sure Doogie was too.
42
I was 36 when I got my license. It was about 6 years after my M.Arch. It took that long, and a couple job changes, to get experience in some of the IDP categories (I had more than twice as many IDP hours as I needed by the time I finished, but had a hard time getting the last bits in some mandatory categories). The IDP requirements have been lessened in recent years, and there were 9 tests then as opposed to 6 now, so the younger staff seem to be getting through more quickly after gradation, on average.
There's an ARE study group in my office right now - it has about 15 members ranging in age from late 20s to mid 50s. Frankly I have doubts that the third of these folks who are in their 40s and 50s will ever follow through and get licensed. They could prove me wrong, but these are people who graduated from architecture school 20 to 30 years ago and have got along without a license until now, and they seem to be having more difficulty than their younger coworkers at getting into study mindset/motivation at this point.
sometime around 2010 I saw a graph of actual licensure ages, there was a big cluster of 50+ old people finally getting their licenses that really skewed the median age.
I remember that, but I believe the fine print on that is that the uptick in older people finally getting licensed over the year or so prior to that was due at least in part to NCARB and many states having instituted the time limits ("rolling clock") on testing, which put an expiration date on a lot of tests that fell into the transition period (i.e. tests that weren't so old that they were grandfathered) - so for those people who'd started testing and passed some number of tests, and then slacked off for one reason or another, if their old tests now fell into the use-it-or-lose-it time frame they felt a little more compelled to get their act together and finish during those particular years. I doubt that if we were to look at data from 2016 we'd see the same trend, because any old test results that fell into that transition period have long since expired.
28. 3 years after graduation from arch school.
38. M.Arch 31.
40 for me, but I was about 20 when I landed my first job in the business. It took me forever to finish my undergrad degree due to a combination of health problems, money problems, and some stupid decisions. Once I finished my MArch degree, though, I took the exams and got my initial license within just over a year. I figured I had already been waiting long enough.
^ Regarding our "stupid decisions," there's not enough room on the internet to cover all of those...
One day I will be you and maybe finish my master's.
congrats! What age did you start your MArch? 39?
35. I took a year longer than the rest of my class so that I could take an extended co-op placement in Los Angeles, and because the university's transition to a semester-based calendar screwed up my structures sequence.
That said, the extra time I spent on co-op counted toward my IDP requirements, so it probably had no impact on my age at licensure. I finished IDP and passed the last of my exams at around the same time.
29
29
31, 6 years after receiving my M.Arch. I was lucky enough to graduate right at the beginning of the recession, so getting gainful employment (read consistent IDP hours) took some time. Actual testing took me a bit under a year, and I completed IDP about 4 months before I finished testing.
If you don't already have a substantial (1/3+) portion of AXP complete already, I think your 2 years timeline to licensure is optimistic (but not strictly impossible). Either way you're certainly not to late by any means, as all the other answers can attest.
Completed IDP at 30. Started ARE at 30. Left profession at 30. Re-entered profession at 37. Licensed at 39.
I should add... was asked to be a partner at age 30. Rejected offer of partnership at age 30. Glad I did - ever since.
Why are you glad you rejected?
29
About 4.5 years of full-time employment, post-MArch
32 in California
25
31 after trying fervently to be one of the youngest licensed practicing architects in Philadelphia in the late 90s..... At that time I was working in a highly competitive design firm and competing with other young professionals in the race to licensure by or before 30.......I didn't feel ready to take the exam until 28 and started to take the exam when 29........I spent a lot of time studying and preparing....all while working on significant projects with significant workload, commuting for project meetings between Philly, Princeton, Atlantic City and Newark New Jersey.......I put so much time and effort into work and studying For and taking the exam that I literally made myself sick and wound up in the hospital........I learned to slow down a bit after the hospital visit and finished the exam by 31.
Don't overly obsess about licensure, but try to get it as soon as possible so that you can put years between the year that you attain it and future career opportunities.
27
29
Architectural PE
So you aren't a licensed architect?
Architectural Private Equity?
39. Got license in the summer, then lined up two clients and walked out of my job that fall.
29.
Architecture 30
Landscape Architecture 31
Opened office 32
What extra requirements were necessary for the landscape license? Do you need a separate degree? I'm suddenly curious...
I did my Bachelor of Landscape Architecture before my Master's in Architecture. Smallish practice that is mostly a blend of site planning, urban design and architecture, not very many projects are solely Landscape oriented. I was in school for 7 years. I interned in a a couple Landscape Architecture offices but always got work in Architecture offices as the "Landscape Fluffer" ( not really ) but it certainly helped bring a new skill set to an interview that set me apart from other applicants, I actually have a fairly strong design background so it was a real asset as a young architect trying to get my foot in the door of offices .. particularly when times were slow.
Just recently at the age of 37.
Was out of the profession for 4 years during the recession. Got married at 31, got my MArch at 32, had a kid at 34, first ARE at 35, second kid at 35, started a firm at 35, licensed at 37. Crap, I have another kid coming....
go back to work,;-)
It's interesting, the profession is time bound, almost like the Air Force.
You have to make captain by a certain age, then major, and if you don't make make major, you will never be a colonel.
Or in architecture, if your don't get licensed by 35. you never will
Except for all the people above and elsewhere who get their license after 35 ...
So, Xenakis how old were you when you got your license, if you ever did ;)
Life is time-bound.
Graduated at 25. Licensed at 30. Took 5 years of working experience to fulfill state requirements for license.
26. I knew I'd never have more free time than when I was just out of school and I was watching 30- and 40- somethings in the office try to fit studying in while balancing kids, spouse, workload, etc. THAT looked so much harder than getting it done out of the gate, before you forget how to study. Also, it helps to learn the things they don't teach you in school, like contracts. I also became a little more capable in conversations with contractors. Totally worth it to get it out of the way early, IMO.
Dont hurry to get licensed, you will still be paid peanuts after you get it.
44
40. Its not about when you get licensed, its about when you are ready to practice on your own.
Old.
28
Architecture 28
Landscape Architecture 29
Opened office 30 - working for self full time at 34
Pffft, I was born with a license .
Licensed earned at conception.
Any license isn't valid until you're viable.
Well, if the bar is open for betting, I believe I was reincarnated. I remember something about doric columns and pyramids.
26
26. Rushed to do it for the pragmatic benefits (money, liberation and a control of my own destiny to a greater extent), and had all my exams done within 9 months. Glad to have it over, and I don't doubt it was the right decision. Also, left me after the fact flailing to figure out what's next. I climbed this mountain and didn't think what I'd be up to after I got to the peak, and am definitely at an inflection point at my life now in multiple respects
I also did this. Got licensed at 25, because I had my hours, and was motivated to take my exams so that I could get the short-term benefits of licensure I don't regret getting it done quickly, and have found tons of personal agency and professional growth by getting my license quickly, rather than waiting.
34, but that was only after a couple brain surgeries threw me off the path for a number of years.
NCARB's latest By the Numbers still says 32 is the average, so not too bad, all things considered.
31. Could have managed at 30, but I'm in that state with the extra requirements :)