As a student, you have been working toward an ultimate and almost seemingly distant goal for quite some time now. And as you find yourself nearing the end of your education, one might wonder, quite appropriately, what life after graduation is going to look like.
You’re entering a new frontier. One that is unknown to you. After school you’re going to have to step into a world that should be familiar but is oddly foreign. This article will give you some insights into that foreign land. Think of it as a kind of map of unexplored terrain. If you embrace the points to follow you will surely be ahead of the game as you embark on this new chapter in your life. So let’s jump into it. Here’s what to expect after graduation:
In a perfect world you would have a job lined up to start right after graduation, but it doesn’t always happen that way. It’s crucial to realize that the job seeking process is just that, a process. You may find a firm that you want to work at, go for an interview, and get offered the job right away; it definitely works out that way for a lot of people. But you may find yourself on your third or fourth interview and still not have an offer; this can happen for many people as well.
Ultimately, you want to keep a couple of things in mind:
First, it is to realize that a job offer is a combination of many different things. You and your personality is only one variable. You could have the perfect interview and still not get an offer. Sometimes the employer may have had something come up or they may have decided they are looking for a different type of person. The crucial element here is to know that most of the time it’s not that you are “bad” or “inadequate” in some way but more so that you just weren’t the right fit for what the firm was looking for at that time.
Secondly, you want to get feedback from people on your application package. Reach out to professors who own their own firms or who work in firms, ask the representatives at your school’s career fair what they look for in an applicant and really take in what they tell you. Read Archinect’s “How To Get A Job At ____” series to learn how some of the top firms in the industry hire new talent.
You only get one shot at a first impression and you want to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward
Even ask your colleagues in studio for some constructive criticism. The point here is that you just want to get some feedback from people on how your package looks. You only get one shot at a first impression and you want to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward.
Finally, enjoy the process. Looking for a job can be a stressful time but if you keep at it you will find something. Look at it as a journey that you can always move forward in. You’re never stuck or trapped anywhere. If you end up working somewhere that isn’t working for you it is okay to move on to something different.
After being offered a well paid position at the office of Richard Meier, Daniel Libeskind, as a young newly graduated apprentice famously quit after only seven days. “I hated how the young architects would copy the Meier formula from his books”, Libeskind recalled in a 2003 New Yorker profile. He also had a hard time with the office routine and realized it wasn’t for him. All things considered, it looks like things turned out okay for him.
But also remember, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. There will always be hard days at any job. Don’t just quit if things get tough. Things like culture, work-life balance, and overall professional growth are big categories to consider when wanting to move on, if all of those things are really great 90 percent of the time then stick with it. Trust me, you will be happy you didn’t jump ship too early.
In architecture school there is a very particular nature of “studio”. It’s almost a kind of romanticized habitat that we all grow to love in some way. In the grand scheme of education as a whole, accounting for the numerous other fields of study, studio provides the architecture student with a unique experience not granted to most other majors.
Your studio space is the center of your entire education as a design student and your ideas about the nature of professional work is shaped by this experience. Take all-nighters for instance, something that’s almost synonymous with design school. With this comes a certain idea about time management and what it takes to get work done. Sometimes, this idea will be shared by your future employer and sometimes it will not, in whatever instance your familiarity will have been built from your experience in school.
You will build relationships with your co-workers just like you have in school and you will be pleasantly surprised with how much you will learn from them
Camaraderie amongst you and your colleagues is also something that you can expect after you graduate. You will build relationships with your co-workers just like you have in school and you will be pleasantly surprised with how much you will learn from them, people older than you but also people your age too. It is an awesome thing.
Probably the biggest shock with professional work is that you will not have the mobility that you have in studio. In architecture school you are your own boss, you get up and eat when you want, you leave studio when you want, you dress how you want, you can watch Netflix, have anything and everything on your desk, whatever your heart desires you can pretty much do in your studio space. This is not the case after graduation. You are not just accountable to yourself anymore. You have people to answer to. You have a designated time for your breaks. You will be expected to show up by a certain time and be productive and focused for the entire work day. It will be an adjustment but it will also be a good thing to go through. Learning to be focused and productive within a set amount of time will prove to be a powerful tool for you as you progress in your career.
Architecture school places an emphasis on design and as a graduate you have likely become a formidable designer. As a professional design is only a small part of the process, or more appropriately, design as you know it from school. Designing a building has a number of phases, there is actually about 6: Pre-Design, Schematic Design (SD), Design Development (DD), Construction Documents (CD), Bidding and Negotiations, and Construction Administration (CA).
Your primary focus in school is on the first two phases: Pre-Design and Schematic Design. Your studio projects are good examples of a Schematic Design level of work (an exaggerated SD level). When you begin professional work you will have to develop your work beyond these phases and this is where the other aspects of architecture kick in.
For example, you will need to communicate to a contractor how every part of your design will go together, how does a wall connect to the roof, what is the color, finish, and manufacturer of a particular chair, how thick is each wall and how is it assembled. The list goes on, but the point here is that design has many aspects to it and all of them do not include the more fluid and creative sides you are used to from school.
This is a good thing. You’ve set out to become a master builder and there are a lot of things that go into that. School has given you the foundation but your time as a practitioner will build on that. It’ll be a blast.
If you’re in a NAAB accredited program chances are that your college requires you to have a certain amount of hours of work experience before you graduate. This is a requirement for a reason, it’s to give you a taste of what work after school will be like. With that said, internship work is often very different from the work you will be doing as a full time team member but the experience is still powerful.
start your work experience as early as possible
The best strategy is to try and start your work experience as early as possible. Many students wait until graduation to complete their hours and it often magnifies the shock of what life in a firm is like. If you start your internships early you will be able to try out a couple of different places and you will be able to go into your graduation with more confidence on what kind of firm you want to work in. Second or third year are good times to start looking for an internship.
An interesting phenomenon in school is the internal hierarchy among you and your peers. When you’re a first year student, by definition, you aren’t really a “big deal” yet, you may have some talent and creative ability but you have a ways to go before you will have the understanding and the ability to really display what you’re capable of.
Then you move to second year and you start to gain a little more confidence with things: you understand what a floor plan is, a section, an elevation. A lot of the foundational aspects of what will allow you to flex your chops as a designer have been established.
Third year is when your ego starts to set in: you start wanting to argue with professors more, and take a stand for your “convictions”.
It’s when most of us get to fourth year that we feel a subtle inkling of relief: we’ve made it pass third year and are now in the upper studio. We’ve been deemed worthy enough to continue forward and so we add a little bit more juice to the ego we started to develop in third year.
The culmination of all of our years of architorture happens in 5th year. When we reach this point we think back to being first and second year students and we remember how we used to look at fifth year students. With reverence, we were in awe of them and could only dream of one day being at their level. And sitting there reminiscing we realize that we are now those 5th year students and we feel that sense of authority that comes with it. In the grand hierarchy of architecture school we are the titans at the top — and we enjoy that position.
When you go from titan to rookie it can be a hard pill to swallow but it doesn’t have to be. Stepping into a full time professional position is a tremendous accomplishment. You are now being paid to do something that you’ve worked hard for. It’s a great feeling when you sign that offer letter for your first job. If you go into a new job thinking you know it all it’s going to be a bumpy ride. But if you go in enthusiastic and ready to learn it will be blast.
You are going to be a “first year” again but this time the hierarchy changes — it takes a lifetime to get to 5th year as a professional. Buckle up and get ready for the ride.
Chances are that you have a particular idea in your mind of the kind of work that you want to do. Maybe you want to become an apprentice at a “high design” type of firm, like Gehry Partners, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, or Studio Gang. Maybe you want to work on public projects like schools or hospitals. Whatever it is do your best to stay true to that passion within you. If you want to design video games that’s totally cool, you don't have to go the traditional route. If you want to build furniture, that’s cool too. The beautiful thing about your education in architecture is that you have acquired skills that can be adapted and applied to almost anything, there a countless areas of work that will need your unique powers of creativity and problem solving.
Don’t be afraid to go against the grain and try something different, now is the time to explore and discover, it’s okay if you don’t have it figured out yet. The only thing here is to stay true to yourself, don’t do something that you don’t believe in. You have the skills and the ability to craft your own future. It may not happen overnight but you have built the foundation to cultivate it for yourself. It’s sitting there waiting for you to reach out and grab it.
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Congratulations on making it to the end! Now it’s time for a whole new beginning!
Sean Joyner is a writer and essayist based in Los Angeles. His work explores themes spanning architecture, culture, and everyday life. Sean's essays and articles have been featured in The Architect's Newspaper, ARCHITECT Magazine, Dwell Magazine, and Archinect. He also works as an ...
1 Featured Comment
After 25 years on the internet this is the first one that has made me comment. Great, well thought out, optimistic piece on the frustrating reality of life before and after graduation'.. Good job.. PS.. Never heard of "learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist".. definitely framing that one!
All 5 Comments
Actually a very good and useful article.
Thank you Mitchell!
Great article. Well written and hopeful. The front image is a little ironic though when thinking about the Bauhaus approach to craft. Imagine the master shoe smith telling the young apprentice to listen to their heart before mastering the basic skills of the trade. And if your heart tells you to study traditional buildings, get ready to hear "we just don't do that anymore." The same politics one navigates in offices exist in school, even though they are never talked about. You will have freedom as long as you play within the narrow lines prescribed. Either way, do your best.
And when you get out, always be true to your self. Just don't think that someone paying for a job is an idiot because they don't indulge your vision. It takes years of humility and learning from others (as the cover image implies) to learn to express yourself intelligently and beautifully. Don't go for instant gratification, be patient, and not afraid to ask for help.
Thayer-D, Thanks for the note! The irony is true, I didn't initially see it how you've expressed here, but you're totally right. Almost echoing Picasso: "learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist," which naturally ties in to your point on patience, we can't be pros overnight but we can be humble and proactive along the way. (p.s. great image ;)
Great article.
Thank you Susz!
After 25 years on the internet this is the first one that has made me comment. Great, well thought out, optimistic piece on the frustrating reality of life before and after graduation'.. Good job.. PS.. Never heard of "learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist".. definitely framing that one!
Thank you! Much appreciated!
Good one
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