These are crazy days we’re living in. 

This COVID-19 pandemic is like nothing most of us have ever experienced. It’s affecting almost everyone in the world, without any bias toward nationality, race, religion or political affiliation. The crisis is forcing us to change the way we live, and the way we work. We don’t know how long this “new normal” will last, but the changes we make today will have lasting effects on us all.

We here at Archinect want to know how our community is navigating this difficult time. Our own team at Archinect has transitioned to working remotely, from our homes, during this time. In our own daily workflow, this is relatively easy. Some of us already work remotely occasionally, either from our homes or on the road for work. We understand, however, that many people in our industry have never worked this way before. 

If there’s ever been a time to come together for support and assistance, it’s now. To start, we’re focusing on the following:

Feedback from professionals and those in academia

To better understand how everyone is transitioning to a work-from-home model, we’re asking individuals to fill out one of the following surveys, to learn about how the changes in work and school activities are going so far:

> How is your office dealing with the coronavirus outbreak?

> How is your school dealing with the coronavirus outbreak?

We’d also love to share photos of your new home office setups with the community! You can send those to connect@archinect.com

Editorial focus on issues that our community needs right now

We’re going to continue (and double down) on publishing news and features that will help our community stay productive, safe, and informed. This means that we will share information about changes to our industry, from the individual to the international level, resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak and related financial impacts. We will also continue with our regular content, sharing stories through interviews, and reporting on important issues and topics that our industry needs to continue while architecture projects resume. While it’s hard to focus on anything besides the current situation, we encourage everyone to remain focused on preparing for the future, recognizing that this difficult time will pass and life will return to normal eventually. 

What content are you wanting most from Archinect right now? Send us your thoughts, to connect@archinect.com

Assistance with hiring firms that have put recruitment on hold

For all firms that have posted advertisements to Archinect Jobs in the last 30 days, since February 17th, but can no longer hire during this time, we will be offering a 75% reduced cost to repost their ads when hiring continues. Please let us know if this affects you so we can give you a coupon code for when you’re ready to start collecting CVs again. We encourage those firms to continue allowing interested job-seekers to apply during this time, to increase your options when you're ready to hire, but please let those job applicants know that there may be delays in response to their applications. 

Increased moderation efforts in our discussion forum

As the longest-running and largest public online community of architects, Archinect’s discussion forum is known to be difficult to tolerate at times with snarky comments and the occasional troll. We understand and have struggled with that for years, but we’re committed to directly address this now to welcome new members and create a more productive environment for our community to come together. With most people working at home, alone, it’s especially important to remain empathetic and supportive, so we will not be tolerating any hurtful or necessarily negative comments. Our team here at Archinect will be taking turns moderating, but we’re also looking for volunteers to help moderate. If you’re interested, please send an email to connect@archinect.com

Tell us your story, what's happening with you? Any feedback to us or the community on ways to make it through this time in a more healthy way? Send an email to connect@archinect.com

We encourage everyone to do what they can; stay safe, and responsible, and don't forget to enjoy life, stay in touch with friends and family, and relax. We're all in this together, and this time will pass.