I just graduated from a very good 5-year Bachelor of Architecture program in the United States, I have a good design portfolio, and I am considering job offers in New York City, Paris and London.
A small firm in New York City has offered me a 55,000 USD salary with no overtime pay, two weeks of vacation, and full healthcare benefits.
(which is about 3560 Euros per month, and just enough to live with roommates in Manhattan. relatively good for someone my age-23 yrs)
I am wondering if anyone knows how this compares to what I can expect at offices like Jean Nouvel in Paris, or Foster+Partners in London?
Life is about the journey; Paris would be my choice if the pay were in the same ballpark. $55,000 is not a lot of money in either NYC or Paris. London has always seemed damp, cold, and unappealing. Not for nothing do many Brits that can bail to the south of France for retirement.
ugh- you guys are just full of shit.. you think firms just pay for design?
Ask a 23 year old how he manages clients, budgets, shop drawings, building department, and design decisions.
Pretty renderings are great, but the true money comes from what I described above.
It's not that a junior designer should not be getting be getting paid as much as he asks; I want to get paid a million dollars a day (haha) Its just that firms, no matter what industry you are in, pay according to the person's abilities. In my experience, the money comes from the knowledge you have in being able to realize the design, not necessarily conceiving the design. At 23, to be getting paid 55k, the OP either sold himself really well (in which case I think the firm will re-evaluate his salary/position in 3 months; there is usually a 3 month trial period) or the OP's firm offered him a salary without knowing how much to pay a junior...
The more probable reason for getting paid 55k is b/c he's probably licensed in Paris or wherever he's from and sold that point really well and combined with his decent design work convinced his firm that he's competent to do what a recently licensed architect can in NY.
Anyone who does business with a firm based in NewYork, Paris, or London, expects to pay a premium. Part of that premium goes toward paying the staff a livable wage. Companies that don't aren't worth working for as you wind up slowly depleting your savings just to work for Mr. Wonderful.
Good for you. I'm all for people getting paid as much.
But keep this in mind: when it consistently takes you 3 hours to do a simple stair detail that should take you 30 minutes to do because you are just not as fluent in construction detailing, management is really going to start questioning why they are paying you 50k...
Back in the recession, project management software monitored the productivity of each person and at the end of each week, if not enough work was coming in to cover the overhead, someone would get canned. Make sure that isn't you.
As a younger staff member, go with the lesser salary in exchange for the job security. If you go the opposite route, make sure you can keep up.
55k in NYC is well above the norm for a professional degree holding new graduate. If you want to go to Paris or London now is the time. Making those moves becomes less appealing as time goes on.
Chicago is an enigma. You hear about people getting low ball offers (36k for example) but somehow they end up with a nice apartment in a decent area. That doesn't happen in NYC.
Junior Architect Salary, Paris
Hi Everyone,
I just graduated from a very good 5-year Bachelor of Architecture program in the United States, I have a good design portfolio, and I am considering job offers in New York City, Paris and London.
A small firm in New York City has offered me a 55,000 USD salary with no overtime pay, two weeks of vacation, and full healthcare benefits.
(which is about 3560 Euros per month, and just enough to live with roommates in Manhattan. relatively good for someone my age-23 yrs)
I am wondering if anyone knows how this compares to what I can expect at offices like Jean Nouvel in Paris, or Foster+Partners in London?
Thanks!
Check salaries.archinect.com - you can search for salaries in Paris, London, NYC... even at "starchitect" offices.
small firm in NY, $55k, 23 y/o?
I give you exactly 3 months till you get fired.
Bulgar, whats wrong with 55k as a junior designer in NY? Maybe she/he is very talented....
you know what blows, is when you are about to accept a new job and somebody comes around and shits all over it...
why? jealousy? dissatisfaction with their current station in life? just being a hater?
Congrats on the new job, I wish I was still in the position to accept a job in NYC, London, or Paris...
55K USD sounds great for an entry-level position given the cost of living. I doubt you'll get any higher in the big-name firms overseas.
Jean Nouvel, all the way.
Life is about the journey; Paris would be my choice if the pay were in the same ballpark. $55,000 is not a lot of money in either NYC or Paris. London has always seemed damp, cold, and unappealing. Not for nothing do many Brits that can bail to the south of France for retirement.
ugh- you guys are just full of shit.. you think firms just pay for design?
Ask a 23 year old how he manages clients, budgets, shop drawings, building department, and design decisions.
Pretty renderings are great, but the true money comes from what I described above.
It's not that a junior designer should not be getting be getting paid as much as he asks; I want to get paid a million dollars a day (haha) Its just that firms, no matter what industry you are in, pay according to the person's abilities. In my experience, the money comes from the knowledge you have in being able to realize the design, not necessarily conceiving the design. At 23, to be getting paid 55k, the OP either sold himself really well (in which case I think the firm will re-evaluate his salary/position in 3 months; there is usually a 3 month trial period) or the OP's firm offered him a salary without knowing how much to pay a junior...
The more probable reason for getting paid 55k is b/c he's probably licensed in Paris or wherever he's from and sold that point really well and combined with his decent design work convinced his firm that he's competent to do what a recently licensed architect can in NY.
At 23 it seems improbable...
BulgarBlogger is right on the money.
40-50k a year is too much to pay for pretty sketchup renderings.
Anyone who does business with a firm based in NewYork, Paris, or London, expects to pay a premium. Part of that premium goes toward paying the staff a livable wage. Companies that don't aren't worth working for as you wind up slowly depleting your savings just to work for Mr. Wonderful.
CHI-
Good for you. I'm all for people getting paid as much.
But keep this in mind: when it consistently takes you 3 hours to do a simple stair detail that should take you 30 minutes to do because you are just not as fluent in construction detailing, management is really going to start questioning why they are paying you 50k...
Back in the recession, project management software monitored the productivity of each person and at the end of each week, if not enough work was coming in to cover the overhead, someone would get canned. Make sure that isn't you.
As a younger staff member, go with the lesser salary in exchange for the job security. If you go the opposite route, make sure you can keep up.
Chicago is an enigma. You hear about people getting low ball offers (36k for example) but somehow they end up with a nice apartment in a decent area. That doesn't happen in NYC.
Junior class in school is not that same as junior architect.
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