Have been frustrated with my career for a while but do not know the solution...
Here is my background: graduated from a foreign country with 5 year arch background. came to US for master degree and start working shortly after graduation. in 3 years, I got married and moved to SoCal. worked in a mid size firm for almost 4 years and got my license and LEED AP credential. in 2009, with economy big downturn, I was laid off. Fortunately I was able to find another firm in 3 weeks, well, the firm turned out to have huge financial issues (now I know this is not uncommon in our industry though), we, everyone in the firm, were super busy w/ a lot of overtime contribution but not paid even our regular paychecks on time or full. I left in a year and a half and the firm still owes me $$$ till today. oh well...I joined another small firm after that which is my current firm. Now it has been 4 years. I had my child here and could not be contributing as much as I would like to for the past couple of years, but for every project I worked on, I put 100% myself in. Almost all projects I worked on are non-residential.
Although I had my license for almost 5 years, I am still a Job Captain,maybe senior? small firms do not have very clear title nor good review process. I was never promoted and I have not had review for 2 years. currently we have 1 owner + 1 PM (associate) + 1 PA + 1 junior PM + Me + another drafter who recently graduated. My main responsibility is production, Revit, CAD, SK, Photoshop whatever...I coordinate w/ consultants, I talk to vendors for details, I deal w/ agencies and some CA but not a lot. I do not get much design opportunities (our projects do not require a lot of design. Also the associate PM is sort of controlling design). I am not involved in budgeting, scheduling, coordinating w/ client, project management, writing specs, etc. I have been working on similar tasks since I was in that mid size firm. I was asking myself "should I change firm", but I do not want to join another firm w/ the same title, I do not feel comfortable to be a PM or PA. I hope you see my frustration. You will think to be in a small firm, you can get hands on experience on all areas of architecture which make you grow faster, but not true for me.
I emailed HR to push for a review this year but the email went from HR to the PM and got dead. I am not sure what I should do. I am not sure even if I ask for a review, anything will change. what should I do at least to figure out what is wrong?
btw, what do you think the standard salary should be for ppl like me, licensed architect, LEED AP with 15 years of experience, good with most tools in SoCal? Just curious.
Truly appreciate any of your comments and suggestions!
You should have a good enough working relationship with your supervisor that you could ask him for a raise. If you don't, that is part of the problem right there. I have never worked in a firm where HR was not totally useless as regards hiring, raises, evaluations, or any of the rest of it.
I would recommend avoiding listing your name AND region in the thread discussing negative issues about your employers and a possibility of seeking a new job.
2) architecture is architecture - are you practicing to the fullest of your abilities? if yes, keep working, if no, either talk to your employer about getting more responsibility or find a new job. Titles mean nothing. I think there is a huge misconception that there is some next level you can reach in this field. I guess you can, if you want to be in some do-nothing in a corporate drone role. For the rest of us, it is just practice. 15 years experience means you should be in the trenches getting shit done, you should be making between 75-100k in so-cal.
Thank you chigurh and all others. You right, title means nothing, what I care is what I am doing and the future, not really what's behind my name.
I guess my goal is to become a full-blown project architect that I feel comfortable to take care of projects, to make solid design decisions from technical, aesthetic, cost / client point of views, to maybe have my own firm. Since I was not involved in meetings w/ client, I do not know where a lot of decisions are coming from and why. I was not involved much in CA, so I do not know those mistakes we made or we should have done something differently. Of course I can ask my colleagues, but there is only so much I can do to learn little here and little there. I am not 100% sold changing a job is a solution for now
Also, I feel like I was berried under production tasks but on the other hand, there need to be someone to finish dwgs and firm cannot afford to have everyone involved in every single meeting.
float a conversation about 'mentorship' at your office. or send out some feelers elsewhere with that in mind, ie your professional growth in all aspects of the business. some small offices like to just keep the ship sailing smoothly, some might take more of an interest in helping you develop.
Oct 30, 15 8:00 pm ·
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career frustration - seeking advice
Have been frustrated with my career for a while but do not know the solution...
Here is my background: graduated from a foreign country with 5 year arch background. came to US for master degree and start working shortly after graduation. in 3 years, I got married and moved to SoCal. worked in a mid size firm for almost 4 years and got my license and LEED AP credential. in 2009, with economy big downturn, I was laid off. Fortunately I was able to find another firm in 3 weeks, well, the firm turned out to have huge financial issues (now I know this is not uncommon in our industry though), we, everyone in the firm, were super busy w/ a lot of overtime contribution but not paid even our regular paychecks on time or full. I left in a year and a half and the firm still owes me $$$ till today. oh well...I joined another small firm after that which is my current firm. Now it has been 4 years. I had my child here and could not be contributing as much as I would like to for the past couple of years, but for every project I worked on, I put 100% myself in. Almost all projects I worked on are non-residential.
Although I had my license for almost 5 years, I am still a Job Captain,maybe senior? small firms do not have very clear title nor good review process. I was never promoted and I have not had review for 2 years. currently we have 1 owner + 1 PM (associate) + 1 PA + 1 junior PM + Me + another drafter who recently graduated. My main responsibility is production, Revit, CAD, SK, Photoshop whatever...I coordinate w/ consultants, I talk to vendors for details, I deal w/ agencies and some CA but not a lot. I do not get much design opportunities (our projects do not require a lot of design. Also the associate PM is sort of controlling design). I am not involved in budgeting, scheduling, coordinating w/ client, project management, writing specs, etc. I have been working on similar tasks since I was in that mid size firm. I was asking myself "should I change firm", but I do not want to join another firm w/ the same title, I do not feel comfortable to be a PM or PA. I hope you see my frustration. You will think to be in a small firm, you can get hands on experience on all areas of architecture which make you grow faster, but not true for me.
I emailed HR to push for a review this year but the email went from HR to the PM and got dead. I am not sure what I should do. I am not sure even if I ask for a review, anything will change. what should I do at least to figure out what is wrong?
btw, what do you think the standard salary should be for ppl like me, licensed architect, LEED AP with 15 years of experience, good with most tools in SoCal? Just curious.
Truly appreciate any of your comments and suggestions!
Angela H.
forget about the title, think about the tasks/responsibiliities
&
change jobs
either to work for yourself or someone else who needs the role you would like to do
your current employer sees you as a production person and nothing more
And your complaining? my life ambition is to advance to your position - and that is the ambition of many -
xenakis, once you advance to her position, you'll want to advance to the next position, just like she does.
that's how ambition works. either you want to do better, or you give up and don't give a shit, right?
You should have a good enough working relationship with your supervisor that you could ask him for a raise. If you don't, that is part of the problem right there. I have never worked in a firm where HR was not totally useless as regards hiring, raises, evaluations, or any of the rest of it.
sounds like you should leave to me.
aia salary calculator suggests something like $62k, depending on your responsibilities. I'd move to a new firm as it seems you've topped out there.
I would recommend avoiding listing your name AND region in the thread discussing negative issues about your employers and a possibility of seeking a new job.
1) take your old employer to small claims court
2) architecture is architecture - are you practicing to the fullest of your abilities? if yes, keep working, if no, either talk to your employer about getting more responsibility or find a new job. Titles mean nothing. I think there is a huge misconception that there is some next level you can reach in this field. I guess you can, if you want to be in some do-nothing in a corporate drone role. For the rest of us, it is just practice. 15 years experience means you should be in the trenches getting shit done, you should be making between 75-100k in so-cal.
Thank you chigurh and all others. You right, title means nothing, what I care is what I am doing and the future, not really what's behind my name.
I guess my goal is to become a full-blown project architect that I feel comfortable to take care of projects, to make solid design decisions from technical, aesthetic, cost / client point of views, to maybe have my own firm. Since I was not involved in meetings w/ client, I do not know where a lot of decisions are coming from and why. I was not involved much in CA, so I do not know those mistakes we made or we should have done something differently. Of course I can ask my colleagues, but there is only so much I can do to learn little here and little there. I am not 100% sold changing a job is a solution for now
Also, I feel like I was berried under production tasks but on the other hand, there need to be someone to finish dwgs and firm cannot afford to have everyone involved in every single meeting.
If you were me, what are you going to do?
float a conversation about 'mentorship' at your office. or send out some feelers elsewhere with that in mind, ie your professional growth in all aspects of the business. some small offices like to just keep the ship sailing smoothly, some might take more of an interest in helping you develop.
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