I have 12 years of experience, 7 years in a small office, 5 years in a large office. I have been registered for six years. In the small office, I was project designer switching to project architect as the project got further in the process. In the large office, on one project I was both PD and PA (lots of overtime to make this double role work) but on all other projects I did mostly PA. Of course I still do PA with design in mind, I love both and can’t choose one but am tired of doing only the PA work on projects that have  been designed in Predesign, then handed to me to get built. I have decided for my next job to seek a PD position. Was thinking my best shot is to show examples from my PA work of how I think, plus the one large project and the several small projects I did PA + PD on.

The other problem is that I want to start doing civic and public work, whereas most of my design work to date is residential (single and multi) and I only have a couple of higher ed and a couple of office projects I did PA for. It seems like firms have  a tendency to silo people based on what they have done before (which works for resumes used in pursuits) and not so much for how they think or what they can do. How do I break out of this? Any tips from people with more experience or who have been through something similar? Thanks.