Hi all!

I’ve been a silent reader on Archinect for quite some time and as I’ve read more and more posts about the profession being awful I just wanted to share some thoughts about how the grass is looking on the other side. 

I studied electrical engineering, focusing on hardware developement, but big companies get stuff developed in Asia or cheaper regions of Europe nowadays. After a year of being miserable monkey churning out schematics I called it quits and managed to dive into project management.  

Right now I’m probably the local architects enemy – I’m  a project manager in building systems engineering / building automation and work for an international company. The hours are still awfully long but at least the money is somewhat decent and I get to see the weirdest buildings. 

Now to the weird part: I’ve been considering getting an architecture degree even though this means going back to Uni.  

I enjoy “designing” stuff and tailoring things to requirements – from faucets to computer hardware to interiors to floor plans and have a great love for interesting designs. At the same time I’m not too bad on the business and sales side, have a PMA/PMI certification and the teams I guide as a project manager still don’t hate me.

My dream would be having a small architecture firm that specializes in high tech buildings – but I’d probably be happy designing hospital rooms, working at IDEO, doing UX design for a car company or researching energy efficient facades on the way.

So, what would you guys say? Is someone like me who is not necessarily married to the arts needed in architectural practices? And if you were in my shoes, would you give architectural school a try?

And of course: Ask me anything if there’s anything you’re interested in.