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moved to Germany, considering a carreer change; CONFUSED

somth

I'm a 23 old with BArch (8 semesters) and no work experience. I graduated from Turkey 2 years ago and wasn't employed for a year as it's almost impossible to find a job when you've just graduated (+ the growing umeployement rate). Then I had to migrate to Germany in may due to political situations, and haven't worked here yet either (language barrier + depression and had no work permit until recently) .

Lately I've started to think about my architecture carreer a lot. I like designing buildings but I don't like the technical part (which most architects seem to do for a very long while until they get good enough to be allowed to design) and to be honest I don't have much knowledge about this part of the job either -  since my classes at uni were mostly design-oriented

and I've heard that architects don't get payed well in Germany (alongside europe, although I think other EU countries pay a little better). I mean they are not poor -as long as they can get/keep themselves employed, which I've heard also not easy- but in my opinion the salary is not worth all the hard work and I'd like my life standarts higher than that.

I've been thinking a change in my carreer (to software engineering) on the other hand I 'm not sure if I'm ready for another 6 years of study (3 years for bachelor + 2 years for master + and a year for german classes - according to Germans I still need to go through the master part cause otherwise I wouldn't be licensed anyway)

I mean I'd surely get paid A LOT more if I were a software engineer or sth but it's not all about that. however if I go back to architecture, I have doubts if I'd be succesfull due to the lack of my technical knowledge and even if I figured that out somehow I'd still be not satisfied with my labor/salary ratio.

I'm very confused, what would you suggest?

 
Feb 25, 19 10:08 am
Non Sequitur

Everyone and their grand-ma prefer the designy side of architecture and anyone can design anything.  Understanding the technical side is what gets you employed and drives your career forward.  Consider looking into short college level courses on building sciences if you want a fighting chance in architecture.

Feb 25, 19 10:54 am  · 
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SneakyPete

I don't want to assume what you meant, but when I hear things like "anyone can design anything" I want to slap somebody. DESIGN IS INCLUSIVE AND RELIANT ON THE TECHNICAL. OTHERWISE IT ISN'T DESIGN, IT'S JUST ART.

Feb 25, 19 12:07 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

I agree with your statement Pete. I guess I tend to jump quickly onto the "I prefer design over technical" folks and tend to assume that's a just an excuse to push away the difficult/interesting parts that make buildings real.

Feb 25, 19 12:14 pm  · 
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SneakyPete

Totally agree.

Feb 25, 19 12:19 pm  · 
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Non Sequitur

I wrote my above response while obsessively trying to organize bolt patterns on shop drawings.

Feb 25, 19 12:33 pm  · 
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randomised

'Bolt pattern organiser' would make for a great title on a business card or skills graph on a CV (5 bolts out of 7!)

Feb 25, 19 12:47 pm  · 
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randomised

First congrats on the freedom, welcome to the EU :-)

You say you don't like the technical part of architecture, yet you're considering studying software engineering. That seems to be quite a technical direction as well.

If you like the design part of architecture most, you still have options with a decent pay check. You don't have to flush it all down the toilet in my opinion. Have you e.g. considered interior architecture?

Also office culture in Turkey might just be different from German office culture, maybe there will be more opportunities for actually designing, did you try working or an internship in a German architecture office?

Feb 25, 19 10:55 am  · 
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