It was either car designer or race car driver. Only schools at the time where in Italy and Detroit. You had to be Italian to be accepted by the big Italian car designer firms or American to be accepted by the Big Three. Canadians need not apply. Even took a three month race car driving course in England way back when...dad wasn't rich to finance me, so architecture was it.
In my teens, I was sort of informally an apprentice goldsmith (and have continued to dabble as a hobbyist, although I'm still not very good). I was also a terrible student and hated school. If the opportunity had been presented to enter a formal full time apprenticeship while completing high school on independent study, I'd've jumped at it.
I also have a humanities BA and have seriously considered graduate school and an academic career (it turns out I am not nearly as terrible a student and hate school much less when I'm studying something that actually interests me).
I honestly don't have an answer to this. I jumped into arch school, as I've said here before, on a whim and "why not" type attitude. The combination of creative problem solving/expression and technical stuff likely steered me away from what would likely have been a forgettable dead-end disposable gov gig in a rendant department, or worse, since I really did not do shit in highschool that generated prospective career options.
Managed to make it to the minor pro level as an athlete, concurrent with the architecture career. Realized pretty quickly that I wasn't moving up any further (IE, the paychecks would most certainly not be big enough to eek out a living). Hung up the gear after a couple years to finish the licensing requirements... so close! I'm now a hobbyist.
A friend from engineering school went on to become a neurosurgeon and pain management specialist at a top Boston hospital. We talk regularly and her work seems fascinating and not really any more difficult than what we do, with a lot of crossover skills. She makes a bit more than I do, though.
I would strongly consider chemical engineering as well.
I nearly went professional with beer brewing at one point.
I actually started my career as a furniture maker. If I understood a single thing about business at that point I might have been able to make it work.
"I nearly went professional with beer brewing at one point."
Possible future BS+B presentation? Maybe the architecture of breweries?
(On a side note I genuinely looked into the idea of writing my thesis on brewery architecture so that I could make trips out to cool local spots and sit there writing while convincing myself that it was still technically school work)
Great idea! We started BS + Beer at a local microbrewery and we have a lot of other microbreweries here in Maine. I'll add it to our (long) list of topic ideas. That would have been a fun thesis topic! What did you choose instead?
Dec 22, 20 11:31 am ·
·
Bench
Realized all the firms I intended to pursue employment with required a better understanding of large-scale/infrastructure projects, so I ended up exploring parametric applications on that subject instead. But a brewery has always been near the top of my wishlist for a future project.
A close friend's father runs a very succesful small firm and got one built a few years back - it won a slew of awards for its design. Excellent beer too!
Curious how a neurosurgeon and pain management specialist's work has a lot of crossovers with what we do?
Dec 22, 20 5:18 pm ·
·
Wood Guy
I observed her with one patient getting an epidural for pain. Listen to patient, explain process, address concerns, figure out best approach, set expectations, manage team, perform work, follow up. That's just a small part of what she does, and obviously there are differences. But there is a lot of client management, 3-D visualizing, research etc..
That jacket is large enough for four rangers of that person's size.
Dec 22, 20 4:35 pm ·
·
Almosthip
It because we have to dress in layers ...need room for the hoodie, the sweater, the t shirt, and don't forget the thermal underwears. And she's probably got the boyfriends hoodie too
It's an old joke, I forget the source but I heard it as a teen, I think. It was talking about stressful jobs, and one guy said "compared to my job your job is like being a sex therapist in Aspen!". It was in the late 709s/early 80s, when ski culture in Aspen was like the epitome of glamor. But it sounded good to me!
I’m interested in lots of things having to do with space and physics, but I’m not good enough at math to actually work in the field. My only above average trait is creativity and there are only a few creative outlets that make decent careers
I feel like I have been headed in the other direction for the last decade. Giving less of a care about architecture. (They will figure it out in the field) and a total OCD at home. (gotta keep everything clean and safe with covid now too) the homemaking is incredibly rewarding. More than the career.
Who would pay to get their 6 crapboard slabs slapped into a Billy shelf unit? No need to judge. Sure, some people are too dumb to put their Besta TV stand together. But putting your Sektion moisture absorbing particleboard kitchen together takes time. And time is money. Pax can be confusing. Galant is intimidating. And Kallax needs to be smacked back together post collapse after you've moved it across the room that one time.
And then there are the lonely people.
You roll in with your multitool. Client is a 50-80 year old woman. You say hi and quickly jump on unpacking her boxes. Twist slap screw. Shit is coming together. Gumbo man in the instructions says there are 8X of the clippything, but you only see 7. Maybe you dropped one on the floor. You are now both on your knees looking for it and it comes to you that she is the only quality built item in the room. You make passionate love. She says you are the best architect she ever met. You make it clear that you are not licensed yet. And that you never even went to an Architecture school. Could not afford it. She offers to pay for your schooling. By the time you graduate, she is already dead. Another recession hits and you can't get a job in Architecture because you didn't get registered 15 years before you got your degree.
You go back to being an Ikea furniture assembly man.
But now you count all clippythings before commencing the work. You can't handle another heartbreak.
There are companies like that... I know a guy. Also assembles those home gyms, hangs tv's, etc. Basically is the guy with the contracts with big box stores for 'home installation' options.
Same as OP. Still in Architecture school but went to another Design school for Automotive Design. They were charging as if they were Princeton. Bunch of international students made things stupidly competitive. And it seems the school relied on them because they recently fired 10% of their staff due to Covid.
Also the program was very specialized to the point that you would be SOL if you didn't get hired as a Transportation Designer. The faculty even admitted that not everyone would get hired and would have to hustle to get a gig. Now I would understand if it was at some state school with thousands of students. But at a small design school charging $45,000 per year??? Yeah no. Them loans have to get paid.
I'm much more at ease at my school's Architecture program. At 1/4 of the cost. Plus there's online programs where you can learn to design and draw cars.
Dec 27, 20 6:57 pm ·
·
apscoradiales
Have you tried Italian design houses? There is a lot of non-Italians in them now unlike in my time.
Also one of my favorite dialogues (from an okay book):
"Sounds good," said Hand "But that's one lifetime." "Yeah." "But while doing that one I'd want to be able to have done other stuff. Whole other lives - the one where I sail - "
"I know, on a boat you made yourself."
"Yeah, for a couple years, through the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea."
"Can you sail? You can't sail. Your brother sails, right?"
"Yeah, Tommy sails. But that's the problem. It could take years to get good enough. And while doing that, I'm not out here with my Senegalese wife. And I'm definitely not running Whitewater tours in Alaska."
While I was groomed to be an architect... I had a point in my life where I was big into computers, programming, etc. For the old folks, I wrote a ton of autocad scripts, gui interfaces for the old DOS, webpages from scratch, etc. before the internets really came into being. Lol, even helped a PM I knew setup a dial-up server and interface for a pay-4-porn site. Also built computers and overclocked back in the day when you hacked the bios (or used a lumberjacked bios) and did pin-mods to your cpu. Even used my architecture modeling skills with my metal working to make custom cases. Good enough that I had job offers from other firms, gamers and geeks for stuff I made.
Also had a stint in professional pc gaming with a team; corporate sponsors, lootz, LANS, cash winnings and a large following before twitch, youtube and streaming was a thing. I was very good (multiple league wins, interviews, etc.), but.... had the family architecture firm; So... I focused back onto architecture, family, and 'traditional career paths' and put that stuff behind me. Plus the wife hated and never respected computer gaming. Had I been born a decade later, it would have been computers and online streamer... and probably single :P
I also do cars... build em, raced them, etc. It's an expensive hobby. But like woodwork guys, doing things with my hands can be rewarding...
I also did some programming back in the Fortran '77/Pascal days (just school and personal fooling around), and actually turned down a job at a "well-known company" in Redmond when I was doing some scripting of educational materials in a long-forgotten program called "Authorware".
Jan 5, 21 3:32 pm ·
·
xx__
What game you was playing, Mightyaa?
Jan 12, 21 5:03 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Mighty, I'm going to guess that game was... Quake?
\
I knew I wanted to be an architect around 10th grade. But coming out of high school I also considered becoming a lawyer or a veterinarian.
Ruled being a lawyer out due to the amount of reading / it just seemed boring. I'd probably have ended up in tax or real estate law, which didn't seem all that exciting outside of a Tom Cruise movie.
Ruled being a veterinarian out because while I'm a big fan of dogs of all kinds, the rest of the animals just didn't do it for me. Plus the idea of interacting with sick dogs all the time would be an emotional rollercoaster (until you'd go numb to it like most professions).
NYC Fireman - easier test, better pay, benefits, work 1 - 2 days a week (24 hr shift), never get laid off or have lack of work every downturn, retire in your early 40's making 75% of a salary that most architects won't approach. All sounds good, unless of course you were killed on 9-11 like one of my fireman friends.
dad is a financial advisor, should have followed his footsteps. It’s a hard path at first, but the pay goes up pretty fast. A loose acquaintance is pulling in just about 1 mil a year now, made only 30k his first 5 years
Wasn’t until high school that I seriously considered architecture. I was exploring programming at the same time. Saw the long term potential but couldn’t get/stay interested in it.
Jan 29, 21 9:17 am ·
·
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If you didn't become an architect, what would you have become?
It was either car designer or race car driver. Only schools at the time where in Italy and Detroit. You had to be Italian to be accepted by the big Italian car designer firms or American to be accepted by the Big Three. Canadians need not apply. Even took a three month race car driving course in England way back when...dad wasn't rich to finance me, so architecture was it.
In my teens, I was sort of informally an apprentice goldsmith (and have continued to dabble as a hobbyist, although I'm still not very good). I was also a terrible student and hated school. If the opportunity had been presented to enter a formal full time apprenticeship while completing high school on independent study, I'd've jumped at it.
I also have a humanities BA and have seriously considered graduate school and an academic career (it turns out I am not nearly as terrible a student and hate school much less when I'm studying something that actually interests me).
I honestly don't have an answer to this. I jumped into arch school, as I've said here before, on a whim and "why not" type attitude. The combination of creative problem solving/expression and technical stuff likely steered me away from what would likely have been a forgettable dead-end disposable gov gig in a rendant department, or worse, since I really did not do shit in highschool that generated prospective career options.
Gigolo
Still not too late...two careers!!! One probably more satisfying than the other.
Depends if the satisfaction would be on Le Courvoisier's or the client's end.
social media influencer
A graphic designer or a cafe/book/ bike shop owner.
Surgeon ... but wasn't good enough to get admitted to med school...
Some kind of engineer, probably not construction related though.
I had a knack for math, but found the idea boring.
So I went into architecture, naturally.
I thought we became architects because we can't do math though.
Managed to make it to the minor pro level as an athlete, concurrent with the architecture career. Realized pretty quickly that I wasn't moving up any further (IE, the paychecks would most certainly not be big enough to eek out a living). Hung up the gear after a couple years to finish the licensing requirements... so close! I'm now a hobbyist.
Molecular biologist
A friend from engineering school went on to become a neurosurgeon and pain management specialist at a top Boston hospital. We talk regularly and her work seems fascinating and not really any more difficult than what we do, with a lot of crossover skills. She makes a bit more than I do, though.
I would strongly consider chemical engineering as well.
I nearly went professional with beer brewing at one point.
I actually started my career as a furniture maker. If I understood a single thing about business at that point I might have been able to make it work.
"I nearly went professional with beer brewing at one point."
Possible future BS+B presentation? Maybe the architecture of breweries?
(On a side note I genuinely looked into the idea of writing my thesis on brewery architecture so that I could make trips out to cool local spots and sit there writing while convincing myself that it was still technically school work)
Great idea! We started BS + Beer at a local microbrewery and we have a lot of other microbreweries here in Maine. I'll add it to our (long) list of topic ideas. That would have been a fun thesis topic! What did you choose instead?
Realized all the firms I intended to pursue employment with required a better understanding of large-scale/infrastructure projects, so I ended up exploring parametric applications on that subject instead. But a brewery has always been near the top of my wishlist for a future project.
A close friend's father runs a very succesful small firm and got one built a few years back - it won a slew of awards for its design. Excellent beer too!
Curious how a neurosurgeon and pain management specialist's work has a lot of crossovers with what we do?
I observed her with one patient getting an epidural for pain. Listen to patient, explain process, address concerns, figure out best approach, set expectations, manage team, perform work, follow up. That's just a small part of what she does, and obviously there are differences. But there is a lot of client management, 3-D visualizing, research etc..
I, too, almost became a brewer!
not one person said landscape architect....
I became a landscape architect AFTER I became an architect. Different question though :)
Park Ranger
Was a toss up which program to take
This right up in here.
and nothing is cooler than a Canadian Park Ranger
Dodging hungry polar bears and angry moose? I suppose it would have it's moments...nature is certainly nice.
As opposed to hungry GCs and angry developers?
LOL! That can have it's moments too, and it's not deadly...most of the time.
Can we all bask in the Park Ranger Stock Image
That's going in my scale figures collection. Thanks!
This could have been me
That jacket is large enough for four rangers of that person's size.
It because we have to dress in layers ...need room for the hoodie, the sweater, the t shirt, and don't forget the thermal underwears. And she's probably got the boyfriends hoodie too
Sex therapist in Aspen.
That job sounds like the pits.
Curious about the Aspen part, I'm here you know.
^ Ten Uses for Ski Poles-- No Snow Required! by Dr. Donna Sink
Is Brad in Aspen?
wouldn't know, covid restrictions went up to level red today, nobody allowed anywhere, except private planes
It's an old joke, I forget the source but I heard it as a teen, I think. It was talking about stressful jobs, and one guy said "compared to my job your job is like being a sex therapist in Aspen!". It was in the late 709s/early 80s, when ski culture in Aspen was like the epitome of glamor. But it sounded good to me!
(I have never been to Aspen.)
I thought it was because https://www.thehollywoodgossip...
Yep, I remember a lot of jokes from that era about "all the snow in Aspen."
Where the beer flows like wine
Boat Builder
There was a lot of things I wanted to do as a child but when I became a Type 1 Diabetic those desires where no longer obtainable.
Even in the profession of architecture my diabetes has been a limiting factor as I'm forced to work for firms that provide good health insurance.
Hasn't stopped you from becoming an architect.
Highly admirable.
Medical insurance in US sucks, not that it's a helluva lot better in Canada.
It has limited the firms and areas I can work in though.
Honestly the US health care situation impacts our job-related freedom SO MUCH.
Too true. I've been contemplating this a lot lately.
I’m interested in lots of things having to do with space and physics, but I’m not good enough at math to actually work in the field. My only above average trait is creativity and there are only a few creative outlets that make decent careers
orthopedic surgeon in a ski town, but i wasn't good at math
I was going to ask if math was that critical for the job, but it would be hard to keep track of all that money, so I see your point.
Rich!
Millionaire playboy. (Turns out you need money and looks.)
Or historian. Or comedian.
Or both! (A Roman, an Israelite, and a Pagan tread into a taverne. Yon barkeep queries, "Be this some type of jest?")
The easy answer would be landscape architect, but because I treat the two as a both/and I'll say painter.
Homemaker, House Husband.
I'd suck at that job - every single shred of inclination I ever had toward neatness and organization has gone into architecture.
I feel like I have been headed in the other direction for the last decade. Giving less of a care about architecture. (They will figure it out in the field) and a total OCD at home. (gotta keep everything clean and safe with covid now too) the homemaking is incredibly rewarding. More than the career.
chef
Ikea furniture assembly man.
Who would pay to get their 6 crapboard slabs slapped into a Billy shelf unit? No need to judge. Sure, some people are too dumb to put their Besta TV stand together. But putting your Sektion moisture absorbing particleboard kitchen together takes time. And time is money. Pax can be confusing. Galant is intimidating. And Kallax needs to be smacked back together post collapse after you've moved it across the room that one time.
And then there are the lonely people.
You roll in with your multitool. Client is a 50-80 year old woman. You say hi and quickly jump on unpacking her boxes. Twist slap screw. Shit is coming together. Gumbo man in the instructions says there are 8X of the clippything, but you only see 7. Maybe you dropped one on the floor. You are now both on your knees looking for it and it comes to you that she is the only quality built item in the room. You make passionate love. She says you are the best architect she ever met. You make it clear that you are not licensed yet. And that you never even went to an Architecture school. Could not afford it. She offers to pay for your schooling. By the time you graduate, she is already dead. Another recession hits and you can't get a job in Architecture because you didn't get registered 15 years before you got your degree.
You go back to being an Ikea furniture assembly man.
But now you count all clippythings before commencing the work. You can't handle another heartbreak.
Holy shit. My sides.
Wow, epic!
EXCELLENT!
one word: Screenplay.
There are companies like that... I know a guy. Also assembles those home gyms, hangs tv's, etc. Basically is the guy with the contracts with big box stores for 'home installation' options.
Ice skating instructor/choreographer in Gary, Indiana.
Most likely I would be a musician and sing in some bar in the evenings
Same as OP. Still in Architecture school but went to another Design school for Automotive Design. They were charging as if they were Princeton. Bunch of international students made things stupidly competitive. And it seems the school relied on them because they recently fired 10% of their staff due to Covid.
Also the program was very specialized to the point that you would be SOL if you didn't get hired as a Transportation Designer. The faculty even admitted that not everyone would get hired and would have to hustle to get a gig. Now I would understand if it was at some state school with thousands of students. But at a small design school charging $45,000 per year??? Yeah no. Them loans have to get paid.
I'm much more at ease at my school's Architecture program. At 1/4 of the cost. Plus there's online programs where you can learn to design and draw cars.
Have you tried Italian design houses? There is a lot of non-Italians in them now unlike in my time.
I'm thinking of hitting two birds with one stone. Graduate from my Architecture program and then focus into maybe Industrial/Automotive Drsign.
Good luck.
Thanks. Likewise!
jazz musician or cellist
I'll chime in with my own story perhaps soon, but last night I read this piece which reminded me of this thread:
https://www.newyorker.com/maga...
Also one of my favorite dialogues (from an okay book):
"Sounds good," said Hand
"But that's one lifetime."
"Yeah."
"But while doing that one I'd want to be able to have done other stuff. Whole other lives - the one where I sail - "
"I know, on a boat you made yourself."
"Yeah, for a couple years, through the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Caspian Sea."
"Can you sail? You can't sail. Your brother sails, right?"
"Yeah, Tommy sails. But that's the problem. It could take years to get good enough. And while doing that, I'm not out here with my Senegalese wife. And I'm definitely not running Whitewater tours in Alaska."
"So choose one."
"That's the problem, dumbshit."
Still training at the moment, but if I were to choose again I’d maybe go for law - barrister and hope to become a judge one day.
I like the route I am on though.
Software developer.
While I was groomed to be an architect... I had a point in my life where I was big into computers, programming, etc. For the old folks, I wrote a ton of autocad scripts, gui interfaces for the old DOS, webpages from scratch, etc. before the internets really came into being. Lol, even helped a PM I knew setup a dial-up server and interface for a pay-4-porn site. Also built computers and overclocked back in the day when you hacked the bios (or used a lumberjacked bios) and did pin-mods to your cpu. Even used my architecture modeling skills with my metal working to make custom cases. Good enough that I had job offers from other firms, gamers and geeks for stuff I made.
Also had a stint in professional pc gaming with a team; corporate sponsors, lootz, LANS, cash winnings and a large following before twitch, youtube and streaming was a thing. I was very good (multiple league wins, interviews, etc.), but.... had the family architecture firm; So... I focused back onto architecture, family, and 'traditional career paths' and put that stuff behind me. Plus the wife hated and never respected computer gaming. Had I been born a decade later, it would have been computers and online streamer... and probably single :P
I also do cars... build em, raced them, etc. It's an expensive hobby. But like woodwork guys, doing things with my hands can be rewarding...
I also did some programming back in the Fortran '77/Pascal days (just school and personal fooling around), and actually turned down a job at a "well-known company" in Redmond when I was doing some scripting of educational materials in a long-forgotten program called "Authorware".
What game you was playing, Mightyaa?
Mighty, I'm going to guess that game was... Quake? \
botanist or firefighter
I knew I wanted to be an architect around 10th grade. But coming out of high school I also considered becoming a lawyer or a veterinarian.
Ruled being a lawyer out due to the amount of reading / it just seemed boring. I'd probably have ended up in tax or real estate law, which didn't seem all that exciting outside of a Tom Cruise movie.
Ruled being a veterinarian out because while I'm a big fan of dogs of all kinds, the rest of the animals just didn't do it for me. Plus the idea of interacting with sick dogs all the time would be an emotional rollercoaster (until you'd go numb to it like most professions).
NYC Fireman - easier test, better pay, benefits, work 1 - 2 days a week (24 hr shift), never get laid off or have lack of work every downturn, retire in your early 40's making 75% of a salary that most architects won't approach. All sounds good, unless of course you were killed on 9-11 like one of my fireman friends.
Vigilante - side work only.
dad is a financial advisor, should have followed his footsteps. It’s a hard path at first, but the pay goes up pretty fast. A loose acquaintance is pulling in just about 1 mil a year now, made only 30k his first 5 years
Astronaut, zoologist, or marine biologist.
Wasn’t until high school that I seriously considered architecture. I was exploring programming at the same time. Saw the long term potential but couldn’t get/stay interested in it.
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