I run a small, but thriving studio and I kind of hate my job.
I am an LA, so not sure what kind of responses I’m going to get here, but I am hoping to there are a few Architects out there who can identify.
Over the last 12 months I have slowly, but surely lost my passion for LA and design in general. Every once in a while a project comes along which gives me a glimmer of hope, but I have been continually let down by the double-talking clients, jockeying consultants and Pm’s, and endless value engineering. As I enter into another burnout cycle I cant help but conclude that the margin for creativity is incredibly slim in both the arch and LA field and I better start looking for other avenues to fulfill that side of me.
I think, what I struggle with perhaps more than anything though is the fact that we are very busy and on paper we are killing it. We’re working on cool projects (at least from the outside), but I have almost zero motivation to do the work, but Im a professional, so I keep showing up.
Has anyone here made a successful career change or otherwise found a way to manage a thriving business while chasing other creative pursuits?
Bring one of your employees along as a protege future owner and set up to sell your firm to that person. Wean yourself off the firm as that protege buys in and spend time doing other things that seem more fulfilling.
Alternately, be more of a CEO and just do management & less hands on project stuff and spend 50% of your time doing other things.
i had lunch recently with an architect i really admire - she and a partner left their jobs at a top tier corporate firm before age 30 to cofound a studio. Now about ten years later they have designed award winning built projects and have a busy studio of twenty doing excellent work on fun projects.
But she is tired of it. She is largely delegating all the design work to her partner and told me she doesn't recommend this path. She is discouraging her young children from studying anything related to architecture. So you certainly have company who share your feelings.
I think the pressures of running a studio and having ultimate responsibility for other people can be too much and kills the joy of design. I don't have any advice... when I got burned out on design I left my corporate job to work for a developer. And later came back to design. I guess you'll need to find a way to make a change too. Maybe promote a design director/ partner?
thanks for sharing. i wonder how many others out there are in your position. unfortunately i think this is the trend for architecture, at least in the big cities (i'm in nyc). buildings are getting more and more complex, and with more cooks in the kitchen, bandwidth keeps shifting to the parts of design that aren't as rewarding, or at the very least are down right burdensome. not to mention all of the competitiveness and general bat-shit-craziness that comes with interacting with people in these cities.
if anything this reassures me that my decision to never start a practice and eventually transition out of professional practice in general is the right one (through teaching and other creative outlets). but again, thanks for being candid- i wish i had some advice.
I had my own firm in NYC for about 5 years. It was fun in the beginning, but after a while I was running the firm, looking for new project, doing administrative work, book keeping. I had a partner but they weren't holding up their own and couldn't pitch in to payroll when clients weren't paying. Essentially I was doing everything including bankrolling the firm.
This plus the fact that clients were sleazy, didn't want to pay reasonable fees, etc. I decided to call it quits and just take it easy for a little bit. Unfortunately, it was short lived as I got a call from a major real estate development firm in NYC to be part of a major development. That was over 5 years ago and it has been quite a ride. I get to tell the designers, architect, MEP what to do, what works & doesn't, and what we want. Before starting my firm I was working for a major architectural firm in NYC doing luxury high rise development; at one point I was running 60 people on multiple projects.
I wouldn't have traded my experience starting my own firm for anything, it has helped me alot in what I am doing now.
Between nickel-and-diming mobsters posing as developers, narcissitic overentitled sociopaths posing as clients, bean counters posing as construction managers, contractors and subs cutting each other's throats in desperation, a labyrinth of often inane codes administered by idiots and the difficulty of getting paid for your work architecture is a great profession for a masochist.
On the bright side, it's not just architecture. Pretty much everyone involved has the same terrible experience. Everybody is squeezing everybody all the time, and not in a friendly way. The occasional project where this is not the norm gives hope that maybe, just maybe it will happen again, but how many years of this shit are you willing to slog through in the hope that it will?
First it's rubber boots, then hip waders, then chest waders. What's next - scuba gear? A biohazard suit? Spacesuit?
I have a confession to make...
I run a small, but thriving studio and I kind of hate my job.
I am an LA, so not sure what kind of responses I’m going to get here, but I am hoping to there are a few Architects out there who can identify.
Over the last 12 months I have slowly, but surely lost my passion for LA and design in general. Every once in a while a project comes along which gives me a glimmer of hope, but I have been continually let down by the double-talking clients, jockeying consultants and Pm’s, and endless value engineering. As I enter into another burnout cycle I cant help but conclude that the margin for creativity is incredibly slim in both the arch and LA field and I better start looking for other avenues to fulfill that side of me.
I think, what I struggle with perhaps more than anything though is the fact that we are very busy and on paper we are killing it. We’re working on cool projects (at least from the outside), but I have almost zero motivation to do the work, but Im a professional, so I keep showing up.
Has anyone here made a successful career change or otherwise found a way to manage a thriving business while chasing other creative pursuits?
Any words of wisdom out there?
Bring one of your employees along as a protege future owner and set up to sell your firm to that person. Wean yourself off the firm as that protege buys in and spend time doing other things that seem more fulfilling.
Alternately, be more of a CEO and just do management & less hands on project stuff and spend 50% of your time doing other things.
i had lunch recently with an architect i really admire - she and a partner left their jobs at a top tier corporate firm before age 30 to cofound a studio. Now about ten years later they have designed award winning built projects and have a busy studio of twenty doing excellent work on fun projects.
But she is tired of it. She is largely delegating all the design work to her partner and told me she doesn't recommend this path. She is discouraging her young children from studying anything related to architecture. So you certainly have company who share your feelings.
I think the pressures of running a studio and having ultimate responsibility for other people can be too much and kills the joy of design. I don't have any advice... when I got burned out on design I left my corporate job to work for a developer. And later came back to design. I guess you'll need to find a way to make a change too. Maybe promote a design director/ partner?
thanks for sharing. i wonder how many others out there are in your position. unfortunately i think this is the trend for architecture, at least in the big cities (i'm in nyc). buildings are getting more and more complex, and with more cooks in the kitchen, bandwidth keeps shifting to the parts of design that aren't as rewarding, or at the very least are down right burdensome. not to mention all of the competitiveness and general bat-shit-craziness that comes with interacting with people in these cities.
if anything this reassures me that my decision to never start a practice and eventually transition out of professional practice in general is the right one (through teaching and other creative outlets). but again, thanks for being candid- i wish i had some advice.
I had my own firm in NYC for about 5 years. It was fun in the beginning, but after a while I was running the firm, looking for new project, doing administrative work, book keeping. I had a partner but they weren't holding up their own and couldn't pitch in to payroll when clients weren't paying. Essentially I was doing everything including bankrolling the firm.
This plus the fact that clients were sleazy, didn't want to pay reasonable fees, etc. I decided to call it quits and just take it easy for a little bit. Unfortunately, it was short lived as I got a call from a major real estate development firm in NYC to be part of a major development. That was over 5 years ago and it has been quite a ride. I get to tell the designers, architect, MEP what to do, what works & doesn't, and what we want. Before starting my firm I was working for a major architectural firm in NYC doing luxury high rise development; at one point I was running 60 people on multiple projects.
I wouldn't have traded my experience starting my own firm for anything, it has helped me alot in what I am doing now.
Between nickel-and-diming mobsters posing as developers, narcissitic overentitled sociopaths posing as clients, bean counters posing as construction managers, contractors and subs cutting each other's throats in desperation, a labyrinth of often inane codes administered by idiots and the difficulty of getting paid for your work architecture is a great profession for a masochist.
On the bright side, it's not just architecture. Pretty much everyone involved has the same terrible experience. Everybody is squeezing everybody all the time, and not in a friendly way. The occasional project where this is not the norm gives hope that maybe, just maybe it will happen again, but how many years of this shit are you willing to slog through in the hope that it will?
First it's rubber boots, then hip waders, then chest waders. What's next - scuba gear? A biohazard suit? Spacesuit?
Birthday Suit.
Cum stain...I giggled
but seriously, hire someone to do the stuff you don’t like in your job, you’re the boss...
Agreed. Structure the firm with people who really enjoy the shit you don't. Give yourself more time for other pursuits.
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