I am currently a senior in high school and I have been thinking of majoring in architecture for a while now but after reading a few posts with numerous complaints about the low salaries architects make, my question is, do you think you made the right choice in becoming an architect or do you think you should have studied something else? Is money that much of a factor?
if you can imagine yourself doing anything else, do it. those of us who bitch and moan but are still committed - even love it - are only here because we can't imagine anything else.
I really can't imagine doing anything else, I have to say. I'd rather do something I loved then get paid a lot of money to do something that made me miserable.
let me explain that I do not do architecture as a profession, but no, I can't imagine doing anything other with my mind other than architecture. I tried that once with theology and religion and it was obviously so so wrong because it really f**ked my mind up and even made me seriously ill.
I'm not sure I made the right choice, but it doesn't really have anything to do with money. I'd rather have more (some) design (like daily) opportunities. I don't think project management is designing, or that making cd sets good is designing either.(my personal bias.) That's the main reason why I wouldn't do it over again. I think most architecture jobs and related fields pay poorly though. or poorly relative to the hours or self-perceived worth.
how many of these fucking threads are necessary? I hate to play captain obvious here, but for all of you bitching about your job and how it's not what you thought it was going to be...blah blah blah,,,you can't just blame it on the the profession and then attach some notion of a higher cause to the fact that you can't progress at it. NEWS FLASH: there are plenty of good architecture jobs. If you choose to be a generic architect (no matter how special your 5th year prof. told you that you were) you are not in demand and that's why you don't have one. wake up.
No need to come down so hard on those who ask the question, whether before they take the plunge or after. I think it's a very valid discussion, and mature of a high school student to actually think about whether or not the financial compensation (and all other aspects of the job) fit their goals and how they imagine themselves in the future.
I for one never really gave it a thought - I was naive enough to think that architects were paid somewhere along the lines of other professionals, and had the good fortune of growing up with parents who were fairly well off (dad is a surgeon) and therefore evn though I have worked since I was 14, never really understood all the expenses involved in supporting yourself and a family. When you're in college, you're willing to live cheaply, eat ramen, shop in thrift stores, drive a car that doesn't start half the time and rely on the student clinic and parents to help you out if something serious happens.
Since I've been out of school, gotten married, bought a house, and am planning for kids (first one coming in 4 months), my outlook is a lot different. And yes, I'm also suffering from the inevitable urges that come with a good design education - the desire to be able to work for myself, modify my house the way I'd like it, purchase some nice looking funiture, tableware and bedding (yeah I'm really domestic too I guess), and occasionally take vacations out of California to experience a world different from my own.
Being an architect can make some of these things difficult - there are decent jobs out there - that pay reasonably, that afford you the opportunities to do some of what you want, and there are also a multitude of frustrations that so many of us like to vent here. As a profession, it does allow you some opportunity to be creative in a visual and spacial way, has a variety of positions on offer (design, management, technical, service, academic), and it can provide a certain amount of stability if you choose to work for a larger firm. Considering options available to people in other creative fields, I don't think it's too bad of a compromise. But a good question to ask yourslef is whether you might be just as satisfied being creative inetllectually, financially, etc. (thinking here a business or law degree) and being creative otherwise on the side.
I can't answer that question for myself - started out with a philosophy degree and decided academia wasn't for me, but I also do have some nagging doubts about whether law would have been a good fit (brother and his wife are both attorneys and I love talking shop with them and reading construction law books, hmmm).
However, as a soon-to-be mom with my own business working at home, right now I consider myself extremely lucky and am feeling ok about my career choice - we'll see how that evolves over time.
Someone said here recently that the people that post here tend to be recently out of school (or those of us working for ourselves who are lonely:-), and therefore don't offer the most balanced view of the profession. It would be a good idea to try and talk to older architects (those who have been practicing more than 10 years) and talk about the financial realities of supporting yourself with parents or other relatives or friends who can help fill out the picture.
I've thought more about it and the question of whether or not to be an architect is just too big and out of my grasp. There's nothing I'd rather do than architecture, so I can't really give a "reasonable" response.
But, if I could actually go back in time, I'll tell you what I might do differently. I might try to specialize more in a certain area of architecture in a way that might make me more marketable within the world of architecture. For example, when I was in school CAD was just coming on the scene (mid-80s). Being very devoted to hand drawing I hated everything about it and refused to take the CAD classes seriously. Now I see that if I had been an early adopter I could have been more marketable straight out of school, had a new skill set that firms were hungry for, and thus demanded higher dollar. I think Rita Novel may have some experience with this scenario, yes Rita?
The people my old firm was hiring tended to be 1. exceptionally proficient with the newest software for rendering the boss' designs, 2. historic preservation specialist, or 3. the hot shit designer graduating student from Penn who was in one of my boss' classes (parallel=NBA star and really how many of those are there in the world?.
So that's something to ponder - if you can specialize within the field you may be able to be an architect but also make a little more money.
even though i just got finished arranging closets at 12.30 am on a saturday night -- i would never choose any other profession but architecture. i guess i have to attribute that to my extremely limited imagination, since i've wanted to be an architect since i was 5. all my bitching aside...
architecture is in any case a good education for other careers even if you don't get into the building scene.
most of my classmates are working for firms, some have their own offices, some work for famous people, and some are (slightly) famous themselves, but NONE of them make much more than a 100k a year. Most are stuck around 45k, which is maybe ok, but not so great. I've not heard any of them complain about their job or wish to do something different though.
Of those who didn't go into architecture after grad school, a few are graphic designers, one does product design, and another does small design- build projects. these folks too all are pretty content. To be frank the only bitching i have ever heard is on this site, and even here i don't think it is a majority opinion.
If you want to make money get an MBA or become a lawyer. these are creative jobs and you might enjoy. if you want to build things then architecture is one way of doing it. you may find it easier to decide after visiting an architecture school or talking with a local architect face-to-face, see how an office works, etc.
Good point jump. Architecture, especially if you take advantage of the resources in school (like web/graphic classes, business, real estate) can make for a great foundation for other professions. I love the fact that I can make a good website, design a logo, do an animation with some snazzy motion graphics, then design a house.
BUT if I went back in time, I could do all of those with the exeption of the house, in a 4 years degree while partying/mtn biking/whatever 5 days a week.
That's the big dilemma for giving advice - it's easy to say how flexible it is now, but would you go through all that crazy-hard schooling to be doing graphic design?
My lil sis is doing web design now. She had easy schooling, did well, and had plenty of free time. Now she makes more than most of my friends with Masters degrees and she's never worked in an office (she has one year of experience, they have 6+)!
Point is, if you are thinking of other creative professions, there are paths that are a lot easier and less stressful, allowing you more time to get good at them (all the web/graphics/motion graphics was mostly self taught). Not to mention how much $$ you'll save.
it's so hard to get into cambridge univ. I shd have better employed my precious time there studying the architecture tripos there instead of the dumb theology tripos. As it turned out I spent more of my time emoting over the gorgeous buildings there than (seriously) studying theology which I have no aptitude for. That was back in 1979. I was accepted as a mature student in 1978 at a catholic mainly post-graduate college. It's now even harder to get into cambridge. Trick was I got the RC Church to pay my tuition. so it's all hypothetical: I never wd have been able to pay the tuition even if I was accepted to study architecture there. The main thing about Cambridge, really, is it doesn't matter what subject you choose, you're still going to be given a pressure-cooker education into basic problem-solving which will last you your whole life. so I guess I still came out ahead. I was pensioned off for life in 1986 at the age of 32 so I guess I have a pretty good deal, in spite of the fact that I feel inferior to most if not all of you archinecters because I am an amateur and not a professional architect, and never will be and will never have that experience.
so you regret not rolling jimi over? man i remember when elvis died but was just barely born when jimi left the stage.
john, no need to feel inferior, most architects are faking anyway, and some of the best architects i know never went to arch school either...hell, tadao ando barely finished high school and he won a pritzker. don't let anyone fool you that education in the right places makes the architect.
Architects, if you could go back in time, would you choose another profession?
I am currently a senior in high school and I have been thinking of majoring in architecture for a while now but after reading a few posts with numerous complaints about the low salaries architects make, my question is, do you think you made the right choice in becoming an architect or do you think you should have studied something else? Is money that much of a factor?
if you can imagine yourself doing anything else, do it. those of us who bitch and moan but are still committed - even love it - are only here because we can't imagine anything else.
I really can't imagine doing anything else, I have to say. I'd rather do something I loved then get paid a lot of money to do something that made me miserable.
I can't imagine doing anything else (although I don't really do much architecture, I LOVE design and find it fulfilling).
What I would change, if I could go back in time, was that I'd finish school early, have an MBA too, no debt and marry someone really rich.
Or, I'd just pick the right lotto numbers. That would work too.
let me explain that I do not do architecture as a profession, but no, I can't imagine doing anything other with my mind other than architecture. I tried that once with theology and religion and it was obviously so so wrong because it really f**ked my mind up and even made me seriously ill.
ky11, the question is, is money that much of a factor to you?
I'm not sure I made the right choice, but it doesn't really have anything to do with money. I'd rather have more (some) design (like daily) opportunities. I don't think project management is designing, or that making cd sets good is designing either.(my personal bias.) That's the main reason why I wouldn't do it over again. I think most architecture jobs and related fields pay poorly though. or poorly relative to the hours or self-perceived worth.
the world's oldest
how many of these fucking threads are necessary? I hate to play captain obvious here, but for all of you bitching about your job and how it's not what you thought it was going to be...blah blah blah,,,you can't just blame it on the the profession and then attach some notion of a higher cause to the fact that you can't progress at it. NEWS FLASH: there are plenty of good architecture jobs. If you choose to be a generic architect (no matter how special your 5th year prof. told you that you were) you are not in demand and that's why you don't have one. wake up.
No need to come down so hard on those who ask the question, whether before they take the plunge or after. I think it's a very valid discussion, and mature of a high school student to actually think about whether or not the financial compensation (and all other aspects of the job) fit their goals and how they imagine themselves in the future.
I for one never really gave it a thought - I was naive enough to think that architects were paid somewhere along the lines of other professionals, and had the good fortune of growing up with parents who were fairly well off (dad is a surgeon) and therefore evn though I have worked since I was 14, never really understood all the expenses involved in supporting yourself and a family. When you're in college, you're willing to live cheaply, eat ramen, shop in thrift stores, drive a car that doesn't start half the time and rely on the student clinic and parents to help you out if something serious happens.
Since I've been out of school, gotten married, bought a house, and am planning for kids (first one coming in 4 months), my outlook is a lot different. And yes, I'm also suffering from the inevitable urges that come with a good design education - the desire to be able to work for myself, modify my house the way I'd like it, purchase some nice looking funiture, tableware and bedding (yeah I'm really domestic too I guess), and occasionally take vacations out of California to experience a world different from my own.
Being an architect can make some of these things difficult - there are decent jobs out there - that pay reasonably, that afford you the opportunities to do some of what you want, and there are also a multitude of frustrations that so many of us like to vent here. As a profession, it does allow you some opportunity to be creative in a visual and spacial way, has a variety of positions on offer (design, management, technical, service, academic), and it can provide a certain amount of stability if you choose to work for a larger firm. Considering options available to people in other creative fields, I don't think it's too bad of a compromise. But a good question to ask yourslef is whether you might be just as satisfied being creative inetllectually, financially, etc. (thinking here a business or law degree) and being creative otherwise on the side.
I can't answer that question for myself - started out with a philosophy degree and decided academia wasn't for me, but I also do have some nagging doubts about whether law would have been a good fit (brother and his wife are both attorneys and I love talking shop with them and reading construction law books, hmmm).
However, as a soon-to-be mom with my own business working at home, right now I consider myself extremely lucky and am feeling ok about my career choice - we'll see how that evolves over time.
Someone said here recently that the people that post here tend to be recently out of school (or those of us working for ourselves who are lonely:-), and therefore don't offer the most balanced view of the profession. It would be a good idea to try and talk to older architects (those who have been practicing more than 10 years) and talk about the financial realities of supporting yourself with parents or other relatives or friends who can help fill out the picture.
Great and helpful post, as always, RARudolph.
I've thought more about it and the question of whether or not to be an architect is just too big and out of my grasp. There's nothing I'd rather do than architecture, so I can't really give a "reasonable" response.
But, if I could actually go back in time, I'll tell you what I might do differently. I might try to specialize more in a certain area of architecture in a way that might make me more marketable within the world of architecture. For example, when I was in school CAD was just coming on the scene (mid-80s). Being very devoted to hand drawing I hated everything about it and refused to take the CAD classes seriously. Now I see that if I had been an early adopter I could have been more marketable straight out of school, had a new skill set that firms were hungry for, and thus demanded higher dollar. I think Rita Novel may have some experience with this scenario, yes Rita?
The people my old firm was hiring tended to be 1. exceptionally proficient with the newest software for rendering the boss' designs, 2. historic preservation specialist, or 3. the hot shit designer graduating student from Penn who was in one of my boss' classes (parallel=NBA star and really how many of those are there in the world?.
So that's something to ponder - if you can specialize within the field you may be able to be an architect but also make a little more money.
even though i just got finished arranging closets at 12.30 am on a saturday night -- i would never choose any other profession but architecture. i guess i have to attribute that to my extremely limited imagination, since i've wanted to be an architect since i was 5. all my bitching aside...
architecture is in any case a good education for other careers even if you don't get into the building scene.
most of my classmates are working for firms, some have their own offices, some work for famous people, and some are (slightly) famous themselves, but NONE of them make much more than a 100k a year. Most are stuck around 45k, which is maybe ok, but not so great. I've not heard any of them complain about their job or wish to do something different though.
Of those who didn't go into architecture after grad school, a few are graphic designers, one does product design, and another does small design- build projects. these folks too all are pretty content. To be frank the only bitching i have ever heard is on this site, and even here i don't think it is a majority opinion.
If you want to make money get an MBA or become a lawyer. these are creative jobs and you might enjoy. if you want to build things then architecture is one way of doing it. you may find it easier to decide after visiting an architecture school or talking with a local architect face-to-face, see how an office works, etc.
Good point jump. Architecture, especially if you take advantage of the resources in school (like web/graphic classes, business, real estate) can make for a great foundation for other professions. I love the fact that I can make a good website, design a logo, do an animation with some snazzy motion graphics, then design a house.
BUT if I went back in time, I could do all of those with the exeption of the house, in a 4 years degree while partying/mtn biking/whatever 5 days a week.
That's the big dilemma for giving advice - it's easy to say how flexible it is now, but would you go through all that crazy-hard schooling to be doing graphic design?
My lil sis is doing web design now. She had easy schooling, did well, and had plenty of free time. Now she makes more than most of my friends with Masters degrees and she's never worked in an office (she has one year of experience, they have 6+)!
Point is, if you are thinking of other creative professions, there are paths that are a lot easier and less stressful, allowing you more time to get good at them (all the web/graphics/motion graphics was mostly self taught). Not to mention how much $$ you'll save.
The only thing I would change is what school I went to for my degree (BArch)... if only I knew then what I know now...
it's so hard to get into cambridge univ. I shd have better employed my precious time there studying the architecture tripos there instead of the dumb theology tripos. As it turned out I spent more of my time emoting over the gorgeous buildings there than (seriously) studying theology which I have no aptitude for. That was back in 1979. I was accepted as a mature student in 1978 at a catholic mainly post-graduate college. It's now even harder to get into cambridge. Trick was I got the RC Church to pay my tuition. so it's all hypothetical: I never wd have been able to pay the tuition even if I was accepted to study architecture there. The main thing about Cambridge, really, is it doesn't matter what subject you choose, you're still going to be given a pressure-cooker education into basic problem-solving which will last you your whole life. so I guess I still came out ahead. I was pensioned off for life in 1986 at the age of 32 so I guess I have a pretty good deal, in spite of the fact that I feel inferior to most if not all of you archinecters because I am an amateur and not a professional architect, and never will be and will never have that experience.
easy - I'd be a stock broker
buying loads of dot coms and selling them off before the crash :-)
WTF stupid ass kind of question is that? huh?
That's what they asked Jesus when he was up there on the cross.
He said unto all the onlookers that partook of his ruined form:
"I am the arrow shot from the bow - bitches!"
if I could fly back in time, i would roll Jimi Hendrix over on his side.
so you regret not rolling jimi over? man i remember when elvis died but was just barely born when jimi left the stage.
john, no need to feel inferior, most architects are faking anyway, and some of the best architects i know never went to arch school either...hell, tadao ando barely finished high school and he won a pritzker. don't let anyone fool you that education in the right places makes the architect.
we go way back, me and Jimi, or Moe, as I called him back then.... lil moe...
i love you man!!!
and that's the thread, folks
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