I have been searching fruitlessly for an internship with a design-oriented architecture firm in San Francisco. I have just finished applying to three-year M.Arch. programs and would love to gain professional experience in the field before I begin this fall.
My background is in Visual Arts and Art History (BA 2002, New College of Florida, www.ncf.edu), and this past summer I was a student in UCLA's Jumpstart: Introduction to Architecture program. In addition to serving as a firefighter for three years during college, I have extensive studio and administrative assistance experience.
I check the AIASF site and craigslist daily. I am pretty proficient with Illustrator and Photoshop but have no experience with cad.
I know that I could somehow creatively contribute to an architecture firm but I am not an architect and have had minimal training (drafting and studio 1 at ucla) in the field.
Is it common for folks like myself to somehow intern at an arch. firm without "knowing someone"?
I think it is worth it to learn cad...that is how I got my first job...despite knowing someone. They wouldn't take me on till I knew cad...they already had experienced admin. I knew I couldn't get a job if I didn't at least know cad...I would also consider applying for an internship at an industrial design firm or landscape arch. firm...
You may want to send a resume out to them, and they work with a lot of firms for temp positions. let them know that you don't have cad skills, but i am sure there may be other positions that don't require it. where are you going for grad school?
You're more likely to find something if you offer yourself as general office help/marketing/answering phones at this point with no work or schooling experience... If looking at design oriented firms hasn't worked, you may need to move on to more corporate/traditional firms that might not attract as many internship candidates, and/or your local small offices (though they'd need to be big enough to afford to pay something, presuming you're not looking to work for free).
Your best bet would be to come up with a contact, any contact, at a firm and go through them - rack your brain for anyone you might know with a connection to an office - family, teachers, neighbors... or if you live close to any offices just walk in and see if you can charm them.
At this point I wouldn't be concerned with the type of work the office does, as you probably won't be actually working on projects your first summer job. You could try engineering firms as well - might not be as exciting as what you'd imagine but the exposure/contacts could help in the long run.
O.k.- So forget craigslist or any of that non-sense. Go to some of the events in your area. This way you get to check out what the firm is doing. There is no point in working for a firm you don't believe in. Next, go up to them after the lecture. The lecturer's are all super nice, remember they're essentially you in 15 years. They are usually flaterred that someone wants to talk to them, just like you would be in 15 years. So get out there, make some contacts, bring a business card, and if not for any other reason, then do it for yourself. You get over shyness, you meet contacts, and you learn some stuff too!!!!
San Francisco: Internship Help
Dear Archinecters,
I have been searching fruitlessly for an internship with a design-oriented architecture firm in San Francisco. I have just finished applying to three-year M.Arch. programs and would love to gain professional experience in the field before I begin this fall.
My background is in Visual Arts and Art History (BA 2002, New College of Florida, www.ncf.edu), and this past summer I was a student in UCLA's Jumpstart: Introduction to Architecture program. In addition to serving as a firefighter for three years during college, I have extensive studio and administrative assistance experience.
My graduate admissions portfolio can be found by clicking here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10534456@N00/sets/72057594051001429/
Any advice, recommendations, wisdom, or leads are greatly appreciated...
Thank you very much for your time.
-Jonathan
check out the aia sf website as well as checking if you can post on their website ( other aia sites allow you to). try craigslists too.
if you could work on your cad and graphics skills in the mean time that would also help a lot.
good luck.
Thanks for your response.
I check the AIASF site and craigslist daily. I am pretty proficient with Illustrator and Photoshop but have no experience with cad.
I know that I could somehow creatively contribute to an architecture firm but I am not an architect and have had minimal training (drafting and studio 1 at ucla) in the field.
Is it common for folks like myself to somehow intern at an arch. firm without "knowing someone"?
I think it is worth it to learn cad...that is how I got my first job...despite knowing someone. They wouldn't take me on till I knew cad...they already had experienced admin. I knew I couldn't get a job if I didn't at least know cad...I would also consider applying for an internship at an industrial design firm or landscape arch. firm...
Try this:
www.caddresources.com
You may want to send a resume out to them, and they work with a lot of firms for temp positions. let them know that you don't have cad skills, but i am sure there may be other positions that don't require it. where are you going for grad school?
Thanks for all your advice.
I spoke with caddresources and I'm useless to them without experience in an arch. firm and/or knowledge of cad.
I will not hear back from grad programs until mid-march - early april. I've applied to berkeley, ucla, upenn, risd, and yale.
getting my hands dirty with cad seems like a good idea...
You're more likely to find something if you offer yourself as general office help/marketing/answering phones at this point with no work or schooling experience... If looking at design oriented firms hasn't worked, you may need to move on to more corporate/traditional firms that might not attract as many internship candidates, and/or your local small offices (though they'd need to be big enough to afford to pay something, presuming you're not looking to work for free).
Your best bet would be to come up with a contact, any contact, at a firm and go through them - rack your brain for anyone you might know with a connection to an office - family, teachers, neighbors... or if you live close to any offices just walk in and see if you can charm them.
At this point I wouldn't be concerned with the type of work the office does, as you probably won't be actually working on projects your first summer job. You could try engineering firms as well - might not be as exciting as what you'd imagine but the exposure/contacts could help in the long run.
O.k.- So forget craigslist or any of that non-sense. Go to some of the events in your area. This way you get to check out what the firm is doing. There is no point in working for a firm you don't believe in. Next, go up to them after the lecture. The lecturer's are all super nice, remember they're essentially you in 15 years. They are usually flaterred that someone wants to talk to them, just like you would be in 15 years. So get out there, make some contacts, bring a business card, and if not for any other reason, then do it for yourself. You get over shyness, you meet contacts, and you learn some stuff too!!!!
you may want to look up or join BAYA (Bay Area Young Architects) to get connected with some young architects in the area...
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