Depends on market sector. On the corporate side a lot of large corporations are using the revised tax code to invest capital into facilities. Tax cuts are not trickling down to working class individuals, but investment in real estate is up. Read that as you wish in terms of long term projections.

Investment in RE is up because taxes on RE income are down. The entire economy is now structured on economic rent - unearned revenue.

That's hilarious, can you phone me? Kinda bored right now.

You said he used his own name and was aggressively hostile - so he responds with aggressively hostile email using his own name. Hard to claim "defamation" while demonstrating the very character flaw with which he's charged.

Make sure to record the audio when you decide to pick up that phone ;)

Earthlink still exists?

good email to add to the spam generator.

That taunt of his sounds very gendered and sexist.

Have you called him yet?

Congratulations!

Condolences.

I'll take both. Thanks.

Nice, can you help me design a deck?

congrats!

tduds, YAY!!!!! It's the best feeling! Congratulations!!

Credentialed starvation. Congrats anyway.

Congrats! You will soon be overwhelmed with people asking you to do all sorts of work for free or less than min. wages.

Tintt, I asked first.

I glazed over it. See it now. I want to pop the top on my garage. 4 walls and a roof. How hard can that be? I pay $25 per wall and $15 for the roof. Due Friday.

Congratulations!

Congrats!

Love it. I'm sure you can sell this drama to Netflix. They will fund anything.

Did I miss something? What crime?

I remember those days ! ... [redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

I know what all those [redacted] and those [redacted] mean. That's a 2 Guinness minimum for those stories. Luckily, I've been more on the private corporate client side of things for the last few years so my [redacted] stories are not as common as they once were.

Hi manta!!

What's a CD set? Is that what the plebs turn my beautiful sketchup model into? They always ruin it with strushures or mepanical ducks or whatever.

Gravity is such a nuisance.

He's banned but he's still reading. If you write something that irks him he emails you to threaten legal action.

[/i] test

yes, but we are all quick to note the "decline of culture," but never any increase. I still believe the workd is a far better place than it was 30 years ago and still trending the right way

Depends where you look, life expectancy in the States is dropping, so is literacy, numeracy, problem solving skills...

Miles - I feel like everyone's stressed out and not as optimistic as they were 4 years ago.

I'm continually stunned by how many cockroaches feel free to run across the floor now that American leadership stopped being ashamed of their hateful pandering to the lowest common denominator. For example, see TrogIodytarum.

Sneaky, I don't think it has anything to do with Trump, were you not around in the pre-Facebook/Twitter era when all accounts here were anonymous?

I'm speaking on a larger scale than just here. I should have refrained from calling names.

I know I miss the days before November 2016, back when manners were perfect, courtesy was automatic, and disagreements were decided by pillow fight.

But I thought we could Make America Great Again. Does that not require there to be a specific point in the past worth returning to?

Well Pete, on that larger scale...people were always assholes but now they are maybe being assholes more out in the open. I personally think it's better when it's all out there for all to see who the assholes are than have some asshole trick you into making you believe they're no asshole.

Rando, what about someone who tricks you into thinking they are an asshole when in reality they are just a bunch of fluffy kittens in a trench-coat? asking for a friend.

[redacted] :-)

If nobody actually saw you today... just try to sneak back out for another week.

I'll report back on how it goes.

Now you know how a prison escapee feels when he gets caught.

And testing in the reply

testing failed

I've alerted the Big Green Head.

Big head is a meanie

italics

bold

bold italics

dammit! Very interesting link though about rich mofos not wanting to pay taxes and being called out in Davos by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman and arguing with Tucker Carlson about it all, clip was supposed to air on Fox...

Thanks for posting that.

I do hope so.

https://archinect.com/forum/thread/150037532/how-to-quit-your-job

That's the one, thanks. My search skills were not up to par today

You have a recent story to add to it?

Ask me in a week or two ...

So?

See the update I posted to the thread linked above...

What I need is a big hunk of clay.

paper mostly. foam. plaster, sculpting clay. occasionally fruit.

Clay - are you going parametric on us?

Solids and voids. Not parametric.

I saw this image on Twitter with a caption that there really are people in the world with too much money.

i dislike that tile.

That would make a great homeless shelter.

Hey Donna, that is where I first saw it as well

Ha! All that money and the bathtub's lop-sided.

I don't like the towel placement. Tear it down and start over.

What did I miss with tduds?

Nevermind I found it. Congrats!

​It's disgusting. Sitting there in a tepid pool of your own filth. All kinds of microscopic parasites and organisms having sex all around you.

I am a big fan of baths, personally. Always feel guilty about the water use though...

Hot tubs > bath tubs.

If that email is enough to get you angry blowback, you have a turd for a client. Ah, but that's redundant, isn't it?

"Note that this is normal..." is a masterstroke of conflict mitigation. I may have to squirrel that phrasing away for the future.

Reminding clients (and others) about process, expectations, and responsibilities in an explicit and timely way is critical. Your message does this diplomatically, Donna. Good writing is important, kids!

Strange... i haven't checked tc in a while but did today... :)

Haven’t seen any slow down personally

2018 recession started last summer.

No slow down here in London area

I have work lined up for next 2-3 years. Have never felt better. Hope I don't screw it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0zHaI4Soqk

tintt and OneLostArchitect you're playing yourselves, and cowards, use your own name. You're not anonymous.

Playing yourselves.

Archinect has anon accounts, if you don't like that that's your problem, talking about playing yourself...

Such a lovely invite.

Plenty of work on the books for us here in the capital, both private commercial and government.

sam, i don't think the video you linked strongly supports your position.

I havent worked there in 3 years now, but all my contacts/mentors seem to have been looking to hire in the 3+ years experience range for at least a year now. Ottawa is particularly crazy because the west bloc project seems to be hiring literally any fresh grad who can open a revit file, meaning the market is reverse-saturated (?) for talent with any level of experience. Many of my friends in Toronto seem to be moving jobs due to firms trying to fill positions by poaching good staff from one another. Seems like a great time to be working there.

I need a distraction from that damn hockey team.

I... that hurts man... low blow.

Hurts me too, I still follow them.

ah least there is far less traffic if ever I'm on the highway near game start or game end times.

Seems a very legitimate question.

You get pie desserts for your lunch and learns? wow. Our suppliers need to up their game.

What kind of pie?

French Silk.

OOOOOOh. I like pie.

It took me 5 minutes to figure out what tickled you, Donna. (I'm slow, but eventually I figure things out.) Good thing lunch wasn't foot-long hot dogs... you might have embarrassed yourself :o]

I still haven't figured it out.

PS. Don't ever lose that trait, Donna.  In my teaching life I work around many people (mostly faculty, some administrators) who seem to have no sense of humor about them at all.  Dour. Joyless. At least that's how they seem on the surface, at work. It's both annoying and pitiable. My students have to contend with a prof who has fun, makes lame jokes, and enjoys laughing.

I thought all the hashtag movements outlawed humor in the workplace?

isn't there a #humor hashtag?

Humor requires the capacity for joy and the willingness to not take oneself so seriously.  So, yeah, it sounds like we have a problem.

But what's the joke, not kidding...

randomised, pie is a slang term for the vulva.

Okay, that's actually pretty funny.

I find it equally funny that rando was unaware of the joke.

No clue whatsoever...

I used to drive an old Vulva station wagon. Best car I ever owned.

Im pretty sure the way it works is that as soon as the HH tells you the firm/position (with your affirmation that you want to know that information), the office is not allowed to engage with you directly about employment, it has to go through the HH. Also, who the hell uses staffing services in that city? Seems crazy with a good arch school nearby and multiple community colleges, makes no sense in my opinion. You'll have to drop some names for me when we get that guinness.

Ive subscribed to a few daily job posting boards, not because I have any interest in them but because i'm always curious who's hiring (and therefore who's winning work).

As you know, there are few(ish) mid size commercial firms here... and a few large A&E (soon to be one less... SNC anyone?) footholds. The latter are typically the ones that use HH services. Can't remember the last one that was a smaller office. As you say, loads of potential people available so it's strange that they just don't put out an add on their sites or through the OAA classified page. Lots of big projects rolling through town so everyone is getting their slice.

I don’t understand how head hunting is a viable business. The cold messages I always get are clearly form letters and never show the smallest awareness of the type of work I do. I guess some are impressed by the flattery but I can’t imagine such persons being great employees.

Looks great, tduds!

And yes, even this far into my career I'm still thrilled when I walk into the built version of what I've been imagining all along. It's a great feeling.

Those are terrible khakis in the rendering. But, can you say what company provided the skylight?

Luckily we had the Khakis changed for the final spec.

& DeaMor did the skylights (http://www.deamor.com/) They were mostly excellent to work with. Better than the window sub - who I'll avoid naming for now.

They only need to cast that beam :)

Thanks, always interested in non-Kawneer systems. They seem to limit themselves to PNW so doubtful they will be available in my area... but still worth a look.

I don't know if quondam ever checks this thread but we got in a silly pissing match a few months ago & he challenged me to show built work. Better late than never, I suppose.

tduds 10
quandam

disqualified

Actual is much better than the rendering. Nice work.

Thanks thanks!

Those decorative railings sure ended up looking very different than what was rendered.

Better, imo. Railings in Revit are a *pain*

dumb question... but horizontal railings are allowed in your area Tduds? I can't even whisper such a design for fear of countless people climbing (and presumably leaping) to their deaths due to the very obvious public climbing danger. Can't even do horizontals on a 2' high landing.

The ban on horizontal railings was in IBC for a few years, circa early 2000s, and then it quietly disappeared. A few places have kept that as a state or city amendment - in some cases just for education, childcare, or healthcare uses, or sometimes they limit the horizontal spacing to smaller than a toe can supposedly fit - but everywhere else we're all free to climb the railings again!

Damn it, deterring climbing at guards (anything above 60cm requires a guard) is a Canada-wide building code req for all part 3 buildings... and very mild allowances under part 9.

Yeah that came up. It's allowed, but occasionally discouraged, but we preferred it in this case. The drop isn't far enough to do any real damage - intentional or otherwise.

How do you check this?

Seeing a lot of buildings being built on poor pieces of ground, which is usually a good sign of a bubble. Lots of cheap money for too many years is going to result in foreclosures when the market normalizes. But, I've been saying it for a long time and it hasn't happened yet. Bubbles usually keep going longer than you would expect. Stay tuned, kids.

is cortisol slang for rye? (or bourbon I guess...)

Bourbon melts cortisol.

Architects should know better because we know of a predictor that has 100% batting average. Architectural Billing Index (AIA) gives you heads up in what will be happening 9 to 12 months from now. Right now all indicators are over 50 and have been that way for a long time. Once they drop into 40's and stay there for few months, you will have trouble in under a year. But liberty bell, I feel ya. Still emotionally scared from the last one.

Had an email exchange last week with a recruiter who was hunting for a few different firms. One of them was a residential designer/builder (ie. not an architect) looking for an arch (or specifically, looking for an arch's stamp) to jump into commercial work. Odd, as that's not permitted, so I'm scratching my head wondering who this wanker is and what low hanging fruit work they are chasing. I'm currently in the early phase of a multi-year-long office building project (2 high-rise) so if those get going, I may not "see" much crash personally. +

Not permitted but incredibly common. 

I just kicked off a multi-year project yesterday too. Probably what prompted the crazy dream. 

Reasonably important. Thanks for stopping by.

AlinaF, I think you're great. Please like me.

Tips, Non?

Nice! I don't think it is too hard to use in actual project work if you are resourceful and can follow directions. Still, that's only like 10% of the workforce in this field...

Tips? Well, I read many of the revit forums and pieced enough info from a few threads to string together a basic dynamo filter function (is that the correct term?) then found another thread with a more advanced description for deletion. Connecting little nodes with squiggly lines is fun and I'll keep an open mind if the new junior kiddies talk about it.

Not really. Autodesk and Dynamo websites seem to be the best, whereas GH/ Rhino is more decentralized. Despite having a bunch of scripting and dig fab experience I find myself doing that less and sketching and directing more. It's not better, just different. I never learned Dynamo that well but managed to throw together a script recently to import huge amounts of topo from a mess of 2D and 3D cad files. Through rhino/GH to excel then Dynamo. Learning to love Dynamo for scheduling also.

I find that all the arch offices I've worked at and menial and glamorous side gigs in between have this in common: 20-30% of the people do 90% of the work.

saw this in a meme earlier this week: "How many people work at your company?" Response is "Hmm, about half of them."

Good luck...

Thanks. I don't get anxious about work but this feels like a different sport. Will see how this plays out and put in some thought into my response.

What does associate title mean at your place? Over here it means 'other places called you that so we will as well I guess'.

It's an official management role, top base salary (whatever that is, I don't know) + unknown %. It also comes with increase responsibilities with clients but also staff and office profitability management.

Good luck, at the firm I was at before my current one they lost 2 top people because they couldn't agree on associate terms. One of them is now a top dog at Dialog

^which dialog office? I may know or have worked with them. Maybe best not to answer that one affterall. 

My current office has lost quite a few senior staff under similar circumstances but from what I understand, it was more due to them reaching their skill set's ceiling and demanding more without actually offering more. Just because you've been here 16y does not make you an ideal candidate if you still can't organize a drawing set or manage deadlines..

Ill narrow down it to a Western Canada Dialog office ;)

Our office has close ties with both their Calgary and Toronto offices.

Congrats! Very interesting prospect to figure out. We have nothing like that, base promotions to those types of management levels are somewhat preset, at least at the lower level. Further up I'd assume there might be something similar int erms of negotiation.

^Thanks, but t'is only words at this time. Just got to be careful not to trample on some unknown office politics.

Best way to advance is Ray Donovan style - have dirt on all the higher-ups. With a bit of research you could be a full partner overnight.

Oooh, landmines of ego and infighting! Even more interesting and challenging.

Associate and Sr. Associate titles in my firm are basically handed out for being minimally competent and not quitting to get better money elsewhere. If you’ve been here for more than 3-5 years and you haven’t been promoted to associate yet, it’s probably because they don’t like you or you don’t offer any real value to the projects you work on. I like the way your associate title works better tbh.

In addition to a bowl of blue m &ms on your desk every morning I would send this list of demands... thank you marie claire

https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/g15872900/absurd-celebrity-riders/

Lucky... I do it all the time and my brain is turning to mush

Try coffee staining instead

That happens by default.

Aww, Sneaky, that sucks. Hope it wasn’t too disheartening.

and that's a surprise?

Interestingly it has a lot i
f the

Sorry. Phone reply. It has a lot of similarities to EAs story below. Young designer who is miserable because higher ups don't have the time or interest to invest in his continued growth. We all admit that school doesn't prepare you for work but then so few firms invest in the new employees. I remember it being tough, but it seems that the industry's trend towards faster and cheaper (profit, baybeeeee) is really going to come back to haunt us when the younger folk all either quit the profession or jump around so much their skills and experiences fail to form a cohesive set of knowledge that really makes them a great member of the team.

I'm now in these BIM/practice meetings, approximately 10 people including 2 owners and a bunch of boomers. I'm beginning to feel like I was included as a token. Every time I bring up training or mentoring I get blank stares. They'll say things like "I had the SMACNA manual at my desk for 20 years... they just need to figure it out." I respond with "where's the most recent SMACNA manual in the office, oh we don't have a digital or hard copy? Well, did you know that if you look at the SMACNA sheets online for that detail and compare it to your personal copy that you brought from home, they've changed the gage from 18 to 22 gage? Do you think it's still going to prevent oil canning with breaks every 8-inches or should we do breaks at 5-6 inches now?" A slim few of them are beginning to open their eyes on the vast obfuscation of knowledge and watering down of details within the "sacred manuals" much less the typical millennial "I'll google it" option. Mentoring is more important than ever.

Isn't it a tendency of younger employees to want to try new things and figure out where their interest s lie so they don't get stuck doing something they hate for a 40-year-long career? Everyday Architect, are the firm leaders who oppose this mentorship all Boomer age? I would think they would want a young person to *have* a mentor so that as she explores various avenues she's also staying aware of the big picture.

.

bad managers don't self reflect. It sounds like her former direct supervisor is a bad manager.

Pretty much all the leadership with any real say in anything are boomer age. Sure there are a few Gen X-ers thrown in for age diversity, but everything is really run by the boomers. I don’t really know if it is generational though. If anything it may come down to a different view of mentorship. They seem to think mentorship is taking someone out to grab coffee and talking about career goals for 30 minutes then going back to work, without ever having to do anything to help someone advance the career goals you just spent 30 minutes talking about. Is the unwillingness to do anything to effect change a generational thing?

Sounds like good old fashioned sexism to me. Lots of men especially older ones think women are there to make sandwiches for the men.

Everyday, I do think you nailed it with the generational differences on what mentorship means. Those 30 minute coffees can help someone check a box but it's not really effective in the working world and society we are in right now.

Sounds like there is a lot of ambient sexism at this firm. I do think these people owe her honest straightforward feedback... Maybe it has been given and acted on.

How about you pick-up the phone and call around? Posting questions and expecting free answers in an online forum is fucking lazy.

So, do you know? Asking for a friend.

Maybe I do, maybe I don't. A crisp hundred-yankee-dolla bill should clear up this mess.

Ok, no problem:

Someone spent time creating those bad images. SMDH.

^Everyone needs a hobby.

Trolling isn't a hobby.

It's not a hobby, it's a presidency

#allhobbiesmatter

Poorly Photoshopping fake money is a presidency. O...K...?

i think he was suggesting the president is a troll?

https://www.amazon.com/Authentic-Commemorative-Collectors-Aizics-Mint/dp/B01KBSWUDK

Ah. I think I follow. Thanks for the clarification.

Glad to see you're carrying water for trump out in the open, now.

You are utterly adorable.

Deep state is a myth created by Trump acolytes and perpetuated by tiny brains.

I'd hurry up then, don't waste your time on here, tick tick tick tick!

Damn you autocorrect

Sounds like a good problem to have. Congrats on the new gig.

Thanks NS. I’m happy to have this problem because it means I can help out friends and colleagues looking for a change as well. The young woman I have been working with for example is planning on reaching out to some of these firms to see if they will be a better fit than going back to working for the sexist a-hole.

I graduated during the last recession too... same situation, except I moved about a year ago and don't want to move again - I'd rather see a project through and nail down some solid experience. But the headhunters are thick, and offering serious money. Talking to older people around the office it seems like historically a sign of an overly exuberant market. That said, not sure if we are in a bubble or not. There was (and is) a ton of pent up housing demand. Even if the bottom falls out of stocks, I'm not sure housing or institutional construction would slow down. Government spending on infrastructure and civic buildings couldn't possibly be lower either. People with 5 - 10 years experience are sort of the same - ton of pent up demand at firms, no one to fill the rolls b/c all the smart ones got out of this profession when things were shit in 08 through 10.

Very interesting, same situation here, almost a little more restraint given my smaller market. I'm at the 10y mark and sitting down with the equity holders later to discuss promotion.

There is still a weird age gap that the recession from decade ago left behind. Lots of opportunities out there for younger staff to get into situations where you can punch above your weight class. Not everyone is up to the challenge, and for some situations, you just can't fake experience. Typical project going out is an exercise in inefficiency.

More than a few times in the past couple years, I've felt I was moving too fast or skipping over key experience. (I think it was you Rusty) Saw someone lamenting the lack of older and longer-duration Project Architects recently. Feels like I'm in danger of skipping over that and ending up some sort of director or manager which is not what I want at all - all the fun happens when you are actually designing and documenting buildings, not watching some other person do it.

To be fair, an experienced architect in leadership role will have a decent toolbox of knowledge to play with, but it will be far from complete or comprehensive. You play to your strengths and hopefully work with people who have complementary knowledge. You can always revisit any steps that you feel you skipped over.

I feel like my office is trying to push me toward “senior project architect”. I am currently heading up CA on a very large and complicated project and I’ve been encountering issues that are way beyond my experience level and I seem to be doing ok. Client is happy so far. The gray-hairs keep telling me I’m doing great - but most of the time I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water. I work in a large firm and there are only two other people my age doing similar work. The rest of my peers are either doing production work or are on the “design-only” track.

I feel like I’ve been punching above my weight class for most of my short career so far. I sometimes found myself thinking, “does the person asking me for help realize they’ve been doing architecture longer than I’ve been able tie my own shoes?” These are technology related questions either like how to work Revit. These are deep technical questions I figured every architect should know. It was like my own father was coming to me for serious parenting advice. This isn’t to say that these people were incompetent. My point is more that I realized early on how easily one can fake it in this profession. I didn’t want to be that type of architect so I’ve made it my duty to know what I don’t know and not be the type of architect that just fakes it. I’ve never let myself be content with not understanding something I should understand. I think that has made a huge difference in the outcome of my career path so far.

" Being young and having been in school when the previous bubble burst, I'm curious ... are we at peak bubble when I have to beat potential employers off with a stick? "

I am very much in the same boat as you in terms of graduating during the recession and entering a workforce where it constantly felt like a kind of messaging to 'be thankful you have any job' ... which leads me to the question, are the poaching-recruiters actually trying to lure you away with more money? Still seems like that is the kicker with plenty of firms these days - they would definitely like to hire you, just not with additional cash.

Finally starting to see $$$ behind the offers. But agree in sentiment. As recently as 6 months ago firms were trying to entice me with "great opportunities" and "benefits" and "growth" but precious little hard cash. A few recent offers have come with 5-10k bumps. To go through the trouble of moving, though, its got to be a lot more than that.

My offer was just over a $30k bump in pay. I never let it get to a point where we were talking money with the firms trying to poach me, so not sure if there is still money on the table. I'm skeptical that they'd be able to offer me much more than 30k. One thing I do know, there's no way I would be able to get a 30k raise by staying and asking for it. Maybe in 5 years they would be able to get me there, but then I'd miss out on 5 years of higher income, larger retirement contributions, compounded interest on those accounts, etc.

That's great! Hope it goes well, EA.

Louis Kahn - Unitarian Church he did.

thats cool - brick not block tho

No, that's block

Clark and Menefee. Look at the Middleton Inn, but really any of their work.

Stunning.

thats cool...I only saw the exterior images

https://www.archdaily.com/84267/ad-classics-first-unitarian-church-of-rochester-louis-kahn

That's worthy of an architectural erection.