I'm about to graduate and I have a somewhat useless degree (not in arcitecture obviously) but I want to get a full-time architecture job (or in a related field). Because of the nature of my education, I think I would work best in a collaborative, more conceptual based environment. I have work experience, I've worked full-time over the summers and part-time during the year for the past 2 years at an multidisciplinary design firm. I did arch. and graphic design work there. My question is, where can I find a list or directory that lists the type of firms I'm interested in? I want to stay in NYC (where I am now). AIA certainly doesn't list "research nad competition" as one of their firm types so I don't know what to do. Can you guys suggest a bunch of places to help me with this? I'd really appreciate it. Maybe I should just look at the Columbia speakers calendar.
Oh man, try to avoid the mass mailing to a bunch of offices if you can at all. Yeah, there are a ton of offices in NY - but you should be careful or you'll just wind up being exploited for the privelege of working for a firm. Not having an architecture degree is less of a problem than you think, at least when it comes to doing the (entry level) work. A lot of offices expect entry level people to be fairly disfunctional in the office for a couple of months. Don't get me wrong, a professional degree is a good thing - but not having one doesn't need to stop you. Heck, you don't even need one to get liscenced in New York (you just need a helluva lotta patience).
Anyhow, you say you have experience working at a design firm - which is a step up on a lot of people. I'd say your best shot would be to try to land an admistrative/office bitch position with a smaller firm that has a good residential base. Most smaller offices will hire entry level folks without professional degrees for that.
The residential quality helps ensure that they have steady work thats at a reasonable scale for you to really learn from. You'll probably end up managing portfolios and doing marketing stuff for about a year, but in a smaller office you'll be better positioned to lend a hand on projects at crunch time - maybe just model building at first, but hopefully you'll get a chance to pick up some CAD skills and some practice with that.
As far as finding work, networking is by far the best tool you can use. Talk to the folks at your old firm . . . if they like you, they won't try to pass you off to someone who'll abuse you. Likewise, they'll probably know the most valuable parts of your skillset than you do at the moment.
Think about the quality of experience you want as opposed to the name of the office you want to work for. A lot of big name offices have people tripping over themselves to work for free . . . and unfortunatley they use this to their economic advantage.
Getting a job w/o an architecture degree aka akward interviews
Hello all ---
I'm about to graduate and I have a somewhat useless degree (not in arcitecture obviously) but I want to get a full-time architecture job (or in a related field). Because of the nature of my education, I think I would work best in a collaborative, more conceptual based environment. I have work experience, I've worked full-time over the summers and part-time during the year for the past 2 years at an multidisciplinary design firm. I did arch. and graphic design work there. My question is, where can I find a list or directory that lists the type of firms I'm interested in? I want to stay in NYC (where I am now). AIA certainly doesn't list "research nad competition" as one of their firm types so I don't know what to do. Can you guys suggest a bunch of places to help me with this? I'd really appreciate it. Maybe I should just look at the Columbia speakers calendar.
Thanks
I don't know about a list, but a good start is the jobs link here on Archinect.
also: Career Center at aia.org
PSA Publishers NY Architects
also maybe check the AIANY award submissions and winners
Oh man, try to avoid the mass mailing to a bunch of offices if you can at all. Yeah, there are a ton of offices in NY - but you should be careful or you'll just wind up being exploited for the privelege of working for a firm. Not having an architecture degree is less of a problem than you think, at least when it comes to doing the (entry level) work. A lot of offices expect entry level people to be fairly disfunctional in the office for a couple of months. Don't get me wrong, a professional degree is a good thing - but not having one doesn't need to stop you. Heck, you don't even need one to get liscenced in New York (you just need a helluva lotta patience).
Anyhow, you say you have experience working at a design firm - which is a step up on a lot of people. I'd say your best shot would be to try to land an admistrative/office bitch position with a smaller firm that has a good residential base. Most smaller offices will hire entry level folks without professional degrees for that.
The residential quality helps ensure that they have steady work thats at a reasonable scale for you to really learn from. You'll probably end up managing portfolios and doing marketing stuff for about a year, but in a smaller office you'll be better positioned to lend a hand on projects at crunch time - maybe just model building at first, but hopefully you'll get a chance to pick up some CAD skills and some practice with that.
As far as finding work, networking is by far the best tool you can use. Talk to the folks at your old firm . . . if they like you, they won't try to pass you off to someone who'll abuse you. Likewise, they'll probably know the most valuable parts of your skillset than you do at the moment.
Think about the quality of experience you want as opposed to the name of the office you want to work for. A lot of big name offices have people tripping over themselves to work for free . . . and unfortunatley they use this to their economic advantage.
Columbia wins in a landslide.
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