oh AND not to start another new thread about grad schools... people get bitchy :)

ooo ooo AND if someone gives a verbal commitment about your full time position DON'T keep working until it goes through... 2 months still waiting and they still have me backed into a corner...

In fact fuck it I'm gonna go float in the river and drink a beer.... wow I learned a lot this week :)

Well I got fired/laid off/"let go" today so I am learning that perhaps I should think about a career besides architecture to devote my life to.

I learned in my first week of work that every firm sets their drawings up differently, and it's best to find out BEFORE you do all the drawings.

Also, I learned that the partners are cool as shit as they buy us all drinks [coffee, tea, etdc] every day at 4:30.

i am neither an institutional pool designer nor an electrical engineer, but i've been playing one at work this week. hoo boy.

ouch olddirty, good luck to you man. i learned several things this week, most of which i have forgotten already. gimme a beer...

Sorry to hear that, olddirty. Seems like things are crazy busy in some areas and way too slow in others. Good luck with whatever comes next.

i missed that, oldirty. don't give up on architecture, though. maybe you just need to find a better fit. i've learned that firms are more different on the inside than they appear from the outside, so shop around.

is your area generally slow? it's weird here. lb said some AREAS are slow but we're seeing in louisville that at the same time that some firms are incredibly busy, others are shrinking, laying people off.

i haven't seen any pattern of good/bad work, fees, etc which makes it even more weird.

From our mechanical engineer, I learned the general strategy for sizing the footprint of an air intake or exhaust areaway. The smaller the footprint, the faster the air needs to travel, and the louder the interior fans will be. Not to mention pedestrian comfort at grade.

I guess I could have rationalized this one myself, but it's always refreshing when someone kindly educates you instead.

developers really really like 16' ceilings.
forget everything else, as long as its double height.
and if you know how to work the plotter dont let people find out.

You can fight the sleep..but you can't fight the dream.

this is a GREAT thread ... !

I learned from a client: "That can't be That Expensive to do."

snooker:

Was the client talking about architectural fees? ("That change should only take you a few minutes to make. Just a few clicks in AutoCAD, right?")

Or, was the client talking about construction costs? ("Why don't we just eliminate those columns and cantilever the second story...That can't be that expensive to do.")

I learned that my co-workers has her kitchen painted chartreuse and now understand why she wants to use it in every project. She is desperately searching for approval for this horrid paint decision she made 3 years ago.

i learned that we are in dire need of design leadership in my studio, and [fortunately] the leadership is actively seeking someone to fill the slot (!)...

..that is, the management has identified the need, and is seeking to fill the role of design leader in our studio. the trick is, this person will need to:
have 10yr +/- experience...
...be talented...
...be willing to live and work in Florida...

I learned that our clients think I'm underpaid. One's been requesting extra services, which he's getting solely from me, and apparently been suprised by how cheap the bills are. He told me that he insists I have a raise. Problem is, I juuuust got a rather large one, so I'm not actually going to pass on that comment for a while. Did make me feel pretty good though.

I learned that if you are the only architect in an office full of engineers, you can goof off on Archinect for 6 hours while they are all hard at work, take an hour and a half for lunch, leave an hour early, and sleep in a bathroom stall from 10:40 to 11:10, and still appear to be the hardest working architect they've ever seen!!!

I learned that my firm thinks I can jump from "managing" $1-2 mil projects to $18 mil, and that said project can go from schematic design to CD's in 5 weeks. "Managing" in quotes because I am not the head manager, but it is on my ass to get everything designed and coordinated, to code, within budget, and on time, while the actual PM works on his other projects.
I also learned that "salaried" means seeing what 10:00pm on a Sunday in the office looks like, skipping lunch hour every day, and staying till 8 on Fridays.

Which boils down to: I am too overwhelmed to work on anything, so can't get anything done at all.

just need to contact julie g, hm, ap?

yes, strawbeary. sometimes "salaried" is a scary word.

julie g? i'm confused Mr. Ward...

ah, sorry, ap. thought maybe your firm was this one. seemed a close connection to what you were saying.

rationalist--ask the client to tell your management that directly. Like say, "I really appreciate the thought. Would you mind expressing that to my boss?" ...half jokingly. This won't get you a raise but it WILL get your boss to think, wow, my CLIENTS like rationalist... that's really good for my firm... hmm... she looks good for my firm... hmm... maybe I should get her some face time with other clients and hmm... promote her...

HA! no, Steven, but an understandable mistake ... odd...

-Florida
-10yrs
-"design" ...although used in the phrase:
"Need strong design CAD skills..."

not a bad idea, though. perhaps I should recommend an archinect job posting for the position...

Good advice to rationalist, myriam.

Life can be taken as easily as a rock dropping from the sky.

There are nice people and there are very rude people, but they are people all the same.

The lady sitting in her old Toyota with months worth of garbage packed to the ceiling needed help. I was trying to figure out what kind of sustainable design the AIA would recommend in this case.

Sometimes I look out my office window and I can't believe how awesome the view is. How the heck did this happen?

I learned that while my studio mate works on the boss's house during company time, I have to be the one to handle most of the sheets we have to issue next week.

i learned that wearing leather 'flip flop' style sandals is inappropriate at my office.

but, we can produce buidlings that look like brick shoeboxes and its ok.

help me.

I also learned that "bonus" means: Come in at 4:00 am today, maybe you will get a bonus in 2 years after project closeout, we certainly stand to make a profit with such an intense deadline, we can't even eat up half the fee, oh and thanks for the extra effort - we appreciate it.

Do I have sucker tatooed on my forehead? Perhaps this is why there aren't any good architects in the 5-10 year experience range, we get killed off before then.

Aww, Strawbeary, I'm worried about you. You sound far too stressed out and overwhelmed. I'd hate for the profession to lose you because of burnout on this job.

Can you tell anyone you are just seriously too overwhelmed and need help? Is anyone else hiring, maybe you could (somehow find time in your ridiculous schedule to) sneak away for a brief interview, just to have another view into what a firm could be like, then come back to your partners and tell them what you need?

Honestly, I'm worried about you. You probably haven't seen your S.O. in weeks, right? You need a break girl!

thanks lb. I was fishing for sympathy. what are you doing up this early?

I HAVE expressed my overwhelmedness. In fact I think I express it everyday, in a non-whiney serious sort of way. There's really nothing that can be done about it. My boss made a promise to have this project in to the city by the 15th and we have to keep it. They know it sucks and feel terrible about it too. Everyone in the office expect one person is helping me, but it is still not enough. I am the only one here at crazy hours, somehow they all still ditch at a reasonable hour.

I like my job otherwise... I just know this project's schedule was a bad decision by my boss, he has tried to get out of it since then, but the client threatened to "sue his ass". I just somehow end up paying the price. On the flip side I guess it's cool that they think I can handle it - so a much needed ego boost is satisfied there.

except, not expect, one person in the (small) office

that first beer on the evening of the 15th will be really good.

if you really want to celebrate, def leppard's playing at red rocks that night. journey too!

Gunter glieben glauchen globen

Does anyone else feel like their offices are consistently taking on bigger projects that have to be completed within a ridiculously short amount of time. My firm is considering a proposal from a client who wants to be in their new building within a YEAR! Considering that we have even signed a contract much less designed the damn thing, thats nuts! I guess the principals don't really care when they aren't the ones in the office every night and day for 8 months trying to make a miracle happen.

kissy face, we ( a seven person office) committed to an 18 million dollar, 130,000 s.f., 112 unit, 4 story affordable housing on top of a 2 story underground parking podium to go from schematics to cd's in 5 weeks. They put a huge chunk of it on me, with all of 4 years of experience, none of which is in this project type nor construction type.

I have 9 days left and everything is still pretty much in diagram form. I have 4 other projects, and new work is pouring in the door. Can you beat that? Shit, what am I doing reading archinect???? Better get back.

Thanks Steven, that beer last night, as every night, tasted pretty good too!

Is a multi-family rush job maybe the most efficient path to a potential lawsuit? Good luck and God speed!

strawbeary- thats insane! I don't even know how you get time to sleep or eat (maybe you don't....)
I hope you are at least being compensated well for your all of your time...

kissy face, read my above posts re: what I learned about the terms "bonus" and "salaried".

i learned that overtime is overrated.... if I bust my ass for 40 hours a week, overtime should rarely be a necessity... working smarter is better than working harder...

Friday is just two more working days until Monday.

Also,

I found my copy of AutoCad 2.63 for DOS on 5 1/2 floppys. However, my compaq luagble 8088 with 20 meg hard drive and 9 inch green screen won't start up.

bummer.

I learned the importance of value engineering EARLY in design, not after the CD's are done.

(Every time a whole sheet of sections or details gets toasted to reduce costs - e.g. "We need to remove all of the metal panel in this project" - my heart sinks as I recal all of the SATURDAYS I spent in the office drawing those details.)

I believe the client should have a good estimator, should share the design-to budget with the architect before design begins (didn't happen on this project), and should heed our advice when we say things like "fire rated glass is expensive."

<end rant>

I've learned all the tiny little things about AutoCAD that you can't get taugth in a class...

I've learned that you should never really show the CD's you're working on to the assistant PM who'll make you spend hours changing dimenssion fonts in every drawing on the set; only to have the PM say: "Why haven't you sent it out? It was good enogth the last time I saw it and they never look that closely anyway, just send it out!!"

I've learned that they really should add typing classes to the school curriculum; since an intern's typing speed when making site surveys is extremely important.

I learned Multi-Family Housing in Utah has its very own meaning.

I learned that my fresh out of school BS in Architecture intern “has learned all there is from our firm and it is time to move on” after only two months on the job.

i learned - once again - that no matter how much people know or how much talent they bring to the table, if they don't have the "people skills" and the "communication skills" needed to work effectively in a team environment, they're still going to fail.