b.a. arch, so not b.arch?

in ky you'd be 'architectural intern', i think. though, it's always helpful for $$$ to avoid the intern word and just call it 'project manager'. a project manager can be anyone from 2-20 yrs experience, so then you can just use your experience yrs to negotiate your pay rather than your title.

not sure where 'engineer' as a title would come in since it's not reflected in any of the education or experience you've cited.

i have a 5 year professional bach. arch....

the problem is is that i know more than a little bit of everything since i've been in the construction field for a while.......

aside from "intern", i think i way past that statis but who can really judge me i guess.......

thanks

techincally, if you work in an architecture office in some states, like Kentucky apparently, you would be an intern. It is the lovely degrading term the profession uses for anyone who hasn't taken/passed the ARE. I've worked alongside "interns" that have been near retirement. It still said intern on their business card! Anyways...

why are you in search of a title? how about designer? then your experiences can speak for themsleves on a resume instead of trying to sum them up in one word. I believe your previous experiences should give you an initial hike in pay, and also enable you to move thru the ranks faster than me, for instance.

I'm confused by the engineer bit as well. You want to work in the Arch field or exhibit industry field? I still think designer is a good choice.

why don't you get liscensed? put the whole damn thing to bed!?

this question has come up on archinect a bazillion times, you've got a portfolio, who cares what you're called, somebody's nephew is going to get the job anyway.

i dont have any idp credits to take the exam right now......... i'm pushing in the way of the exhibit industry but would like to get registered some point in time .......

the engineering "title" came into play since there 2 depts in the house...design/engineering...... but basically engineering is where it all goes down..... taking scehmatics to d.d./c.d./shop dwg/cnc cut sheets....... alot of knowledge needs to be there to understand everything from design/shipping/crateing/etc.........

we'll see what this house offers me though.... i would rather be contract though since i can use the extra money.....

b

offered 50gz a year and full benefits......still a bit fuzzy though..... might have to think it out this weekend

you can always ask for more...

If you know what your billing rate was from the last job, that's a good start- divide by 3 to get a rough idea of what you should be paid - especially when starting a new job.

or you can tell them that 'because the cost of living and you're supporting a wife with baby, you need at least 60G.' then again, refer to the salary pole numbers, and tell them how low they are compared to what the other firms are paying similar levels of experience.


good luck!

i was making 25 and hour in construction and then in the past contract spot i was at 22 with 1.5 over fourty........ and i know that in the exhibit industry, the 4 months before the detroit auto show they work like 60-80 hour weeks......... i have a few other options so i might see what i can do..... i just dont want to go backwards in pay rate....

60-80 hours a week would be tough to do if you stop working at 2:37am every morning.

2:38am

If you're looking at the AIA's salary surveys I think you'd be classified "Designer 1" or "Architect I" (depending on what document you're looking at), which is an unlicensed or licensed person with 3 to 5 years fulltime experience in a firm. It's one step above "Intern III".
If you're looking at salary stats on Monster.com or Salary.com (which are basically the same thing) then I think they call someone with 5 years of experience "Architect III" or "Architect IV" whether licensed or not.
If you look go the Dept of Labor website for the state you're working in you can find a chart with average, median, and range for that state - usually with "Architect, other than Naval Architect" meaning a licensed person and "Architectural Drafter" meaning everyone else. You might want to kind of look at the high end of the Drafter and the low-to-mid range for the Architect and interpolate.
While woodshop manager and model builder experience will certainly be useful, it probably won't be viewed by employers as fulltime firm experience. Many employers look at all student work, freelance work, non-architecture firm work, etc. and lump it together as "1 year of experience" even if it adds up to far more than that.

What a recruiter was billing you at is somewhat irrelevant. Billing rates can be anywhere from 1.5 to 6 times the hourly rate that employees or contractors are paid. The most common architecture firm multipliers are between 2 and 3.5 times the hourly pay rate.

I don't think that looking at typical pay rates for the title "Engineer" will help you much in determining a realistic salary expectation. This title seems to be an idiosyncrosy of your particular employer's set-up. Usually "engineer" in any salary survey assumes that you have an engineering degree, credentials and experience.

One other thing: remember to take into account the difference in taxes between your consultant work and a position as an employee. As an employee you'll only be paying half as much in social security, so you could be making 7% less and still not be "going backwards" in take-home pay.