My advertising agency is going to 're-structure' me pretty soon, so I'm in the market for a new job and I need some advice. I'll be applying to MArch programs in Dec with no educational or work related arch experience.
Am I better off jumping into architecture as a coffee-getter/general office slave for 1/3 of what I make now OR should I try to find another job in advertising.
I hate advertising, and all I want is to be an architect, so the decision seems obvious, but what would look best to grad schools?
A stint in an office fetching coffee (and working on marketing materials, no doubt) might be an excellent preparation/disuassion from going into architecture!
Seriously: it could be great to get some exposure to what working in the field is really like. I'd suggest, rather than rpesenting yourself as a coffee fetcher, that you shoot for a bigger firm (25+ people) that has a full time marketing person or department - your advertising background would be great experience for them, and if you are honest about your goals they will help you get a sense of day to day life in the field.
Good luck! It seems to me like a great opportunity to learn!
Apparently I'm going against the grain here, but I would say not to go the coffee intern route. Leverage the skills that you already have to get a better job in an architecture office. If you get in somewhere as a marketing person, you'll get paid better than most of the interns there, have more one on one contact with the bosses, more client contact, and get to see all/most of the presentation materials coming out of the office. Don't view yourself as worthless because you don't have an architecture degree, just look at a different position within a firm. Many large offices have decent sized marketing staff, and most mid-sized ones will have a single marketing person to manage press releases, brochures, and such. Being that person will be a much more valuable experience (especially if you want to have your own firm someday) than being someone's coffee bitch.
what's your skillset in the ad-agency? do you do any hands-on graphic work? do you know illustrator and/or photoshop?
how about quark or in-design?
if you do, i'd say you have a great shot at getting work at a medium sized firm doing mostly what you already know, and as mentioned above, you'll earn more than all of the cad-jockeys combined.
but you may not quickly move over to the actual design side for a while unless you work on beefing up those skills too.
if you know some or all of the above programs, it's a piece of cake to pick up autocad and/or vectorworks, or something like that.
or go and take a university-level extension course in drafting, drawing or painting.
that sort of experience will also give you more of a sense of what you may be able to offer someone at a firm in terms of presentation skills, etc.
i came to working in the building trades from being a chef for ten years. for the last three of those years i was still cooking, but also taking classes and starting to work part-time at a few different firms.
i considered, applied, and was accepted to a great M.Arch program, but in the end declined because there's just too much work available right now. going back to school was the wrong decision for me...and it might not be right for you either.
In terms of my current position and skill set... I'm a broadcast producer with some print and web experience. I'm not so hot with photoshop or illustrator, but I do a lot of my own photo-editing with Adobe Lightroom. All in all, nothing too relevant to arch.
Liberty Bell and rationalist, going in as a marketing person is something I hadn't thought of, but makes sense. I'll definitely start looking with that in mind.
mightylittle. Ideally, I'd be able to take time off and take courses, but I just don't have the resources available to do that right now. As I said, my graphics experience is minimal at best. I am however very comfortable with photography, free hand sketching and painting, as I do all three as hobbies. not sure if that makes me a much more eligible candidate for a job.
i can't stress enough how important it would be for you at least to take a drafting class. your skills and hobbies are great...they'll definitely serve you well in finding and keeping a job, but you'd do yourself a big favor, IMHO, by learning to read and draw a set of construction documents. (not that one class will teach you how to draw them, but at least you'll be able to read them...)
no matter what position you get - even in the marketing department - you'll be up to your eyeteeth in blueprints and construction documents.
you can definitely take classes part time too. unless it works out that the re-structuring happens very soon, and you're looking to go full-time right away.
the problem i had was that most Arch programs do not take part-time students, so you have to go to extension programs and other sort of non-accredited or interior design programs (I did coursework through Univ of Cal at Berkeley's Extension Program) and getting loans for part-time studies or classes at non-accredited schools isn't too likely...hence the reason i had to keep working while studying in my free time.
it can be done though. as I and many others on this board can attest...at one point, i was cooking in the evenings, working part-time at three different design firms in the daytimes and taking classes also when they were available, night or day.
the question is...how badly do you want to get out of advertising?
I'm applying to schools in December to go back full time in Fall '08, so we're really only talking about 14 months between now and when I'd quit whatever job I have at the time.
The head of my department was just canned. In advertising when your boss goes, getting let go is an eventuality rather than a possibility. I'd prefer to leave on my own terms instead of facing a period of unemployment.
Between getting applications together, taking pre-reqs, building a portfolio, writing essays and getting letters of rec, I won't have time to devote to drafting classes etc. Your suggestion is well founded though and I'm sorry I won't have the time to devote to add'l classes.
good luck to you...and i'm sure that through the course of getting together an app. packet/portfolio and everything else that will be required, you'll learn a lot about what you want to do...and hopefully also about what you do not want to do.
i'd be surprised though if a basic drafting or cad class wasn't a pre-req. but i could obviously be wrong...
It sounds to me like you're making a career change. If so, you need to try to think about why you are interested in architecture. You don't need to know the reasons or find them, but you should just think about what it is about architecture that interests you and makes you want to be an architect.
I doubt you'll have any trouble getting employed by an architecture firm, and you'll find that it will be more than as a coffee getter, firms always need more CAD pushers even if they don't know anything. And it would be a fair trade off...some of your advertising knowledge for some architectural know-how before grad school
go to arch firm, maybe work in their marketing department first (if they have one) if your hesitant about cad.
ive been with my office 6 months as a 1st year intern-- never have i touched a coffee machine.
good firms will train you extensively in everything you need to know, dont think you need to take classes for your job, that's silly
JOBBBBBBBBYYYYYY
My advertising agency is going to 're-structure' me pretty soon, so I'm in the market for a new job and I need some advice. I'll be applying to MArch programs in Dec with no educational or work related arch experience.
Am I better off jumping into architecture as a coffee-getter/general office slave for 1/3 of what I make now OR should I try to find another job in advertising.
I hate advertising, and all I want is to be an architect, so the decision seems obvious, but what would look best to grad schools?
thanks in advance for the info.
A stint in an office fetching coffee (and working on marketing materials, no doubt) might be an excellent preparation/disuassion from going into architecture!
Seriously: it could be great to get some exposure to what working in the field is really like. I'd suggest, rather than rpesenting yourself as a coffee fetcher, that you shoot for a bigger firm (25+ people) that has a full time marketing person or department - your advertising background would be great experience for them, and if you are honest about your goals they will help you get a sense of day to day life in the field.
Good luck! It seems to me like a great opportunity to learn!
Apparently I'm going against the grain here, but I would say not to go the coffee intern route. Leverage the skills that you already have to get a better job in an architecture office. If you get in somewhere as a marketing person, you'll get paid better than most of the interns there, have more one on one contact with the bosses, more client contact, and get to see all/most of the presentation materials coming out of the office. Don't view yourself as worthless because you don't have an architecture degree, just look at a different position within a firm. Many large offices have decent sized marketing staff, and most mid-sized ones will have a single marketing person to manage press releases, brochures, and such. Being that person will be a much more valuable experience (especially if you want to have your own firm someday) than being someone's coffee bitch.
what's your skillset in the ad-agency? do you do any hands-on graphic work? do you know illustrator and/or photoshop?
how about quark or in-design?
if you do, i'd say you have a great shot at getting work at a medium sized firm doing mostly what you already know, and as mentioned above, you'll earn more than all of the cad-jockeys combined.
but you may not quickly move over to the actual design side for a while unless you work on beefing up those skills too.
if you know some or all of the above programs, it's a piece of cake to pick up autocad and/or vectorworks, or something like that.
or go and take a university-level extension course in drafting, drawing or painting.
that sort of experience will also give you more of a sense of what you may be able to offer someone at a firm in terms of presentation skills, etc.
i came to working in the building trades from being a chef for ten years. for the last three of those years i was still cooking, but also taking classes and starting to work part-time at a few different firms.
i considered, applied, and was accepted to a great M.Arch program, but in the end declined because there's just too much work available right now. going back to school was the wrong decision for me...and it might not be right for you either.
great advice so far, very much appreciated.
In terms of my current position and skill set... I'm a broadcast producer with some print and web experience. I'm not so hot with photoshop or illustrator, but I do a lot of my own photo-editing with Adobe Lightroom. All in all, nothing too relevant to arch.
Liberty Bell and rationalist, going in as a marketing person is something I hadn't thought of, but makes sense. I'll definitely start looking with that in mind.
mightylittle. Ideally, I'd be able to take time off and take courses, but I just don't have the resources available to do that right now. As I said, my graphics experience is minimal at best. I am however very comfortable with photography, free hand sketching and painting, as I do all three as hobbies. not sure if that makes me a much more eligible candidate for a job.
i can't stress enough how important it would be for you at least to take a drafting class. your skills and hobbies are great...they'll definitely serve you well in finding and keeping a job, but you'd do yourself a big favor, IMHO, by learning to read and draw a set of construction documents. (not that one class will teach you how to draw them, but at least you'll be able to read them...)
no matter what position you get - even in the marketing department - you'll be up to your eyeteeth in blueprints and construction documents.
you can definitely take classes part time too. unless it works out that the re-structuring happens very soon, and you're looking to go full-time right away.
the problem i had was that most Arch programs do not take part-time students, so you have to go to extension programs and other sort of non-accredited or interior design programs (I did coursework through Univ of Cal at Berkeley's Extension Program) and getting loans for part-time studies or classes at non-accredited schools isn't too likely...hence the reason i had to keep working while studying in my free time.
it can be done though. as I and many others on this board can attest...at one point, i was cooking in the evenings, working part-time at three different design firms in the daytimes and taking classes also when they were available, night or day.
the question is...how badly do you want to get out of advertising?
I'm applying to schools in December to go back full time in Fall '08, so we're really only talking about 14 months between now and when I'd quit whatever job I have at the time.
The head of my department was just canned. In advertising when your boss goes, getting let go is an eventuality rather than a possibility. I'd prefer to leave on my own terms instead of facing a period of unemployment.
Between getting applications together, taking pre-reqs, building a portfolio, writing essays and getting letters of rec, I won't have time to devote to drafting classes etc. Your suggestion is well founded though and I'm sorry I won't have the time to devote to add'l classes.
don't apologize to me man...no need.
good luck to you...and i'm sure that through the course of getting together an app. packet/portfolio and everything else that will be required, you'll learn a lot about what you want to do...and hopefully also about what you do not want to do.
i'd be surprised though if a basic drafting or cad class wasn't a pre-req. but i could obviously be wrong...
-ml
just remember that a SeCrEtArYiSnOtAtOy!!!
It sounds to me like you're making a career change. If so, you need to try to think about why you are interested in architecture. You don't need to know the reasons or find them, but you should just think about what it is about architecture that interests you and makes you want to be an architect.
I doubt you'll have any trouble getting employed by an architecture firm, and you'll find that it will be more than as a coffee getter, firms always need more CAD pushers even if they don't know anything. And it would be a fair trade off...some of your advertising knowledge for some architectural know-how before grad school
go to arch firm, maybe work in their marketing department first (if they have one) if your hesitant about cad.
ive been with my office 6 months as a 1st year intern-- never have i touched a coffee machine.
good firms will train you extensively in everything you need to know, dont think you need to take classes for your job, that's silly
arent you people forgetting that most of architecture is also advertising ?
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