I have recently aquired a number of friends in the Santa Barbara area, whom I would now like to spend more time with. Having just this year graduated with a BA in Architecture from Cambridge I will be taking a year in industry. For the past few months I've worked in a small office specialising in institutional (educational, cultural, rather than medical or penal) work; this, combined with the summer before, gives me about 5 months of in-practice experience.
I have several questions/concerns:
It is difficult for me to know how to 'sell' myself given the differences in educational and professional systems and bodies. I have studied architecture for three years, and have been trained well. I'm not naive to the real issues encountered in practice, and do have a very deep interest in technical (as well as philosophical) concerns. I can use CAD okay, and all the usual jazz. And I love detailing. It'd be great if someone could explain what kind of jobs I could apply for (internships?), what I would be expected to do and so on.
How difficult is it for a British citizen to get a working visa for the US? Is it much, much easier to do so with a company's sonsorship? And, if I were to go on a travelling visa, how difficult - if at all possible - is it then to get a working visa? In many ways, given the sheer number of potential places to work and so on, it seems best for me to go there and find a place - rather than worry about it when I'm so far away. What have people found to be best?
How have people from the UK found the work culture in american offices, the procedures and the demands? Are things much different? Do internships offer enough money to live reasonably well? How much could - or should - I expect to get paid, and how does this relate to the cost of living?
I've had a look through the salary poll, although it is a little endless without some function to compile the data in tables, or to simplt select a category - such as intern.
In the UK we are told to expect betwen GBP16,000 and GBP19,000, with 17,000 being about right for London and the south-east. So yeah, like $30,000.
i assume you have your part i and are wanting your year out experience so you should check to see if you need to have a riba architect in the office you select to have it credit properly.
i will only address one of your questions....as it has been asked many times before on this site.
both for recent grads comming here and us grads going abroad, you should check out practical training visas you will need first to find an employer for j1 sponsership [this practical training visa is easy to get and is not a burden for employers] it gives you 18 months. i think though you have to be out of the country when you apply[this is true for any working visa] so you might have to canada or mex if your here now.
other working visa are much harder as the companies must state that you have some special skills that they are unable to fill from us folks. such as specailty exterior wall detailing, special unique cad things etc.
you can transfer the training visa if you want to go to grad school, however, i think they try to make sure you can transfer to other h-1 visas or such.
if you have $1mil, and can bring it with you, you can automaticly get a green card. [i am not joking].
and as we are 'in the mode of war of terror' you will have to answer the standard questions including...i am not a terroist, i have nothing to do with hitler, i do not have aids, and i am not a known child rapist. this also is not a joke. you will see these questions on your application. if you answer yes to any of them, dont bother applying.
i would also only say about la, you can get by i am sure without a car but make sure you budget it correctly - to live near where you work [because you dont have wheels] can be costly.
cheers.
land of the free, home of the brave?....hee hee....sun and love and sex?
one should go away from where they live to understand it better. cambridge is full of stuffies and too much old shit so will live free and die for awhile. [dalibore should get his students some computers and put down the pens!!] nothing wrong with that. perhaps he is dimensionally challenged by metricfication and wants to experience the feet and inches world. perhaps he is a member of the eric owen moss fan club.....
i find it quite difficult to search through the discussions, am i the only one? if there are any anyone feels relevant i'd be grateful if they could direct me to it - i probably wouldn't find it otherwise.
cambridge is very old and stuffy, yes. but it is a beautiful and special place to study nonetheless; in ways tourists could probably never figure out. dalibor, yes, has issues with computers... and will incidentally be teaching one of the final diploma studios next year, as will the perennial peter carl.
as ted says, it's always good to go somewhere different to understand quite what you're coming from. i have some friends there. why would i not want to go to the u.s.?
(where are you from ted? how do you know dalibor? the aa?)
i think there are many more questions about archs going to uk than coming here. but its the same international exchange program. i know a lot of people who did it. if you were irish, the us had a preferential green card program[lotto] with ireland a few years back [ted kennedy added to some bill which allowed some 15k green cards to irish over a number of years] i have a number of irish mates that got here that way.
...and although i would like to think i am everywhere..... and i know everyone...and everything [as sometimes it appears that way], i did some juries in the early 90's at cambridge, knew his x, and got to know him then. he has quit a reputation with hand drawing, and you clued me that he was still there with your limited cad stuff.
sounds like u will return there for your part II? although cambridge is very good, isnt it better to do a different part II?
well, i only want to be in the u.s. for a year or so, so greencards are irrelevant to me.
as for cad and so on, it is true that we have not as a school placed much emphasis on computers. although there was this year a studio dedicated to designing through digital movies with maya - actually quite a move for us. most firms use cad purely to be effiient. i don't think anything like vector works or autocad has an inherent design value, other than rapidity of design iteration. maya and the others are different, but then very often people seem to go off on one, and forget what they're putting together and how it will *really* be experienced. computised space can just be too beautiful for some to want to depart from it.
as for part ii: cambridge has been forced to discontinue its diploma. in fact, it looks all the time as if the school will close down; it's in quite a mess. i think i might be headed for the rca or the bartlett, or maybe to some english speaking school in continental europe (say in holland).
but yeah, can people address my other concerns please?
okay, so i went to a book store today to do some research into working and living in the u.s., and what i read did not make me feel entirely happy. not being able to drive, for example, is fucking annoying. i mean, i'm used to one of the most anti-car cities in the world, and to london, which has a pretty fab (relatively speaking) public transport system! or european cities in general! apparently, there are 210million cars to the u.s.'s population of 280million. Compared to the 28m cars for 58m u.k. population. anyway, i digress. the whole not driving thing seems pretty problematic.
in addition, i am still unclear as to how much interns (i can intern, right?) can expect to earn and how this figures in terms of life expenses, number of hours worked, how gross my apartment might have to be, etc.
and, no one but ted has been giving me any love on this board. please guys, i could do with some help here. and i know there are a lot of europeans who've worked in the u.s. flitting around!
if you are not keen to take up driving, you are probably not going to enjoy LA/Southern California too much. Contrary to popular belief, you can get around by bus and train, but not very quickly and your mobility is significantly hampered - figure on 2-3 hours to cross town, in what would be a 1 hour drive in even the worst traffic. If you want to continue the car-less lifestyle, you should think about San Francisco, Berkeley and/or Oakland in the Bay Area instead. Flights from the Bay to LA are relatively cheap, and more regular than some of the trains within LA, so you can still see your friends easily on weekends, plus you can always train / rental car it down the coast if you want to enjoy the view.
That being said, there are a lot of Brits in LA - seemed like half my 20 unit apartment complex in Venice stayed up into the middle of the night to watch Princess Di's funeral a few years back. (Rent there was about $1000/month for a servicable two-bedroom place that was neither too gross, nor particularily charming and nice - its probably more now. $12-$14/hr seems to be fairly standard for entry level pay of someone fresh out of school - figure that into a 40 hr week, 52 week year to translate into an annual salary - $30,000 seems about right. Deduct 25-30% of that for taxes to get to your real income - not sure how/if taxes are applied differently to resident aliens, but I suspect you still have to pay Uncle Sam the same as us Yanks.)
it seems crazy to fly so far every weekend, as you suggest between san fransisco (or similar) to l.a. i mean, i can hardly imagine flying to stockholm from london every weekend to see friends, which is interesting, psychologically. but anyway...
not particularly averse to driving, just have never done so. in fact considering learning in the u.k. before i go, and then taking some kind of supplementary lessons and tests in california. but i don't really know how it all works. (isn't driving expensive anyway??)
i don't suppose anyone knows of any good firms in santa barbara itself, do they? 'cause i love walking to work, even if it takes me a little while.
how have british architects found working in the u.s.? california in particular.
thanks again.
Aug 28, 04 3:12 am ·
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Englishman in LA
I have recently aquired a number of friends in the Santa Barbara area, whom I would now like to spend more time with. Having just this year graduated with a BA in Architecture from Cambridge I will be taking a year in industry. For the past few months I've worked in a small office specialising in institutional (educational, cultural, rather than medical or penal) work; this, combined with the summer before, gives me about 5 months of in-practice experience.
I have several questions/concerns:
It is difficult for me to know how to 'sell' myself given the differences in educational and professional systems and bodies. I have studied architecture for three years, and have been trained well. I'm not naive to the real issues encountered in practice, and do have a very deep interest in technical (as well as philosophical) concerns. I can use CAD okay, and all the usual jazz. And I love detailing. It'd be great if someone could explain what kind of jobs I could apply for (internships?), what I would be expected to do and so on.
How difficult is it for a British citizen to get a working visa for the US? Is it much, much easier to do so with a company's sonsorship? And, if I were to go on a travelling visa, how difficult - if at all possible - is it then to get a working visa? In many ways, given the sheer number of potential places to work and so on, it seems best for me to go there and find a place - rather than worry about it when I'm so far away. What have people found to be best?
How have people from the UK found the work culture in american offices, the procedures and the demands? Are things much different? Do internships offer enough money to live reasonably well? How much could - or should - I expect to get paid, and how does this relate to the cost of living?
Any good offices in particular worth looking at??
I'll add more questions soon.
Thanking you in advance for your advice!!
-- Alan
I've had a look through the salary poll, although it is a little endless without some function to compile the data in tables, or to simplt select a category - such as intern.
In the UK we are told to expect betwen GBP16,000 and GBP19,000, with 17,000 being about right for London and the south-east. So yeah, like $30,000.
alan,
i assume you have your part i and are wanting your year out experience so you should check to see if you need to have a riba architect in the office you select to have it credit properly.
i will only address one of your questions....as it has been asked many times before on this site.
both for recent grads comming here and us grads going abroad, you should check out practical training visas you will need first to find an employer for j1 sponsership [this practical training visa is easy to get and is not a burden for employers] it gives you 18 months. i think though you have to be out of the country when you apply[this is true for any working visa] so you might have to canada or mex if your here now.
other working visa are much harder as the companies must state that you have some special skills that they are unable to fill from us folks. such as specailty exterior wall detailing, special unique cad things etc.
you can transfer the training visa if you want to go to grad school, however, i think they try to make sure you can transfer to other h-1 visas or such.
if you have $1mil, and can bring it with you, you can automaticly get a green card. [i am not joking].
and as we are 'in the mode of war of terror' you will have to answer the standard questions including...i am not a terroist, i have nothing to do with hitler, i do not have aids, and i am not a known child rapist. this also is not a joke. you will see these questions on your application. if you answer yes to any of them, dont bother applying.
i would also only say about la, you can get by i am sure without a car but make sure you budget it correctly - to live near where you work [because you dont have wheels] can be costly.
cheers.
again, why do you want to come to the US?
land of the free, home of the brave?....hee hee....sun and love and sex?
one should go away from where they live to understand it better. cambridge is full of stuffies and too much old shit so will live free and die for awhile. [dalibore should get his students some computers and put down the pens!!] nothing wrong with that. perhaps he is dimensionally challenged by metricfication and wants to experience the feet and inches world. perhaps he is a member of the eric owen moss fan club.....
thanks ted, at least in part...
i find it quite difficult to search through the discussions, am i the only one? if there are any anyone feels relevant i'd be grateful if they could direct me to it - i probably wouldn't find it otherwise.
cambridge is very old and stuffy, yes. but it is a beautiful and special place to study nonetheless; in ways tourists could probably never figure out. dalibor, yes, has issues with computers... and will incidentally be teaching one of the final diploma studios next year, as will the perennial peter carl.
as ted says, it's always good to go somewhere different to understand quite what you're coming from. i have some friends there. why would i not want to go to the u.s.?
(where are you from ted? how do you know dalibor? the aa?)
oh yes, and i am thinking of taking two years out, so part i needn't be satisfied immediately.
feet and inches. urgh.
i think there are many more questions about archs going to uk than coming here. but its the same international exchange program. i know a lot of people who did it. if you were irish, the us had a preferential green card program[lotto] with ireland a few years back [ted kennedy added to some bill which allowed some 15k green cards to irish over a number of years] i have a number of irish mates that got here that way.
...and although i would like to think i am everywhere..... and i know everyone...and everything [as sometimes it appears that way], i did some juries in the early 90's at cambridge, knew his x, and got to know him then. he has quit a reputation with hand drawing, and you clued me that he was still there with your limited cad stuff.
sounds like u will return there for your part II? although cambridge is very good, isnt it better to do a different part II?
well, i only want to be in the u.s. for a year or so, so greencards are irrelevant to me.
as for cad and so on, it is true that we have not as a school placed much emphasis on computers. although there was this year a studio dedicated to designing through digital movies with maya - actually quite a move for us. most firms use cad purely to be effiient. i don't think anything like vector works or autocad has an inherent design value, other than rapidity of design iteration. maya and the others are different, but then very often people seem to go off on one, and forget what they're putting together and how it will *really* be experienced. computised space can just be too beautiful for some to want to depart from it.
as for part ii: cambridge has been forced to discontinue its diploma. in fact, it looks all the time as if the school will close down; it's in quite a mess. i think i might be headed for the rca or the bartlett, or maybe to some english speaking school in continental europe (say in holland).
but yeah, can people address my other concerns please?
okay, so i went to a book store today to do some research into working and living in the u.s., and what i read did not make me feel entirely happy. not being able to drive, for example, is fucking annoying. i mean, i'm used to one of the most anti-car cities in the world, and to london, which has a pretty fab (relatively speaking) public transport system! or european cities in general! apparently, there are 210million cars to the u.s.'s population of 280million. Compared to the 28m cars for 58m u.k. population. anyway, i digress. the whole not driving thing seems pretty problematic.
in addition, i am still unclear as to how much interns (i can intern, right?) can expect to earn and how this figures in terms of life expenses, number of hours worked, how gross my apartment might have to be, etc.
and, no one but ted has been giving me any love on this board. please guys, i could do with some help here. and i know there are a lot of europeans who've worked in the u.s. flitting around!
-- Alan
Alan -
if you are not keen to take up driving, you are probably not going to enjoy LA/Southern California too much. Contrary to popular belief, you can get around by bus and train, but not very quickly and your mobility is significantly hampered - figure on 2-3 hours to cross town, in what would be a 1 hour drive in even the worst traffic. If you want to continue the car-less lifestyle, you should think about San Francisco, Berkeley and/or Oakland in the Bay Area instead. Flights from the Bay to LA are relatively cheap, and more regular than some of the trains within LA, so you can still see your friends easily on weekends, plus you can always train / rental car it down the coast if you want to enjoy the view.
That being said, there are a lot of Brits in LA - seemed like half my 20 unit apartment complex in Venice stayed up into the middle of the night to watch Princess Di's funeral a few years back. (Rent there was about $1000/month for a servicable two-bedroom place that was neither too gross, nor particularily charming and nice - its probably more now. $12-$14/hr seems to be fairly standard for entry level pay of someone fresh out of school - figure that into a 40 hr week, 52 week year to translate into an annual salary - $30,000 seems about right. Deduct 25-30% of that for taxes to get to your real income - not sure how/if taxes are applied differently to resident aliens, but I suspect you still have to pay Uncle Sam the same as us Yanks.)
thanks alan, that's very helpful.
it seems crazy to fly so far every weekend, as you suggest between san fransisco (or similar) to l.a. i mean, i can hardly imagine flying to stockholm from london every weekend to see friends, which is interesting, psychologically. but anyway...
not particularly averse to driving, just have never done so. in fact considering learning in the u.k. before i go, and then taking some kind of supplementary lessons and tests in california. but i don't really know how it all works. (isn't driving expensive anyway??)
i don't suppose anyone knows of any good firms in santa barbara itself, do they? 'cause i love walking to work, even if it takes me a little while.
how have british architects found working in the u.s.? california in particular.
thanks again.
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