Never mind don't answer this question, I think this site is meant to promote Architects and people alike...not dog them. Bye.

archinect is a community of people who love/hate and are involved with architecture in some way. yes, all of these frustrations are real. but so is the understanding, for many of us, that this is the only thing we can imagine ourselves doing.

your work will likely never be appreciated as much as you like, you will likely never be paid what you think you deserve, but you commit to architecture as a way of life because you love it. if you don't love it, you'll likely drift into something else soon enough.

all that said, i don't think there is much to beat an architectural education for giving you a sense of how to look at the world, how to learn self-critique, how to 'learn to learn', how to develop a project (art, design, whatever) from an intention not just from a technical facility, etc. look into it and decide if it's for you. if nothing else, a little bit of architecture background will help your artwork.

check out the career discovery programs at various architecture schools. most have them. this is a good way to test the water.

wait! did she go away?!

HighSgirl88 - Is to catch a predator is trolling the forum

It's not really a place to *promote* architecture... it's a place for architects, interns, and interested people to discuss. Whether that discussion is positive or negative is really up to how we're feeling on any given day!

Personally, I found it to not be worth it, and I'm getting out. BUT, there are two things you should consider in relation to this: first, I have not yet learned to regret my architectural education, it has served me well: second, a ton of people here say that it's not worth it, yet they continue on, so they must feel that it's worth it on some level or they wouldn't keep doing it.

rationalist, you are getting out? leaving architecture?

;) Thanks Steven Ward, very well put.....I couldn't resist the temptation to come back and see what people wrote.......and rationalist I will have to think about what you say as well, though I hate to start something and not be happy with it....but who really knows what they want in life and actually reap all the rewards from it. I am going to have to dwell on this for the remainder of my Senior Year to decide if Arch is really meant for me. Crazy talk ~ I thought about becoming a Medical Doctor (oh imagine the talk about that), since I didn't think art would get me very far? Thanks again.

this is also a great field, with opportunities from designing robotic insects to spec houses to space stations - it's all there.

thats a pity if she doesnt return because i was going to use this thread to tell how happy i am with my career and my work as an architect. i was considering starting a thread to do just that, but then this seemed like an oppotune time.

oh! she returned.
then i will continue... when i was finishing high school i too was an 'art' student. but as the time came to think about university i opted for architecture because i wanted a career - i didnt want to be an artist without a possible income - so architecture it was.

i found the university education of architecture heavily more art based than building technology. the idea of making a concept and developing that into a built form. in the first year or two it was very clear to most students if it was right for them - those that stuck with it were all pretty motivated and excited about architecture.

now ffwd 6 years after architecture school and i must say that the day to day work that i do is exactly what i hoped for. i constantly have to think of new approaches and situations. i am never bored and for the most part i want to go to work - now that is pretty special. you spend so much time at work, so you better enjoy it.

i have been lucky in my jobs and i mostly work on competitions, which i find suits me best. but there are so many possibilities and different areas that you can work within architecture.

i wouldnt want to do anything else.

highsgirl-

you don't have to decide now if you want to do architecture. i'd recommend finding a liberal arts program/school to have a lot of flexibility with your undergraduate education and allow you to branch into many things in graduate school.

a lot of people on archinect didn't do their undergraduate education in architecture. my "major" changed through undergrad from anything like such as the math and such as the chemistries. but inevitably i found myself liking architecture and did an art and art history degree.

personally i find it almost ludicrous that an 18 year old is expected to have the self-awareness and experience to determine what the best career for them is.

To P2an -
I was curious what particular type of architecture you practice and if you are in a firm or in private practice for yourself. You sound very content with the profession, so I'd like to hear more about that.

I second ACfA's last point. Because I graduated HS early, I ended up deciding my major when I was 16. What 16 year old knows themself well enough to make the right decision?


jafidler- yup, going back to school for graphic design in a couple of weeks here. I'm very interested in exhibit and environmental graphics, so I still anticipate using my architecture knowledge, but I've just decided to pursue a bit of a different path. Or who knows, maybe some day I'll get to work for Arch Record or similar?


Anyway, every profession has its high points and low points. The key is figuring out what particular lows you are willing to live with, and what you are not, and whether the high points are such that make up for them, to you.

i work in an office, not for myself. i studied in australia and as a student i really liked the work that was happening in the netherlands. well after working first in germany i am now in the netherlands and have been for the past 4 years. it is (as corny as it sounds) a dream come true.

but of course there are always things that bug you. i work for an office where the boss knows what he wants - and thats that! we can try other things and do other proposals but in the end its his office - so its his choice. i accept that and generally i agree with his choices.

from all the talk and complaining on this forum my advise to ppl is - if you don't like it - leave. its that simple.

i also recommend reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. (ducks for cover)

A Center for Ants,

you said: "personally i find it almost ludicrous that an 18 year old is expected to have the self-awareness and experience to determine what the best career for them is. "

i highly agree with this. that's why these days i believe that people out of high school tend to stray away from college for a year or so to see what they're into. they go out and try to get a job out of high school, make some money while they do a job without a college education.

it sucks when you want to do soo many things out of high school, yet you're sort of forced into one thing. i know that's not in every case of course, but things are leaning this way these days. i mean for myself, i wanted to be a photographer, fashion advertising, painter, etc..

but i chose architecture, and my schooling continues. i'm still going to do my photo thing on the side when i find some more money for gear.

well, part of my story that i left out because i am too lazy to type it all.
when i left HS, i did 6 months of arch school and then pulled out. why?
because although i loved it i wanted to indulge in hedonistic pursuits.
i thought that would last a year, but then after 4 years i finally got the head space to go back to uni. i was then super focussed - worked hard and didnt feel like i was missing out on anything.

NB my hedonistic pursuits coincided with the 'second summer of love'

When I chose Architecture in High school, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I am an art person as well. Sort of a cliche story of many architects but ... By my senior year in HS, I was painting, sculpting and getting into ceramics and I was sure that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life. But then parents disapproved of my "starving artist future" and told me to get into something professional. Being an architect was a compromise of sorts, but it turned out for the best since I am happy with what I'm doing. Studying architecture did add much needed depth of understanding of art as well - in relation to culture, context & different conceptual thinking. I can tell this is what I want to do because last week in Kyoto, when I accidentally came across Tadao Ando's Fine Arts Garden I couldn't stop smiling.

I have realized (for me) that I would probably be happied doing something other than architecture. I also work for a small office and am fed up with all the BS that you have to deal with as an architect (with building department, design review board, etc). I have found that I have essentially become a babysitter / paper pusher when I rather spend my time doing something that allows me to be more creative (in the sense of using my hands to physically make things) on a day to day basis.

That being said, I have always been most interrsted and happiest when I was building things. In architecture school, I was the one who was always building models and rarely doing drawings; I was happiest as a model builder. I am trying to make teh switch to full time model builder

ever thought of doing furniture, mdler? you make things pretty at real scale, too.

question: isnt it just fucking great being architect?

answer: It sure is!!! Its just fucking dandy jack

sorry to take this on a tangent, but i am saddened to see "rationalist" leave the profession...i've always considered her comments to be exemplary of an individual who will make architecture a better profession...good luck!

to HS girl...there are many problems with architecture as a profession (as you've read through out this forum), but being that it's also a labor of passion (and i believe that there is a certain calling involved here) most people will find personal satisfaction in their lives as architects.

Architecture for me is like a dysfunctional marriage. There are some days I love the death out of it and want to make sweet love to it by the fire with some Barry White on and a glass of white zinfandel. Other days I seriously want to choke the bitch to death.

rationalist

I have thought about furniture a little. I have always liked making things at a smaller scale, though...always wanted a doll house as a kid (dont tell tumbles)

When I was in school, I would actually approach the design of my projects as though I was designing a scale object of the building (thinking of the project as an architectural model that I could build)

also, model building for film in very financially lucrative and can provide many interresting opportunities

architecture isn't that bad, honestly. i make a reasonable sum for my experience level, considering that i'm not licensed yet. my health care is a joke, however.

the biggest problem that i see with this field is that in your first few years, the salary isn't commesurate with one's education. and i say education not because the education one receives always prepares one for the workplace. but there is a lot of time spent in school, and a lot of money spent on school. probably almost a third to a quarter of my pay goes to student loans. if i didn't have to make this payment every month, i'd be a lot better off.

that said there are pros and cons to being an architect like anything else, and i can't say the horror stories are completely untrue. i was pretty dissatisfied with my $10/hr first job. but it gets better, my bills are paid and i have plenty of time to enjoy myself. i've worked on several published projects and have built up a good enough portfolio of academic and professional work that i don't think i'll have any problem advancing my career as a designer in the future, with a reasonable level of compensation.

Every high school kid who has shadowed me has made the decision to find something else to go into. Would you like to shadow me?

Strawbeary

has every high school kid who has shadowed you ended up drunk off their ass???

drunk by association, i've had it happen to people when they get near me. i met this girl over the weekend at my party who became inebriated just from shaking my hand.

no, that's the ones that shadow her boss! They all go into architecture, probably. All joking aside, this is important: if you do shadow an architect, shadow an intern, job captain, project manager, or other staff member as well. Everybody looks to the top, but if you can't handle the jobs in between the bottom and the top, that's pretty pointless.



simples made me blush.

I was going to post, but I think I will wait until Sarcastic Wednesday to give my full honest opinion.

I couldnt see myself working anywhere else but an architecture firm or a construction site...its just who I am.
Sure I despise what my boss might do w/ a project or how an owner might sabotage a project or how many times the duesh-bag project architect next to me might tell me to move the elevator 2" this way and that, but by the end of the day I swipe the vasiline off my ass pull my underwear up and stagger to the train station. Honestly, its really not that bad!

-YES! I LOVE MY PROFESSION