interview widely before accepting an offer
the interview process may help you answer those questions

Well, I have been interviewing for a while and I am stuck between the starchitect route and corporate with hit or miss design. I know I have a lot to learn about architecture, and you can still learn by working on a "bad" building, but I don't know what having a crappy building in my portfolio would do for future prospects. I am just having trouble balancing the short run with the long run I suppose.

LOL! Urbane, don't worry about having a "crappy" building in your portfolio, especially if its not your design! Pick a firm that will pay you properly, and treat you good, even if they do shitty buildings. Chances are you won't design anything anyway, and put CDs and shop drawings from whatever project you worked on into your portfolio. CDs are great to show to other future employers because they show you know how to put a building together and they can count on you to get things done. Until you actually obtain the knowledge of how to put buildings together, no matter what scale or type, you are not going to have many bargaining chips at the interview table because your employer will have to train you from scratch.

Also, don't bite the first offer that falls in your lap. Make sure you have options to choose from before deciding, I didn't and I wound up working a job I don't like that much for insanely low pay ($2.50 an hour!).

do design comps in the mean time or just pick something in the place that you want to live and work and create a project and do it-

draw - do your craft!

especially for people starting their own practice, this is a way to 'stuff' a portfolio with things that define you verses school projects which might have defined the tutor.

What Apurimac said - the knowledge gained from working on CDs will serve you well alter when interviewing for your dream boutique job. I think getting a job in a firm that seems to CARE about your development as an intern, will expose you to lots of different aspects of practice, etc. is a great choice for your first job.

That siad: I also think a few years of job-hopping is good and meaningful for every young architect, so if you find what seems like agreat starchitect job stright out of school, keep in mind you can leave it in a year and go somehwere for a different experience. But the solid mid-size firm who needs someone to be productive might not be as keen on hiring you if you've been locked in a model closet for the last year even of the hottest star of the moment.

A meaningless anecdote: I have a friend who interned for Libeskind in Berlin building competition models. A year into his next job - mid-sized firm stateside - he was let go in the first round of layoffs because while he would build a gorgeous model he knew nothing about working drawings.

If I had to do it over again I would have tried to stay in the area I loved (San Diego). I'd also try and keep my hours under 60+.
The first or second job gives you a range of experiences that helps you define what type of professional you want to become. Boutique, corporate, school/muni all have their pluses. Right now is all about IDP.

urbanemaan,

there is a LONG road ahead of you. what you decide to do for your first job will not ruin your career. just make a choice and go with it.

here's a short story...

A guy at a starchitect firm told me, "whatever you do when you get out of bachelor's, dont work for any starchitects. Work at a place that will teach you how to make a building. Work at a place that makes the same stupid red tile roof building over and over again for one year. After one year, and you feel like puking red tiles, give me a call."

Unfortunately I did not take his advice...

I may be acting a little melodramatic, b/c i have learned things. Just make sure you pick an office where you will learn. IF you stop learning in an office, I think that's the biggest sign that it's time to leave.

Unless your bound by certain legalities then you must stay (fortunately not me)

i just threw up in my mouth a little. it was a partially digested red clay tile.

a friend of mine worked @ callison for a few years and is now living it up w/ a starchitect, enjoying a position of much greater importance than the "model builder" first year out of school.

and much more pay too huh holz.box

after school
i worked for my father's failing surveying office for 5 mos
and then moved to minneapolis where i worked in a mall cookie store, a book store, and two music stores
until i found a job in an architecture firm a year and a half later
in which we were told 'don't think, draw!' while we cranked out chain hotels and fast marts.
i lasted there for just over a year before i moved to louisville
and found a great job within a week of moving here.
i was there for ten years.

i don't think the first experiences matter. you can still thrive.

easily, yes. he's commanding a decent salary as opposed to forgoing any salary.

i'm sure he enjoyed his regular cash bonuses the first 6 years, he's definitely enjoying the change of scenery, with no worries about paying off loans, etc. and being in a higher position opens a lot more doors now than it would have back then (i.e. "oh, you worked w/ stevie holl... ok, we'll let you interview here" v. knowing the actual client's people and getting exposure while working for a top architect)