why dont you just kill your boss and become a partner?

"what pisses me off the most is he gives more respect to the non serious goof balls in the office than to the hard workers who actually get shit done"


This is systemic of the architect as lone or individual genius mentality. Ive worked in both construction and architecture and Ive never seen a more backwards model for doing business than the architect's offices Ive been at. The problem stems from the fact that architects are delusional about their role in the world and refuse to believe they are a production oriented business first, designers second. Saying this will get all kinds of slurs from the archinect comunity heaped on you but unless you have production streamlined and rewarded and operating in an efficient manner you can not handle the more complex tasks of higher design. You will occasionaly read about firms seemingly comming out of left field and getting something built without any experiance or proper staff - what you dont read about is how little profit they make, the lawsuits, the short lifespan of these companies. Do what you know to be true - study your craft well. Observe your principles and glean from them the right and wrong ways to run a business and someday you will be licensed and ready for the prime time - but dont expect that to happen until your into your 30's - the world is much more complex and dangerous financially than the past - dont expect to be out there at 26 with license like the old days - clients will chew you up. Need to get beaten a few times to learn the other side of the design field.

if only murder was legal... damm i hate this country

evil ..thanks for the insight.. and thank you for enphasizing my point .. ive definately realized the risk of running your own business and how horrible dealing with certain clients can be..

If i did what i knew to be true i would of quit a month or two ago but from reading other posts on CA i feel like i would be leaving at a very crucial point in my career. Some people say that it was the single most important part of there career.

Are there any employers out there that could give me some insight on CA .. are employers looking for CA work or is it really not that crucial?

Very eloquent EvilP.

I've learned that the real work, the real education starts after the designers are done. Making construction systems work for the design and solving problems are stonger skills to have IMHO. Keep at it 110% where you are right now, while you do the job search. And it seems CA experience is rare for younger people to have, so if you've got it, that might gain a longer look at the resume.

DN, without knowing where you are in your career, it is presumptive of anyone to try and give you advice. However, based on the brief information you provided, I will attempt to give you something to think about.

First, only you can decide just how miserable you really are. If you truly don't think you can stand the place you work one more minute, then get out. It's that simple. Don't be miserable.

However, you seem to yearn for some construction administration experience. I applaud you for that. As an employer I can tell you that it is, indeed, important. As an architect (I am assuming you are not licensed, but desire to be so) you will need that experience. If you believe your current firm is about to position you to gain substantial exposure to the full range of construction administration duties, I would suggest you seriously consider staying and getting that experience. There is nothing (IMO) more valuable as a learning experience than seeing a project through from beginning to end, seeing how decisions made in design and detailing actually play out (or not) in the actual construction. I promise you that what you learn in the field will help you make better decisions in design and detailing on your next project. You will improve your value to clients immensly, and that will make you much more valuable to any employer.

Sorry...I addressed my response to DN and I see that it was outthere that actually asked the question.

Outthere, good luck with your decision.

ABSOLUTELY stick it out for CA. You can leave right after CA but you need to see SOMETHING you drew BUILT--here's a hint, it won't get built as you drew it, it will go through a whole nother process of design and you will gain vastly from being there to see/do it. Also ABSOLUTELY your resume / portfolio will benefit from the experience. CA knowledge is truly what seperates the CAD monkey potential employees from the on-the-road-to-licensed potential employees. Trust me on this one.

Your portfolio is MUCH stronger when you can say : "here's the drawing I did for this project..." (flips page) "and here it is built. I had to tweak this part when we couldn't get the contractor to install a wall-mounted toilet... you know how those crazy contractors are, yuk yuk yuk!" (at this point you and your potential employer share a knowing laugh and two days later you get an offer).

i regret passing up ca experience on a project i had seen through to construction in order to take a new position, BUT....it turned out that the project went on hold anyway. you really never know what's going to happen in architecture, and if a great opportunity comes along, i recommend taking it. you have to weigh your options carefully. there is no blanket answer for all situations.

go for it, outthere, it's the most valuable experience in your professional development.

i dreaded that experience when i was asked to do it 2 years ago... you know, the sun, the sweat, the dust... but somehow i stuck around... hang in there...

and guess what? it's the best experience i've gained in my professional experience. with that experience, i sat for my registration exam and passed.

i learned about responsibilities; how to put together a gutter; how IMPORTANT a piece of drawing is, and most importantly, what information mean to various parties and how important clarity of communication and information is.

it will make you an architect.

How much of that sort of work does an architect do?
I'd love to do that sort of work, especially the dirty site work.

You'll learn more about how buildings go together in six months of CA than you will in five years of sitting in an office. You'll learn that it can be a messy, uncontrolled process, and that many contractors just barely have a handle on the buildings they're putting together.

yeah i agree with most of what has been advised so far

if this is your first real CA work experience, you should grab it before heading to a new place. chances are you wont be able to step right into the same role at a new place, you will need to build up to that again. but if you already have the CA work experience, that is a big thing to have on your resume when looking for a new job.

also think about it this way
if the project is really starting construction now, what is a couple of months sticking it out when you are keeping an eye out for where you will be next. do you already have a new job lined up? unless you do, i say go about it with the intention of leaving soon after the project is complete

the fact that you are wavering at all means it isnt so terrible of a situation where you would regret staying a couple more months anyway