That goes for everyone who has been laid off so far. It sucks, and I feel for you all. As for myself, I'm working my butt off trying to keep existing clients happy in the hopes that in one year when there is NO construction work going on they'll take me up on my proposal that the Phase 2 of their project should go out to bid to a bunch of hungry contractors. I'm panicky, for sure, but trying to keep going.
In the meantime, I just advised an intern I know to go ahead and take the job in the video game industry s/he was considering. I don't think that kind of move into a related field is a bad idea right now, as I honestly see things getting worse in the profession of architecture. In ten years employers may look back and see that every person they interview had a 2-3 year stint in 08-10 doing video games, or web design, or construction management, cabinetry, whatever - and I think those things on your resume look better than 2 years as a barrista.
Not that I won't do whatever the hell job needs to be done to feed my family and that includes cleaning houses (which I'm quite good at when it's not my own).
fantine lost her job at the brick factory because she had a child out of wedlock. unable to find work she resorted to prostitution. a sad story indeed.
and Honda says no to any auto bailout, because they want failed businesses to fail aka Chrysler Ford and Chevy. But watch the nanny(gutless Pelosi) state throw more tax money that will never be payed back at them..
ashton kutcher actually said something intelligent on real time on friday - the oil companies should be funding any bailout of US automakers. now there's a bailout i can get behind
but that is against the law for them to get involved by the SEC i believe because they might monopolize and create unfair competition, preferential treatment between certain oil and auto companies.
In fact corporations could once again work they way they did before the 14th amendment got hijacked (layers took advantage when blacks given the right to own land turned into making a invincible ownership society based on the faith in moneys value forced on everybody) with a limited charter, formed and dissolved once the task is done. Not that they are bad or good, as those terms are too dry cut, there is way more complexity they are stagnant and unduly ingrained to every bodies avail.
dread - nashville's market is slow. many firms have had lay-offs and, i've been told by laid off friends, that no one is hiring right now. hello food service industry!
i was listening to npr yestaday they were talking about new yawk and if i heard it right they said that 100,000 jobs in finance were going away. the real story was about the tax revenues of the entire state. ie total hiring freeze of government service jobs and the closing of some state run facilities. n_____ are there any country songwriting jobs down there? they always need help.
It certainly is a tough time. The credit crisis brought instability to employment in the AEC industry early this year - maybe even from late 2007.
It could get even tougher as it becomes more evident that the financial and economic crises are flowing over from Wall Street to Main Street. Not only are banks still purging and failing, but consumer-supported industries are starting to fail. It's a downward cycle. It's only really just beginning for the majority of us who work outside of Wall Street. Put your seatbelts on.
cris, i will keep my eyes and ears alert for you. i wish i had little more work so we could work together until you get a 'real' job.;.)
best of luck..
So sorry to hear about all the layoffs, hang in there everyone. We'll all just have to live according to our needs instead of our somewhat ridiculous wants. Anyone in Houston having trouble yet?
On November 18, 19 and 20 at Build Boston, the BSA hosts three free, informal gatherings of architects and other architecture-firm professionals interested in exploring responses to the imminent challenges of our faltering economy.
At each of these three events, one or more attorneys, accountants, fee-collection advisors, insurance advisors and, job-placement professionals will be available to respond to questions and to offer informal advice on the broad range of legal, financial, employment and other business-management and career issues firms and individuals are facing now or may soon encounter...and to highlight BSA, public-agency and other services individuals and firms may find useful.
The conversation on Tuesday, November 18 is specifically for sole practitioners (SA19), Wednesday, November 19 is designed for principals of small and mid-size design firms (SB19), and Thursday, November 20 is intended for individual design professionals working in design firms and in every other traditional and non-traditional setting including designers employed in corporate, institutional, public-agency and other roles (SC19).
time to become a pirate in the gulf. it looks rather exciting and not particularly dangerous as none of these huge tankers seem to have any security and the naval ships in the area won't sink your ass. you hijack the ship and take it to your new boomtown pirate port in somalia and wait for the million dollar ransom. wtf?
n_ i was curious because i had briefly flirted with the idea of moving back to nashville for work, but sounds like i'm better off staying put in so cal.
orhan, thanks, i appreciate it. things aren't all too bad though. i qualified for unemployment (woo hoo!). it's about half of what my salary was but it's better than nothing. also, i have a couple of free-lance opportunities so i think i'll be ok at least 'till the end of the year. (but yes, if you need any help, let me know! =)
vado, you do bring up an interesting point...
if things got bad (and i mean bad enough where not even mickey d's is hiring) what kind of illegal activity would you get into as a source of livelihood?
i wouldn't try anything too risky or dangerous. i'd like to grow and sell pot. it sounds like fun (read Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser to find out why i think it would be fun). it's either that or become a gigolo, but i don't think too many ladies would pay me for sex.
still kicking here, although we have had 12 people let go in the last week, we're not as bad as some firms in syndey (40+ people in one hit at one firm)
plus an urban design firm we work with just went into liquidation, 30 people down and we still need work from them.
ironicaly i need more people on my project (large job in Jordan), in dd phase and have so many drawings with 10% complete next to them but we can't afford to hire and every other project team is too streched to help. so it looks like we'll all be working 6 days getting paid for 4...
in a totally unrelated industry. my friend in chicago works as an art direktor at a company that puts your company's logo on things like coffee mugs, keychains etc. you know this promo kind of paraphanalia, well they have totally shut down there second shift...
Small residential firm, Providence, RI - …well here it is, we just had our last job go on hold and after over 12 years of continuous employment at this firm I will be unemployed Dec. 1st.
Man, threshold, that's harsh. Hang in there. Do any of the contractors you've worked with over the last 12 years need some help? It's a stretch, I know.
> LB - Before the meeting was even over I had already started a list of contacts I need to talk with. I don’t know where this will take my family and I as things are very bad here (RI leads the nation in unemployment currently). At least I’m above water on my mortgage and probably in a position to make a good amount if it comes to that. My new job will be finding the next job.
> Crowbert – No. I’m eligible to test but never had a great incentive to go down that road. I’m the #2 guy here so there is no position above me to attain and I also know my pay would not be going up with my own stamp. I think I could move through all the sections in just a few months if it becomes my focus (and it might).
Where I live I can do residential work without a stamp. Any structural engineering will require a stamp but I would hire a consultant even if I was licensed. I had a contractor I know ask me to do a bunch of really basic addition/renovation as side work back in the summer and I turned it down. There was no art there and technically I’m not allowed by the firm to do it… One of my calls tonight will be to see if any of that work might still be around.
This is all starting to sink in now… Not looking forward to telling my wife & son tonight.
thresh, get back in it right away, if you can't get work and have to get unemployment, do competitions, design your own things, do the side work stuff. when the market turns around, and it will, you'll want to show that you were active and not sitting around.
with your exp, you should be able to blast through the ARE's.
i currently have a couple of promising opportunities, although one is a bit of a hike, but having commuted to NYC from Joisey, this is small potatoes.
So do all of the newly unemployed archinectors want to band together to form an international superstudio that wins all sorts of high profile competitions? We'll have an el croquis about us by next year, I just know it.
i think some kind of Collective of guerrilla architects, kind of like Knitta, would be great. actually i have been threatening this for a long time, and this just might the right time to unleash the fury.
Thresh, get licensed ASAFP while you still have the grand to pay for the tests. With no "day job" other than finding work, you should be able to cruise at about 1 a week (7 total in the ARE4.0) - which means 2 months give or take a week here or there to avoid brain overload.
Working in the real world can actually hurt you in that the tests are closer to architecture in theory instead of architecture in practice, but you'll never be more ready than you are now. You might also want to take the LEED exam before it changes at the end of the year.
Get as many letters as you can at the end of your name everyone!
> crowbert - I was budgeting last night for the exam and I'm on the same page regarding LEED.
I have started talking to people I know to see if anything shakes out and developing a list of priorities to start addressing this weekend: update resume, LinkedIn, professional portfolio, secure references, figure out ARE testing order, photography portfolio, furniture/object design portfolio, design new website that I can sell things from…
I turn 38 2 weekends from now which looks like it is going to coincide with the end of billable work here. I have been here +12 years, I’m the #2 guy, I run all the projects, I manage a team of project managers and intern architects, I’m a strong and proven designer, I’m an expert CAD user/customizer, I manage the computer network, I’m involved in the day to day business operation and marketing, I’m an associate principal. But it looks like I’ll be starting my 39th year of life in a place I never, ever imagined I would be.
Layoffs....layoffs......
every day the street performers go up in numbers
Aw, hell, phuyake, sorry to hear that.
That goes for everyone who has been laid off so far. It sucks, and I feel for you all. As for myself, I'm working my butt off trying to keep existing clients happy in the hopes that in one year when there is NO construction work going on they'll take me up on my proposal that the Phase 2 of their project should go out to bid to a bunch of hungry contractors. I'm panicky, for sure, but trying to keep going.
In the meantime, I just advised an intern I know to go ahead and take the job in the video game industry s/he was considering. I don't think that kind of move into a related field is a bad idea right now, as I honestly see things getting worse in the profession of architecture. In ten years employers may look back and see that every person they interview had a 2-3 year stint in 08-10 doing video games, or web design, or construction management, cabinetry, whatever - and I think those things on your resume look better than 2 years as a barrista.
Not that I won't do whatever the hell job needs to be done to feed my family and that includes cleaning houses (which I'm quite good at when it's not my own).
i think cleaning houses pays better than that.
the bid I got for our house was $37.50 per hour, 2 hour minimum. it's a deal if you've ever seen our house.
fantine lost her job at the brick factory because she had a child out of wedlock. unable to find work she resorted to prostitution. a sad story indeed.
I suppose these are what the wise old orientals called "Interesting Times".
Places we seem to have a lot of work: Libya, Bahrain. Take your pick.
I don't know what to think, about this.
Just sending out a peace bomb to all.
a new honda plant opened in indianastan today.
and Honda says no to any auto bailout, because they want failed businesses to fail aka Chrysler Ford and Chevy. But watch the nanny(gutless Pelosi) state throw more tax money that will never be payed back at them..
ashton kutcher actually said something intelligent on real time on friday - the oil companies should be funding any bailout of US automakers. now there's a bailout i can get behind
but that is against the law for them to get involved by the SEC i believe because they might monopolize and create unfair competition, preferential treatment between certain oil and auto companies.
Bad companies should be allowed to fail. I should know, I work for one. Laid off two more today. I'm pretty sure I'm next to go.
but if you know the 'secret' can you use it?
well, i am certainly sorry to hear about everyone's layoffs. i hope no one out there is struggling too badly.
_n - thanks for the support. your business card joke is great! how is the job market in nashville right now?
nick - i'm curious about your installation. shoot me an email.
they were such nice cards too. very minimal design; a grey univers font on a nice white card... excuse me, i need to return some videotapes.
In fact corporations could once again work they way they did before the 14th amendment got hijacked (layers took advantage when blacks given the right to own land turned into making a invincible ownership society based on the faith in moneys value forced on everybody) with a limited charter, formed and dissolved once the task is done. Not that they are bad or good, as those terms are too dry cut, there is way more complexity they are stagnant and unduly ingrained to every bodies avail.
think WTO 1999 x 100
Now THAT'S where I get my economic policy advice... Ashton Kutcher. The luckiest man on earth (after William Shatner).
he's an idiot for sure, but if anyone should bail out our inept auto industry it should be the companies that kept pushing the gas guzzler policy
dread - nashville's market is slow. many firms have had lay-offs and, i've been told by laid off friends, that no one is hiring right now. hello food service industry!
i was listening to npr yestaday they were talking about new yawk and if i heard it right they said that 100,000 jobs in finance were going away. the real story was about the tax revenues of the entire state. ie total hiring freeze of government service jobs and the closing of some state run facilities. n_____ are there any country songwriting jobs down there? they always need help.
Repost from another thread:
It certainly is a tough time. The credit crisis brought instability to employment in the AEC industry early this year - maybe even from late 2007.
It could get even tougher as it becomes more evident that the financial and economic crises are flowing over from Wall Street to Main Street. Not only are banks still purging and failing, but consumer-supported industries are starting to fail. It's a downward cycle. It's only really just beginning for the majority of us who work outside of Wall Street. Put your seatbelts on.
There is a new article concerning layoffs published online at Architectural Record: http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/081117jobaxe.asp
cris, i will keep my eyes and ears alert for you. i wish i had little more work so we could work together until you get a 'real' job.;.)
best of luck..
So sorry to hear about all the layoffs, hang in there everyone. We'll all just have to live according to our needs instead of our somewhat ridiculous wants. Anyone in Houston having trouble yet?
This week, Build Boston is having free sessions for people who just got laid off or have to lay people off:
http://www.buildboston.com/home.asp
On November 18, 19 and 20 at Build Boston, the BSA hosts three free, informal gatherings of architects and other architecture-firm professionals interested in exploring responses to the imminent challenges of our faltering economy.
At each of these three events, one or more attorneys, accountants, fee-collection advisors, insurance advisors and, job-placement professionals will be available to respond to questions and to offer informal advice on the broad range of legal, financial, employment and other business-management and career issues firms and individuals are facing now or may soon encounter...and to highlight BSA, public-agency and other services individuals and firms may find useful.
The conversation on Tuesday, November 18 is specifically for sole practitioners (SA19), Wednesday, November 19 is designed for principals of small and mid-size design firms (SB19), and Thursday, November 20 is intended for individual design professionals working in design firms and in every other traditional and non-traditional setting including designers employed in corporate, institutional, public-agency and other roles (SC19).
time to become a pirate in the gulf. it looks rather exciting and not particularly dangerous as none of these huge tankers seem to have any security and the naval ships in the area won't sink your ass. you hijack the ship and take it to your new boomtown pirate port in somalia and wait for the million dollar ransom. wtf?
n_ i was curious because i had briefly flirted with the idea of moving back to nashville for work, but sounds like i'm better off staying put in so cal.
orhan, thanks, i appreciate it. things aren't all too bad though. i qualified for unemployment (woo hoo!). it's about half of what my salary was but it's better than nothing. also, i have a couple of free-lance opportunities so i think i'll be ok at least 'till the end of the year. (but yes, if you need any help, let me know! =)
vado, you do bring up an interesting point...
if things got bad (and i mean bad enough where not even mickey d's is hiring) what kind of illegal activity would you get into as a source of livelihood?
i wouldn't try anything too risky or dangerous. i'd like to grow and sell pot. it sounds like fun (read Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser to find out why i think it would be fun). it's either that or become a gigolo, but i don't think too many ladies would pay me for sex.
still kicking here, although we have had 12 people let go in the last week, we're not as bad as some firms in syndey (40+ people in one hit at one firm)
plus an urban design firm we work with just went into liquidation, 30 people down and we still need work from them.
ironicaly i need more people on my project (large job in Jordan), in dd phase and have so many drawings with 10% complete next to them but we can't afford to hire and every other project team is too streched to help. so it looks like we'll all be working 6 days getting paid for 4...
layoffs here in seattle... :'(
OF-
Callison or LMN?
i can't imagine how the smaller residential firms are faring, especially that expanded exponentially in last few months
h.b.-
I know LMN laid off a few people people though that was maybe a month ago.
Weeds, it's a great primer on what to do and how to do it, when you want to go off the grid.
in a totally unrelated industry. my friend in chicago works as an art direktor at a company that puts your company's logo on things like coffee mugs, keychains etc. you know this promo kind of paraphanalia, well they have totally shut down there second shift...
ya i hear callison got hit really bad. i hear also weber thompson. pb elemental... small firms getting hit too.
Dread - I'd stay in SoCal, unless you want to be a waiter. Things aren't looking up in Nashville.
Small residential firm, Providence, RI - …well here it is, we just had our last job go on hold and after over 12 years of continuous employment at this firm I will be unemployed Dec. 1st.
Man, threshold, that's harsh. Hang in there. Do any of the contractors you've worked with over the last 12 years need some help? It's a stretch, I know.
> LB - Before the meeting was even over I had already started a list of contacts I need to talk with. I don’t know where this will take my family and I as things are very bad here (RI leads the nation in unemployment currently). At least I’m above water on my mortgage and probably in a position to make a good amount if it comes to that. My new job will be finding the next job.
thresh - are you licensed?
> Crowbert – No. I’m eligible to test but never had a great incentive to go down that road. I’m the #2 guy here so there is no position above me to attain and I also know my pay would not be going up with my own stamp. I think I could move through all the sections in just a few months if it becomes my focus (and it might).
Where I live I can do residential work without a stamp. Any structural engineering will require a stamp but I would hire a consultant even if I was licensed. I had a contractor I know ask me to do a bunch of really basic addition/renovation as side work back in the summer and I turned it down. There was no art there and technically I’m not allowed by the firm to do it… One of my calls tonight will be to see if any of that work might still be around.
This is all starting to sink in now… Not looking forward to telling my wife & son tonight.
thresh, get back in it right away, if you can't get work and have to get unemployment, do competitions, design your own things, do the side work stuff. when the market turns around, and it will, you'll want to show that you were active and not sitting around.
with your exp, you should be able to blast through the ARE's.
i currently have a couple of promising opportunities, although one is a bit of a hike, but having commuted to NYC from Joisey, this is small potatoes.
So do all of the newly unemployed archinectors want to band together to form an international superstudio that wins all sorts of high profile competitions? We'll have an el croquis about us by next year, I just know it.
hell, i'll quit right now to be a part of such a thing!
yes.
i think some kind of Collective of guerrilla architects, kind of like Knitta, would be great. actually i have been threatening this for a long time, and this just might the right time to unleash the fury.
Sounds good to me. As long as I can still collect unemployment.
Speaking of, with the sudden flux of applicants, will unemployment benefits become shortened? Approval process more restrictive?
no, actually the benefits will probably extend a bit.
Doppel, i'd be interested
that sounds awesome, but we'll end up spending all day surfing the Archinect.
Thresh, get licensed ASAFP while you still have the grand to pay for the tests. With no "day job" other than finding work, you should be able to cruise at about 1 a week (7 total in the ARE4.0) - which means 2 months give or take a week here or there to avoid brain overload.
Working in the real world can actually hurt you in that the tests are closer to architecture in theory instead of architecture in practice, but you'll never be more ready than you are now. You might also want to take the LEED exam before it changes at the end of the year.
Get as many letters as you can at the end of your name everyone!
> crowbert - I was budgeting last night for the exam and I'm on the same page regarding LEED.
I have started talking to people I know to see if anything shakes out and developing a list of priorities to start addressing this weekend: update resume, LinkedIn, professional portfolio, secure references, figure out ARE testing order, photography portfolio, furniture/object design portfolio, design new website that I can sell things from…
I turn 38 2 weekends from now which looks like it is going to coincide with the end of billable work here. I have been here +12 years, I’m the #2 guy, I run all the projects, I manage a team of project managers and intern architects, I’m a strong and proven designer, I’m an expert CAD user/customizer, I manage the computer network, I’m involved in the day to day business operation and marketing, I’m an associate principal. But it looks like I’ll be starting my 39th year of life in a place I never, ever imagined I would be.
The canary has stopped singing.
Ain't arch. a bleep?
what songs?
threshold, is the #1 closing shop entirely, or are you in the wings to come back if things pick up?
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