i am a 2nd year student of B.arch....im having a hard time deciding whether to focus more on the academic side of my college or to focus on the part time jobs i might get in farms...?? the fix is between "studying" conventianlly followed by a good GRE score or going through the ride of jobs n finding my way out working on the ground..??
joy ... without want to be too sarcastic about it, perhaps some extra attention in your English Grammar 101 class might be in order ... most employers do prefer their entry level staff to be reasonably literate.
I'm as serious as you can get in the office/work environment but to put into perspective a little, my only concern after second year was which beach (with the hottest chicks) to spend the summer surfing at.
joy, you owe it to yourself to get the absolute most out of your education. that doesn't mean academic excellence = grades. it means that you need to be hungry - insatiable - take it all in, and do everything you can to put what you've absorbed to work. test it. tweak it. work on it like crazy.
work in a firm is good, but not paramount at this point. glean the experience you can from it, if you do it, but definitely prioritized school over work. all you're really going to get from pre-graduation intern work is a sense of how a firm operates and the general in-office dynamic, anyway.
file> ur wrong... i worked in american & english film, grammar was the last thing they give a shit about... what matters is ur drawing and being able to work with client & contractor...
aspect ... fine ... maybe I should amend my post to say that "architectural firms that actually give a damn about having employees with genuine long-term career potential prefer staff who are reasonably literate."
i routinely receive resumes from unemployed architects who demonstrate a profound inability to deal effectively with language and communication. while I do look at their professional qualifications, such resumes rarely, if ever, make it past the initial screening.
if you just want to be a 1-dimensional cad-monkey who is laid off at the first sign of a downturn, that's your choice. truly professional firms seek staff who are well rounded and can manage a wide variety of tasks and activities with reasonable proficiency.
look ... before you reply to my note immediately above, I just want to say that I'm not trying to pick a fight here.
everybody's entitled to pursue whatever skill set and career that interests them. I just find - like many of my generation - that basic grammar and communication skills are eroding at an alarming rate. such skills once were the hallmark of an educated person. today, such skills are dismissed as irrelevant. that's quite a shame and our culture is the poorer.
How much slack do you give in grammar for different situations. I agree a resume should be perfect. You are attempting to convey everything about your professional qualifications. Spelling counts here.
However, in an online missive sent from a blackberry I can see where letters can be dropped and tolerance allowed. I, for instance, like using std. arch. abbreviations while using my treo b/c it is the only place left for me to do so. - I mandated no abbreviations on cd's b/c there is no reason not to spell out things like mtl. and ma. on a contract document.
Spelling and grammar are important in a resume unless English is not your native tongue. Anytime friends of mine drop me a resume to forward to my boss, i check spelling and grammar and I've seen ones that were far too embarrassing to forward.
: I'll be the first to admit that I'm "old school" on this topic. I even sweat the details when sending messages from my PDA. To me it's a sign of respect for the recipient of my message.
When I receive a message that's excessively casual, full of IM abbreviations, and littered with typos and grammatical errors, I tend to be borderline insulted. It's like "well, you're not important enough for me to spend my valuable time turning this message into something worthwhile."
I view writing as a craft ... I value and respect craft.
To broaden this topic beyond writing and grammar, I find that virtually no firms take a truly academic approach to the practice of architecture. Even at some of the most forward thinking firms, theory, research, and experimentation are the most minuscule piece of the pie, only given the opportunity to take place at the very beginning of projects or on slow days.
If history, theory, writing, or research strongly appeal then you'll be much better off aiming for a teaching position than working for a firm.
I agree with what file says. When I write emails to my bosses or anyone else in the profession, I feel it would be insulting to send them things that are chock-full of mistakes (save for obvious typos). There are all kinds of things to prevent such mistakes on the internet -- from online dictionaries to firefox's spell-check option. And likewise I tend not to take emails from would-be consultants seriously if they have a bunch of mistakes. (and this has happened many times.
I tend to think that Architects are very picky about spelling and grammar in general.
You think about it, senior level architects spend a lot of time on documents such as fee proposals, RFPs, and such so the spelling/grammar obviously has to be on point.
Younger architects like myself have to spend a lot of time writing emails to consultants and answering RFIs. Before sending these documents out I've had bosses double check my work for mistakes just before they felt comfortable enough in me sending them out of my own.
I will admit that I am not the best speller and my grammar is not the best. I have my partner/wife proof read all important correspondence before it goes out.
Over time we have developed a writing style for the office correspondence and the long term employees have co-opted it for their own style too. Kind of cool that we all write in one voice.
Jul 1, 09 10:14 pm ·
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how much does academic excellence count for?
i am a 2nd year student of B.arch....im having a hard time deciding whether to focus more on the academic side of my college or to focus on the part time jobs i might get in farms...?? the fix is between "studying" conventianlly followed by a good GRE score or going through the ride of jobs n finding my way out working on the ground..??
If you are getting a BARCH don't spend the money on a MARCH. you have three more years of school to go.
Just focus on good design and a quality well rounded education. Don't panic on the grades -- well at least not too much.
have fun!
artists often do side jobs to get inspired...
incorporate ur farming technic and make a kick ass final project^^
i'm sure u know more about green than those green architects 24hrs sitting in aircon office writing about it.
If you actually meant farm, im impressed....
but seriously that shouldn't be the debate, school or job....
GO HAVE FUN YOU ARE IN COLLEGE FOR CHRIST SAKE!!!
doing well in school can more easily get you a job after graduation. forget the farm.
joy ... without want to be too sarcastic about it, perhaps some extra attention in your English Grammar 101 class might be in order ... most employers do prefer their entry level staff to be reasonably literate.
but then again cows don't care...
2nd year b-arch?
I'm sorry but you are waaaaaaay too young to be worrying about that kind of thing.
I'm as serious as you can get in the office/work environment but to put into perspective a little, my only concern after second year was which beach (with the hottest chicks) to spend the summer surfing at.
academic excellence does help u get your foot through your first job, im not sure how much it will help afterwards
smoke weed, every day.
joy, you owe it to yourself to get the absolute most out of your education. that doesn't mean academic excellence = grades. it means that you need to be hungry - insatiable - take it all in, and do everything you can to put what you've absorbed to work. test it. tweak it. work on it like crazy.
work in a firm is good, but not paramount at this point. glean the experience you can from it, if you do it, but definitely prioritized school over work. all you're really going to get from pre-graduation intern work is a sense of how a firm operates and the general in-office dynamic, anyway.
file> ur wrong... i worked in american & english film, grammar was the last thing they give a shit about... what matters is ur drawing and being able to work with client & contractor...
aspect ... fine ... maybe I should amend my post to say that "architectural firms that actually give a damn about having employees with genuine long-term career potential prefer staff who are reasonably literate."
i routinely receive resumes from unemployed architects who demonstrate a profound inability to deal effectively with language and communication. while I do look at their professional qualifications, such resumes rarely, if ever, make it past the initial screening.
if you just want to be a 1-dimensional cad-monkey who is laid off at the first sign of a downturn, that's your choice. truly professional firms seek staff who are well rounded and can manage a wide variety of tasks and activities with reasonable proficiency.
look ... before you reply to my note immediately above, I just want to say that I'm not trying to pick a fight here.
everybody's entitled to pursue whatever skill set and career that interests them. I just find - like many of my generation - that basic grammar and communication skills are eroding at an alarming rate. such skills once were the hallmark of an educated person. today, such skills are dismissed as irrelevant. that's quite a shame and our culture is the poorer.
file,
How much slack do you give in grammar for different situations. I agree a resume should be perfect. You are attempting to convey everything about your professional qualifications. Spelling counts here.
However, in an online missive sent from a blackberry I can see where letters can be dropped and tolerance allowed. I, for instance, like using std. arch. abbreviations while using my treo b/c it is the only place left for me to do so. - I mandated no abbreviations on cd's b/c there is no reason not to spell out things like mtl. and ma. on a contract document.
Spelling and grammar are important in a resume unless English is not your native tongue. Anytime friends of mine drop me a resume to forward to my boss, i check spelling and grammar and I've seen ones that were far too embarrassing to forward.
I would love to work on a farm and study architecture at the same time. Maybe we could create an Architecture fArm...
: I'll be the first to admit that I'm "old school" on this topic. I even sweat the details when sending messages from my PDA. To me it's a sign of respect for the recipient of my message.
When I receive a message that's excessively casual, full of IM abbreviations, and littered with typos and grammatical errors, I tend to be borderline insulted. It's like "well, you're not important enough for me to spend my valuable time turning this message into something worthwhile."
I view writing as a craft ... I value and respect craft.
To broaden this topic beyond writing and grammar, I find that virtually no firms take a truly academic approach to the practice of architecture. Even at some of the most forward thinking firms, theory, research, and experimentation are the most minuscule piece of the pie, only given the opportunity to take place at the very beginning of projects or on slow days.
If history, theory, writing, or research strongly appeal then you'll be much better off aiming for a teaching position than working for a firm.
I agree with what file says. When I write emails to my bosses or anyone else in the profession, I feel it would be insulting to send them things that are chock-full of mistakes (save for obvious typos). There are all kinds of things to prevent such mistakes on the internet -- from online dictionaries to firefox's spell-check option. And likewise I tend not to take emails from would-be consultants seriously if they have a bunch of mistakes. (and this has happened many times.
I tend to think that Architects are very picky about spelling and grammar in general.
You think about it, senior level architects spend a lot of time on documents such as fee proposals, RFPs, and such so the spelling/grammar obviously has to be on point.
Younger architects like myself have to spend a lot of time writing emails to consultants and answering RFIs. Before sending these documents out I've had bosses double check my work for mistakes just before they felt comfortable enough in me sending them out of my own.
I will admit that I am not the best speller and my grammar is not the best. I have my partner/wife proof read all important correspondence before it goes out.
Over time we have developed a writing style for the office correspondence and the long term employees have co-opted it for their own style too. Kind of cool that we all write in one voice.
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