Don't worry about quitting your job a month in. Businesses that hire unskilled labor are used to a lot of unreliability from their workforce. If something better comes along, just give them notice.

Have you looked into delaying paying back your student loans? I thought there was a way to defer if you can't find employment in your field. Obviously that doesn't help with rent.

As for finding time to work on a portfolio: you can work into the night. I'm assuming your day work will be physically but not mentally demanding (I could be wrong), so I'd suggest bringing a little sketchbook with you so if you have a moment's insight into a project you want to put in your portfolio you can write it down quickly and get into developing it that night when you get home.

It's NOT easy doing a day shift of work and a night shift of creating, but it IS possible. Lots of artists and writers do it. Good luck, and good for you tackling your upcoming bills so responsibly!

liberty bell makes a good point. remember there's actually 168 hours in a week so strictly speaking you'll only be working about 25-30% of the time. if you're rigorous & disciplined then you might be surprised how much can be accomplished in your limited free time.

besides, housekeeping itself can be a good opportunity to see & understand how people live. at your age (22) that might be more valuable than staring at a computer & drawing crappy stair details all day. also, i recommend checking out the recent koolhaashouselife book/dvd as a reference point about the intersection of architecture & housekeeping.

thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know I had the option to push back the student loans (thought the 6 month grace period was the delay), but thats a great idea. also, I never thought housekeeping could have an architectural benefit, professionally, but u'r right puddles. this experience could be useful in the future. i'll just look at this job as research. Though, I can't figure out how to get my hands on the houselife dvd or book. Have you seen/read it? Where did u get it?

LB is wise, you have time to improve everything. I learned, redesigned and recreated my portfolio, website, graphics, showreel, motion graphics and arch after my 60 hr work week. I did this for a few years and then started my own show.

Defer the loans as long as you can, even if you are making money. Better to have cash flow and reserves and the interest rate isn't anything to be concerned with.

Learn, learn, learn!! Keep working on improving old projects, finding new challenges that will help you career.


The worst thing you can do is sit idle. Take advantage of the brainless job to put your mind into over drive in after hours (and let your body rest).


(My housekeeper, or company, makes a lot more than that! Seriously, tips alone are more than that. People are making money cleaning, take a look at Craigslist or call a few companies.
I appreciate the entrepreneurs out there, though, working hard and, some at least, are being rewarded for their efforts.

Think outside of the box, always find ways to keep moving forward.)

i ordered the book/dvd via the website: http://www.koolhaashouselife.com/

it's a bit expensive, so you might want to try checking at a few libraries first.

I also agree with puddles and trace that housekeeping is a great way to start to understand the decisions designers make, especially material decisions: what details of tile or cabinetry hold up well, what shapes of light fixtures are total dust magnets, etc.. I have thought that if my own firm situation implodes and I need a survival job that cleaning houses would be a realistic option - I think I'd mostly enjoy the intimate view into people's lives, though yes dealing with their dirty tissues etc, might be a bit squicky!

squicky, yes. but during wwII when everyone was dragged in for military service, even philip johnson had to participate. initially, they had him doing translation work but after realizing his questionable pre-war activities in germany (nazi sympathizer???) they relegated him to latrine duty. if notorious rich boy johnson could survive months of cleaning military toilets then i think liberty bell will be just fine.

Self-employed eastern european female house cleaners used to charge $50/hour here in Chicago ten years ago, in cash, finishing a big house in about two hours and an apartment in an hour or less, and doing maybe three houses a day. Being cash, that $150/day is really more like $250/day, which is nice undeclared money.

These ladies always dress nice, lived in nice neighborhoods on NW side or near NW/N suburbs of Chicago, and probably had more savings stashed than many of their clients.

I've seen anywhere from $65/hr to 150/hr. Now that's a 'company', of course, but still a reasonable payment. Add a nice tip and the people are making decent money.

chicago, that kinda cracks me up, because you can't *really* clean a big house in two hours. You can vacuum it and toss all the crap in a closet, but you're not getting floors you can eat off for a hundred bucks!

yeah, it may not seem like the housekeepers are doing much in their two hours...yet anytime i've attempted to clean myself, i swear it take twice as long and doesn't feel half as clean. i guess that's why they are professionals.

and that's why I pay someone.

I am much more productive browsing Archinect and posting ridiculous rants. :-)

I can't believe that for so long Americans preached about how much they "cared" about the future generations. And now this generation can't even enter the work force!

a job is a job... a career is just a 'skilled job'...

my jobs have included : bagger at farmer jacks, factory pit worker shoveling gravel and painting, roofing inspector, rough/finish carpenter, electrician summer labor/pulling wire and wiring, load/unload semi trucks for 16 hours a day, a few arch firms, shop manager at 2 shops, dance instructor, event organizer, car builder, exhibit engineer, design/build, ...... i might have missed a few

all in all, go to work, get paid, enjoy life........

"...all in all, go to work, get paid, enjoy life........"

agreed.

for what it's worth, my first few jobs "out" of college during the last major recession included part-time retail, auto-body painting, part-time ice-cream recycler (12 hour weekends), part-time artist.

also hung out at free/school sponsored seminars to network, took advantage of free lunch/seminars. when i found my first architecture job (after about 6 months of non-stop part-time jobs), it wasn't a big deal "dumping" my somewhat stable retail job - my boss wished me the best.

it was fun at the time, i don't know if i could do all that anymore...i think i've planned appropriately since then.

"enjoy life."

i, too have resorted to cleaning houses. I got laid off last year, and had enough money to carry me for about 10 months. I felt pretty ok at the time...who knew? Any way, I clean vacation rentals on an as needed basis for 150 to 200 for about 6 hours of work. It reminds me of how much I hated drawing toilet elevations...now I just clean them.
But it pays the bills, and I keep telling myself that at least I'm willing to do what I have to to keep the bills paid...mortgage and kid and stuff.
Thinking about going back for my PhD to make better use of my down time away from the industry.

A friend told me that there is still an active market for freelance tutoring services, helping elementary and hs students do their homework, paying $20/hour to $50/hour cash for late afternoon and evening work. Check Craigslist.