:) take me with you

you might hear that its quite touching what you say and it proves that you are humble enough to know that you don't know much and that thats quite a fine thing.
personally, i think that sentiment is beautiful:
Be a nomad be a nobody just be like the wind...
but please make sure you don't eat poisonous mushrooms.

I am sorry you feel this way. But I hardly think a year is enough time to determine that you are no good at practice, and abandon ship. It sounds like you are at the point now where you realize how much you don't know and feel like you are sinking. It's a hump for a lot of people. Knowing what you don't know is the first step in the learning process. If running off to travel is really what you want to do, then do it now, while you are still allowed to be free-spirited without having to explain your absence too much.
Also keep in mind that the difference between school and practice is often a bitter pill to swallow. It's just part of the process that you have to get passed.
Good luck with whatever decision you make.

his goal in life was to be an echo...

I'm going to reiterate what isabella said: A year out of school, if you have realized you don't know "anything", you've actually come to a far greater awareness than have many of your peers!

How old are you? Architecture is a slow, long profession. "Young" architects are 40 and under. mature architects are in their 50, and no one under 53 has won the Pritzker. There is so much to know to be a good architect, give yourself time to learn it.

Also, the first several years out of school are hard, for reasons related to age (the 20s sucked; I was so much happier after age 30), to economics (I bet you're broke, therefore wondering why you are working your butt off every day at something you don't enjoy AND not getting paid well for it), to knowledge (it's humbling to realize that even with a degree you still know "less" about building than a guy who pounds nails all day) to how stimulating your work is (doing many bathroom elevations? redlines? rendering-after-rendering? door schedules?).

Things get better, really. Like isabella said, you just have to get through this transition time, which is hard. It's hard for everyone. If you feel like the goal of being registered and having the opportunity to make a fulfilling life out of doing this work is worth it, just keep slogging through. If you honestly feel like you don't want to pursue it, then yeah - backpack for awhile.

yuk, register, office, slogging, age...
do you plan on depressing the boy/girl any more?

or just depress the boy/girl (assuming s/he is not depressed)

wow thanks guys, I appreciate all the replies, I am 23 Fondue, and yeah all of it (the practice) seemed daunting to me. I guess I would still like to learn.
I guess a new working environment would make it more interesting but of course its still the same work.
Yep Vado i only want to be in the background....lol
Thank you isabella, yeah the difference is really uninspiring, I was really discouraged.
You are right liberty bell I guess I will just have to wait for things to get better, I guess I'll just take the licensure exam and then do the backpacking....I woulnt mind bringing a few peeps with me :P

And Vado I believe in what Oscar Niemeyer said, that we are not that important, that all we have to do is to make ourselves as useful as we can be. We are nothing but a tiny spec in this multiverse.

also your workplace might be contributing to this.
right after school I worked in a firm where older people were very happy to constantly point out to younger generation that they didn't know anything about the profession. it's depressing after a while, really.
yeah, things are daunting but it's probably nothing you can't learn.

i believe Tadao Ando was a Nomad after he was a boxer before he became an architect withtout proper training....and look him now.

if you can afford it just keep designing, teach, design, do competitions, eventually you can hire a guy like may to build your design that won a competition and do the technical parts...

from what i hear ando was independently wealthy and only boxed til he was 18. he is self taught except that he apparently worked in an office or two and might have learned something there, and in japan it is anyway quite common to get license without going to university.

the rule here in japan is you pass the exam and thats it. no education necessary. not easy mind you. ando didn't even bother to do that and just hired someone to stamp his dwgs (ando taught at my uni and my prof and ando shared studio space there - my classmate boldly asked him if ever got license and he was happy to say no)..

anyway, while ando is interesting example he is special. he did not tramp around the world to escape reality but to discover it and he works incredibly hard even now. as role model he is great but better to have more facts before copying...;-)


my younger brother tramped through laos and cambodia, malaysia, and thailand, australia and japan for a few years. i think he liked it. when he came back to world of responsibilities he was a bit feral but no worse for wear. myself i quit architecture to paint for a year or two and quite liked it. we are both a bit behind where our friends are in life (money in bank, nice house, etc) but that is fair trade in my opinion.

if you feel the need to be nomad then go for it. just be ready for all those same problems to be waiting for you when you get back.

Yeah ckl at some level it's definitely the workplace, especially when I don't have some respect for my boss or I dont agree with his ways and design principles, but it's true I could learn from it and hopefully not become like him.

I like what metababble is thinking, and I am a fan of Tadao and his works, I do join competitions and have always thought of living like that. That is very appealing to me and then especially when you said that I can hire someone to build my design and do the techinical parts of it...reall nice :3

But I guess I do need the resources, the skill, and most likely persistence to be good at this or most likely at anything. Jump thank you for sharing your experience of "nomading"....it help me see what it is I am going in to. And yeah I guess my idea of tramping around the world was not to escape reality but actually to be a part of it and not to stay in a little corner and keep on speculating what it needs and what I can do about it, what am I suppose to do if I ever had a role in it, and what that freakin role is. Doing this is actually facing this problem that I have right?, and I don't think we can be behind in life, since we aim for different things to achieve, and what my colleagues or friends will be having or already have was their own choice of pursuing it and this is my way of pursuing mine...

two words: Peace Corp.

NLW2 if I was an american citizen I would have that option :P but I guess I can still be a volunteer.

I'd try one of two things:

1 - a year is nothing, suck it up, tough it out, give it another year

2 - jump ship now and find something else you like, go back to school for a profession where the education is similar tot he reality (like graphics or business)

3 - (not really an option unless you have some cash) travel, backpack, whatever, just be careful about the reality of costs.


You are very, very young. I don't think you can possibly really know one way or another. Give yourself time to gain that clarity that comes with time.

Personally, I hear you, I could never have stuck with the traditional path, but that's me.

Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out and remember to turn the light off when you are done.

I suggest you immerse yourself in situationist theology, reincarnate the movement, and embrace your predisposition to being a flaneur.

Join AFH (architecture for humanity)?

Most architects, almost all of them, really only know what they know well which is usually a very small part of the full profession, I used to stump my first real employer on a daily basis, the guy had to draw everything and therefore wanted me to draw everything even though I already knew the outcome. I was asked to leave because I didn't show respect, how could I to a guy who had been designing for 40 years and still couldn't imagine anything without a pencil...like he was still on training wheels.

Then I had other employers try to convince the part they knew about architecture is the part that makes you successful, this is the equivalent of school telling you design is architecure...

Point is, whatever an architect tells you, in some form or another, its bullshit, or their version of life that works for them or they are stuck with.

Given the great amount of cynical and sarcastic architects, most advise and critique you will get in this profession is from people who are stuck and don't have the balls or intelligent to remedy the situation hence they say things to you like - just wait kid, you know nothing, you will never make any money, blah blah blah

How are you taking your license exams already? Do you have professional degree (coming from undergrad)? You have to have all 3 years of your needed Intern credits done, and a post-professional degree.

If you are taking them, the ARE's, lemme know. I want to look into that then.

Do recall that this aspect of metababble's advice applies also to the very advice that he is giving you: Point is, whatever an architect tells you, in some form or another, its bullshit, or their version of life that works for them or they are stuck with.

clearlyambguous, I think Zsnype is not in the US.

ha lb, my brain hurts now...

i'm advising that my advise is bull shit, love it.

If you are in the U.S., you could try this.

I wasn't aware that the Peace Corp does building projects, but I have looked into USAID, Design Corp, AfH, etc. as well.

nope Im not in the U.S., and clearlyambguous from where I am we only need 2 years on internship and then we can take the licensure exam, that is what I am planning to take the exam just to finish the whole "package" and then I guess from there I can go crazy with what I want to do...right?
I totally agree with what metababble said, my boss is definitely one of those kind, but I need him for the intern credits, so I guess I'll have to make myself useful until I get out.

Funny thing is I did quit the firm about 4 months ago, back then I've decided to rethink the whole thing, but then two weeks ago, my then former boss who is currently my boss, :p, called me and asked me to come back, I was hesitant but it gave me some direction and I can finish what I have started so that I can take the licensure exam asap, so that's what happened..

And trace yeah I guess I'm almost there so I guess i just have to tough it up, and number 2 would be a good thing to opt for after all of this, maybe ill try my luck with making short clips...which I do not mind doing....and I guess I do need a lot of money if I decide to go backpacking...oooh ryanj that looks interesting, but Im not in U.S.

Oh yeah and what metababble said "just wait kid, you know nothing, you will never make any money, blah blah blah" my boss painfully said that to me as well in a way, like he said that "well I think all of us have gone to school here and finished a degree and are educated and should be able to blah blah blah"

You're right though, meta, that all advice is basically bs, because only each individual can decide what is best for them. Taking in lots of other viewpoints before making a decision is just one way of many to go about it.

As for what bosses say: I pretty much still know nothing, I pretty much don't make any money, and yet I'm still happy to go to work every day doing what I love to do. I do get angered when other architects try to beat down the younger in the field with their own pessimism, though getting back to what meta said, it's no different from me trying to pump the younger up with my own optimism!

If architects began their advise with " hey this is what worked for me or this is just my opinion". We wouldn't have so many young architects in similar position as our poster.

When I give someone instructions I usually say "this is the intent and I think this would be the best way to do it, but you go ahead and do it as you see fit, but just make sure its right and done on time."

A lot of architecture advise reminds me of old men talking about being married, and everytime I here their rants I always thought to myself then why did you marry that woman in the first place or.why weren't you more upfront?!? What like you get married and suprise...this does happen though somehow.

Thank you so much guys, you were a great help....it sucks that in this profession we really need our eyes huhuhu and lately I got problems with mine.......anyways thanks!! :3

I was told that I could take the ARE as soon as I graduated (last year). You would still have to do 3 years IDP after that. It was like a temporary change in the rules.....I should really get around to that.