apply for jobs, make contacts, follow-up with contacts, attend lectures, meet people....you'd be surprised what might happen.

if i was you..... go visit some exhibit houses/millwork shops and ask if you can help out for 10 hours a week.... just as a helper and not doing sweeping... tell them you need the shop experience and would like to learn on how things are built and go together... i'm sure you will learn something....

get the hands on experience and understand production/etc....

Jerk off

Go to Dubai or China! That's where all the money is being spent for development. Tons of North American companies are begging to set-up their studios in China. And, you get to be creative...the Chinese love the concept which is the craziest!

help me fabricate my grow house in my basement. it'll be a tour de force, that will have rem drooling...

Are you in a city that you hope to stay in? If so, here is a painful and boring but ultimately useful suggestion: start going to the zoning board and building variance public meetings. Start to learn the names and faces of the people who work in the governmental process who may someday have authority over a project you want to get built. Start to find out who the players are - the expediters and counsel who seem to have pull with the boards. This way you'll also see who, in your town, is actually working on projects, both architects and developers.

Painful, boring, frustrating, but valuable information IF you want to work wherever you are.

best advice I never got: start taking your license exams. you are already in study mode. once you get out of that mode it is very difficult to get back in. momentum is on your side right now. plus you have the free time. take advantage of that. consider it your job and study from 9-5. you can probably finish all of your exams rather quickly that way. it will also give you a comfort level with the "anything else" that most companies will care more about than your design skills.

Liberty is absolutly right: There is nothing like the lessons to be learned in a boring Zoning Meeting. You will see the best and worst of the Human Race. Go in and ask the City Planner if you can have a closer look at the submitted plan even if it is rejected cause then you will learn not what to do. Most places have their Planning and
Zoning regulation online so you don't have to waste money on buying a set of documents. Learn about the regulations, and the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Inland Wetlands commissions. Watch the Big Boys (Lawyers) move a plan before a board. Although
it is only a small part of Architecture it is an important tool to learn, inorder to keep food on the table. I have been in this profession for ages and I can honestly say I have only been turned down two times before a zoning board, once by an inland wetlands board, and once by a historical commission. On all four occassions I was accompanied by an attornery. I was paid for my services on all but one of the occassions. There is a slight chance I might see payment for the one outstanding, but I will have to wait and see. Ah Hell I might go ahead and sue them for the monies owed, cause I know I do have a 95 percent chance of winning if they don't want to settle out of court.

liberty is absolutely right especially in china, we also bring them gifts and money to get along better in the future^^

Aspect... In America that is known as corruption. Heh.

That's actually one of the reasons why planners are paid so well is to avoid corruption. But plumping up salaries can lead to stagnation, defensiveness and laziness... so, I could see higher salaries as being self-corrupting!

I would do at least 3 of the following:

design your own coffin and spend most of your time in there
get a helicopter license and run drugs over the canadian border
remove 1/2 of your doubled-up (and unnecessary) organs

If all else fails and for lack of other commitments, you might consider abusing alcohol.

VOLUNTEER!!!!!!
could be design related
maybe not
teach english, build houses, there are a lot of community design non-profits popping up in every city.
it's fun, little responsibility, and good payoff on the resume.

What kind of dairy? That's pretty important. Goats are assholes.

i'm learning to cook for the first time and it's really tactile and rewarding.

Get a life in your spare time, some of you sound like your basically lost in life if your not designing a cool building.

Hi,

In the free time I think it is good to make some designs or to learn all about architecture as, in my free time I will like to learn about green architecture.


This is all very good and will defintely work for you.


Thanks!

Networking is a good skill to learn. Look at Meetup.com for a billion types of groups, many offering free food and drink. You'll meet people from many businesses, some successful, some just starting.

Then with your new taste for the business world, I'd start studying business books, look at classes, etc. Diversify you knowledge of how the business world works (architecture is no different). That will give you a more realistic feeling for what makes teh world turn (hint, it rhymes with funny).

Write up a business plan on where you'd like to be in 10 years. This will help you visualize your path and expectations. Continue to look at it over teh years to come and be prepared to scrap it and start over (I sure did).


Design a competition or two, but don't kill yourself over it. They can be gratifying when you win an award, but you have to be realistic - don't put all your eggs in one basket.


Drink. Hangovers get worse as you get older! ;-)

I just designed my own new monogram as a sort of rip on the AIA's monogram! I got the idea from people bitching about the AIA... so, I said someone should just start the People's Society of Architecture. Then I kind of designed a logo... and now I'm like 95% through establishing some sort of entity.

You could do that.

Any comments/compliments/trash-talking?

Use your free time to enter the Holcim Awards US. It is free to enter with $300,000 USD in prize money to be won. Holcim Awards US

Trace was an MBA recruiter in a past life...

Download counterstrike and watch how days turn into minutes!

ha ha