I am hoping to get some perspective on my situation from some older and wiser archinecters. Others may find this useful also, as I think it is a position more and more aspiring architects are finding themselves in.
I am a young designer, graduated from a good school with a professional M.Arch in 2010 and (like most) scrapped around trying to pull together enough jobs to eat after graduation. I have now been with a design-build studio for 28 months where I am treated well (paid overtime, vacation time, $50k/year, Fridays off, am the "lead" designer in the office, and can get reimbursed for travel and education expenses a couple times a year.) However we do not do Architecture per se - sometimes we will design and build architectural elements, but it is mostly installation pieces, facade elements, sculpture, etc...
I can't help but feel like I am missing the train to licensure and long-term success. Sure, the pay is nice right now, and I won't get anything close when switching to a mainstream Architecture job, but am I putting myself in an untenable position for when the economy does bounce back strongly? Or in 5 years when (if I stay here) my peers are making 50-100% more than me?
I love designing and building, but ultimately I want to be creating spaces and experiences, not just structures or facade elements or details. Am I getting greedy? Is it too soon (in the economic recovery) to be leaving a cushy job in search of new challenges and a path to licensure? Do you older members here ever feel like you are missing out on some aspects of design by staying in your current job?
Sounds like a good gig. As lead designer you have pull Don't jump ship for a cad monkey job. Small elements that are YOUR designs are worth more than what most grads are doing. What kind of things are you designing? Any possibility that you can start your own thing eventually? Many architects also started out designing small things. Look at some bios. Furniture, industrial designs, etc. design is design. My advice would be to stick it out and get really really good at what you do and to start getting side projects and see where that goes. A conventional path leads to a conventional career IMO.
Sounds like you have a good thing going for you. The way I see it, if your company provides room for you to grow as a designer and move up the company ladder, there is no reason to leave.
one guy talked about making trash cans for a loading dock and learning to weld...
if these are the same guys...where will you be in the future?
Given my high priced anxiety, I've spent my own money to design build my design for clients...it was worth the 48 hour weekends doing a design I loved..
you're getting paid to do that... and you don't have anxiety on lawsuits and probably sleep.
Chris, I actually worked with the guys from Eldorado on a design-build furniture project while I was still in school, so I have been heading in this direction for a while. Great guys and they can really handle their whiskey.
Jlax, I design mostly large scale public sculptures, unique structures ( a lot of generative design in Grasshopper, then taking that all the way through planarization/ regularization and into production) architectural facade elements and detailing, sometimes furniture fixtures and fittings.
I work directly with clients, contractors, and consultants, and am really dramatically improving my communication and PM skills, as well as learning how to run a business's - and yes - My end goal is to own my own firm.
There is not really a ladder to move up due to the small size of the firm, and I get the feeling I am close to topping out in salary. It sounds like maybe I should stick with it a while longer, keep stacking green, and stay put for another year or two.
Apr 5, 14 1:57 pm ·
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Knowing when to move on/ not getting greedy
I am hoping to get some perspective on my situation from some older and wiser archinecters. Others may find this useful also, as I think it is a position more and more aspiring architects are finding themselves in.
I am a young designer, graduated from a good school with a professional M.Arch in 2010 and (like most) scrapped around trying to pull together enough jobs to eat after graduation. I have now been with a design-build studio for 28 months where I am treated well (paid overtime, vacation time, $50k/year, Fridays off, am the "lead" designer in the office, and can get reimbursed for travel and education expenses a couple times a year.) However we do not do Architecture per se - sometimes we will design and build architectural elements, but it is mostly installation pieces, facade elements, sculpture, etc...
I can't help but feel like I am missing the train to licensure and long-term success. Sure, the pay is nice right now, and I won't get anything close when switching to a mainstream Architecture job, but am I putting myself in an untenable position for when the economy does bounce back strongly? Or in 5 years when (if I stay here) my peers are making 50-100% more than me?
I love designing and building, but ultimately I want to be creating spaces and experiences, not just structures or facade elements or details. Am I getting greedy? Is it too soon (in the economic recovery) to be leaving a cushy job in search of new challenges and a path to licensure? Do you older members here ever feel like you are missing out on some aspects of design by staying in your current job?
Sounds like a good gig. As lead designer you have pull Don't jump ship for a cad monkey job. Small elements that are YOUR designs are worth more than what most grads are doing. What kind of things are you designing? Any possibility that you can start your own thing eventually? Many architects also started out designing small things. Look at some bios. Furniture, industrial designs, etc. design is design. My advice would be to stick it out and get really really good at what you do and to start getting side projects and see where that goes. A conventional path leads to a conventional career IMO.
Take the road less traveled!
Sounds like you have a good thing going for you. The way I see it, if your company provides room for you to grow as a designer and move up the company ladder, there is no reason to leave.
$50k is a lot for fun, it is not a lot for liability and professional headache
you are not missing anything, its possible I make 3-4 times this with lots of anxiety and headaches...
I might be wrong, but in 2002 these guys came to our Pro Prac class at Kansas
http://www.eldo.us/
one guy talked about making trash cans for a loading dock and learning to weld...
if these are the same guys...where will you be in the future?
Given my high priced anxiety, I've spent my own money to design build my design for clients...it was worth the 48 hour weekends doing a design I loved..
you're getting paid to do that... and you don't have anxiety on lawsuits and probably sleep.
and then my wife asks, hey NIN is coming to PNC, you want to do it... I ask we got a baby sitter, yeah...then she says Lincoln Park or NIN...
NIN. Was that a choice NIN or Lincoln Park...
Design Build is the future, you don't need a license, seriously.
...then you hi-jack some kids thread...this is how you deal with anxiety and headache..
after a Ommegang (8.5%), Allagash (11.0%) limited bourbon barrel , a few more random beers in fridge..mainly Leinenkughels Summer Shandy mainly...
wife says - i'm running the 'hair of the dog'...I say - wait that's a Nazereth song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyXz6eMCj2k&feature=kp
no that's a Roberstville, NJ vineyard run in dedication of a dog...near Princeton, NJ..
Good time, start drinking wine at 10am with the kids jumping in a pneumatic castle, that's appropriate, right...
back archanonymous, look man architecture was ALWAYS DESIGN BUILD, then some failed rich kids invented a PROFESSION.
The most successful architect of America - FLW - famously said - THE PROFESSION IS THE PROBLEM WITH ARCHITECTURE..
you are an architect, license or not. sure, get a license to make a little extra dough...
but an Architect ultimately cares about the built.
Chris, I actually worked with the guys from Eldorado on a design-build furniture project while I was still in school, so I have been heading in this direction for a while. Great guys and they can really handle their whiskey.
Jlax, I design mostly large scale public sculptures, unique structures ( a lot of generative design in Grasshopper, then taking that all the way through planarization/ regularization and into production) architectural facade elements and detailing, sometimes furniture fixtures and fittings.
I work directly with clients, contractors, and consultants, and am really dramatically improving my communication and PM skills, as well as learning how to run a business's - and yes - My end goal is to own my own firm.
There is not really a ladder to move up due to the small size of the firm, and I get the feeling I am close to topping out in salary. It sounds like maybe I should stick with it a while longer, keep stacking green, and stay put for another year or two.
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