Sorry to hear this. Many people throughout the entire construction industry are beginning to wonder what that 'plan B' is going to be if this recession persists for another year. Not just people though, but entire companies, factories, suppliers, etc.

I know Strawbeary here has talked of branching out and starting a business or two. Seems like the best alternative is to seek out some solid business savvy and will your way through it.

There was a thread some where that had a bunch of people who left the profession. One guy in particular really inspired me to get out. he made the change @ 40 years old. I'll look it up and post it for you.


I'm 24 and a female who had just spent loads of money to get licensed. The month after I passed my last ARE I was laid off. That was 10 months ago. The lay-off didn't bother me much but what has been going on since has.

A lot of firms including the one I used to work for have started winning projects but are still not hiring and if they are they are asking people to work for fractions of what they used to get paid.

The firm I worked for laid of 70 people in a two year span. They won a 360 million dollar project in April and just won another 500 million dollar project. They have not hired one person back. They are working the people that are still there 60+ hours. My former project manager, who I talk to everyday has begged the partners to hire some of us back because she's drowning in work. What did they do? They went and hired frshman and sophomore level students. One of which is my roommate. He is making 12.00 dollars a hours and they have him actually working on Construction Documents.

SO,,, I've said that's it. I won't be a part of a profession that will take advantage of a situation that our country is in. I know that not all firms are like this but how can the ethical firms survive when other firms are being so unethical in order to make more profit.

Well I've been trying for ever a year to get in the profession and I'm certinaly getting close to the point of saying F it. Just need to figure out what else I can use my degree in.

I certainly don't regret leaving the profession (I knew half way through grad school, after about 6 years of arch education, that it wasn't for me), but don't kid yourself in thinking that the economy is good anywhere. People are out of work in most professions, so while arch got hit much harder than most, it is not alone.

Good luck, the economy sucks but is showing signs of improving here and there.

While this firm may have won new work, there's a good chance that their fees have been greatly reduced since 2007-08. The result is that existing staff have to work longer hours or take paycuts to hire addn'l staff.

I won't be a part of a profession that will take advantage of a situation that our country is in.

Speaking of taking advantage of the economy, look at the TARP banks that took billions in taxpayer $$$ then sat on it, didn't lend at all, and made money on the carry trade. Architecture by comparison is childs play in terms of taking advantage of the economy. I do think clients, especially repeat clients, are taking advantage of the economy in forcing Architects to accept lower fees. Hungry firms lowballing the guy next door doesn't help either.

Natually a prolonged recession in the industry is going to see many people abandon the field completely. It's a necessary purge IMO. Unfortunately it's often the youngest that are lost, and with them, probably many people that we need as Architects. Meanwhile others that should be gone from the profession will maintain their careers. I chalk it all up to the old idiom, life's not fair.

i have one year left of grad shool in another field.... and looking to teach after that....

do what you have passion for and that pays the bills.... not worth the stress/etc when you can't pay bills or eat..... let alone not being happy...

I always find those threads a bit disturbing.

Getting a job in any field (I understand that an architect would swap careers for a good job, not just for flipping burgers in McDonald's) is pretty hard now.

There are people with experience, background and graduated in virtually any field that remain unemployed. Why would someone pick up an BArch/MArch over any of them? Plus most companies are not willing to experiment in tough times. They want secure candidates since they have plenty to chose from.

I try not to be very negative, and obviously there are chances to land a job into another field (or set up a business and chose a different career), but I don't think it is as easy as saying "Since I cannot get an architect job, I will choose from plenty of good paid graduate jobs in other field, even though I am not pursuing my passion".

Obviously architecture is not the only industry struggling right now, but it is one of the worst. It's now been 2 years in a row that "recovery" has been promised to happen next year and it still hasn't happened. When job posts on this forum STILL receive upwards of 500 applicants per position, it's clear that it will be a long time before things get any better, if at all. And as others have mentioned, even when recovery starts to hit, (most) employers have been forced (either through greed or cheap clients) to lower salaries almost to the point of forcing out all but the very wealthy from the profession.

After a year+ with no work and only 6 interviews to speak of (which clearly didn't pan out) I am losing faith that architecture will actually provide something in the way of a career. I am a crossroads, determining how much longer I gamble my life on architecture or sink more money into getting a degree in something that will be a little more lucrative.

as i have told friends/etc over the years... you have to diversify yourself... this will help you to bounce from field to field and earn a decent check.... there's no such thing as working for a company for 25+ years and retiring, let alone get decent pay/hours and be able to have a family/etc..... all the folks that i know that have 10+years experience and some are licensed, are looking into other avenues for a career now.... the long hours and low pay will just burn you out....... diversify yourself and see where it takes you

I said f#$k it 3 years ago, stared working as a 3d renderer after arch school, been unemployed but with steady freelance work ever since 2008.

don't f*ck architecture. f*ck the economy. the profession is just an innocent bystander.

"'What is essential "in heaven and on earth" seems to be, to say it once more, that there should be obedience over a long period of time and in a single direction: given that, something always develops, and has developed, for whose sake it is worth while to live on earth; for example, virtue, art, music, dance, reason, spirituality -- something transfiguring, subtle, mad, and divine.'

F. Nietzsche
Beyond Good and Evil
Part Five: Natural History of Morals
Chapt. 188

love that quote and find it to be very true with respect to design and daily life as well

...and...given the economic circumstances, I think getting a job in a particular field/firm type...or finding career satisfaction...or quality of life...can be added to nietzsche's list of wonderful outcomes for obedience and direction with respect to a purpose

but unfortunately it might be hoping for a bit much right now to expect that getting a job in THE particular field of interest will also overlap with career satisfaction and quality of life --- it could happen --- but it is less likely now than it has been for a very long time ---

but if just one of those goals is privileged, there's still a reasonable chance that it is attainable --- but the sober reality of what that means with respect to the other two goals might not be very palatable

the profession helps the economy function as a whole.

You know, since the economy is the movement of goods and services (past, present and future entities of measurable value) between two or more places.

before the downturn, i had a great job in industrial architecture involving interesting/unique technical problem-solving that i really liked working with great people and that was considered (at the time) fairly recession-proof, or at least had been since the firm was founded in the 70's --- an added benefit (for someone in a very conservative corner of the deep south where design is mostly traditional with little variation) was that industrial architecture was a place where i could indulge my love of clean lines and machine aesthetics

the firm knew i was going back to school and what i was going back to study and it aligned with some of the dept's interests --- the university offered to waive almost all of the cost of attendance and provide a research/teaching stipend --- and the firm offered to pay the difference for whatever the university would not cover, as well as grant me a sabbatical during my final year of studies

--- i truly had it made as far as what i wanted professionally --- mixing research and practice in a corner of the profession that interests me ---

flash forward two years and the job is gone --- the company was great til the end, even as my billable hours dropped from about 90%+ in early '08 to 10%-25%/month for my last six months I was there, they carried me anyway (but ultimately let me and almost everyone else except a few senior key people go) --- i've still got the university gig but due to cutbacks i've lost a year (maybe more) of funding and tuition waiver so now i'm be picking up the cost of almost half of my graduate degree -- luckily i have a great adviser and committee and the research is interesting so it is worth it

--- things can certainly come apart quickly ---

--- but if i had let my circumstances dictate by options in life, i'd probably still be in jersey selling TV's in a box-store with a degree from a local community college and wondering what could have been --- so i am not (too) worried --- i find that rather than focusing on all of the very legitimate reasons why success is improbable for any given task, if i can just find one or two activities or approaches that will at least get me a step closer to my goal, it usually all works out ---

--- still, right now i am preparing to seek a job in the profession again after grad school despite the difficulty of that proposition, i've also focused my studies VERY heavily in one of my sub-fields to create a potential opening for a career transition in case i have to bail on architecture in the short-term, and i'm doing some freelance work in interior decorating, furniture design and product design to explore that avenue as well --- too many bases to cover, more than i care to, but what else can you do right now --- feels like running a marathon on a high-wire while juggling --- just trying to keep going on the high-wire as long as possible i suppose, though falling off is almost inevitable right now

--- still i feel fortunate that i've been in the industry just long enough to have a somewhat grounded perspective on the situation --- as part of my assistance-ship i recently had to teach for the first time -- first year architecture studio -- and i really struggled with how best to prepare my students, what to prepare them for -- and how to make them aware of the challenge that lay before them -- and whether i should tell most of them to pick another field before they invested too much in their architectural education --- without preaching fire and brimstone, i firmly made it very clear more than once the challenge before them, but they don't understand, and i wouldn't have either at 18 or 19

jmanganelli - architecture is damn too addicting in school, students have no idea what they are getting into, not only they are going to be stuck with huge debt (like me) for the rest of their lives, no fame and no fortune, just tidious same work over and over again if their are lucky to get any work at all...

A lot of architects in a similar situation here in Australia thanks to the recession. I'm looking at re-training (hopefully on-the-job due to costs of higher education...) in related areas, eg town planning, industrial design, project management. Many of my colleagues have successfully done this lately. The money and hours can't be much worse, and are very likely better! It does hurt after 10 years work in a field I do still love in many ways. But you can't live - or retire, eventually - on hope.

I can speak from experience that it is not easy. One lead dead ended because they worried I was a flight risk once the economy improved for Architects....and they were the ones honest enough to say so. Who knows about all the companies I just have never heard back from. Even related fields where they request "Architects" have been relative non-responses because there are dozens of people more qualified out that that haven't devoted a decade or more to a nice profession, i.e. being an Architect.

Sure, an Architecture degree is versatile, but the profession, no so much. The usual "alternatives" are equally as bad off as we are. In many ways a fresh grad with zero experience has better opportunity to jump into an unrelated corporate career. As I was discussing with a friend last night, a licensed Architect with 10+ years experience cannot leave the profession w/out a connection in some other field. Well, unless you go into business for yourself. Like it or not, many of us are stuck here until the greater economy improves and other businesses are willing to gamble on a burned out Architect.

jmanganelli, I enjoyed your post - not the difficulty of the situation, but the description of what your options were pre- and post- recession, and how you seem to be both optimistic and VERY realistic about it all.

It is difficult indeed to think about teaching young architecture students about the field right now without being so brutally honest that they decide against pursuing it. I met a woman last week who was dissuaded in high school from becoming an architect - so she became a lawyer, but in many ways regretted it. She was 50 when she told me this story.

Industrial architecture has always appealed to me - not to thread-jack, but can you explain more about what you were doing?

well, just from my own experience with an architecture degree, i managed to run a woodshop, build professional models, work on autoshow exhibits doing production drawings/engineering, building sculptures for exhibits, design/build, built house additions, just had an interview with a movie studio about doing sets, tshirt line, working on a furniture line, licensed builder, and i think thats it...... and i have been able to keep myself afloat for 10 years...a few really low times, but thats when i switched up and dug into another outlet....

if you have the motivation to get out and do things and make moves, then do it.....

and decided to go to grad school for a m.f.a. so i can teach

Maybe the wrong types of people have been becoming Architects for the last 30 or 40 years and this is the market just sorting it out.

thanks, donna

mostly i worked on industrial architecture related to 2nd and 3rd tier automotive manufacturing facilities, heavy equipment manufacturing facilities for construction and mining and wood products and polymers manufacturers

some very cool, very interesting technical challenges arise and i love learning about the process equipment and the processes --- also, many of these machines are absolutely beautiful and the processes by which products made are fascinating

also - just reread my post -- some awkward wording -- did not mean to disparage sales, community college or jersey, they are fine if there is some purpose, some agency involved, but to take a route because it is familiar/easily accessible, to let circumstances limit options despite potential, to not at least try to find a passion, is not my cup of tea

I just wanted to paste this post that motivated me into finally making a change. it took me awhile to find it but here it is. I was wrong he made a change @ 35.


JRDRUMMACHINE
Total Entries: 0
Total Comments: 2

02/03/10 17:24
Very Interesting thread,
I joined this site because I still do some contract work and was wondering how contract architects are doing. Then I ran into this thread. I'm 40 and worked in the field (office environment) for 15 years. I left for one simple reason,SALARY. I love the profession but not more than my wife and children. They are my passion and I simply could not give them the life they deserve on a mid 50K salary. Yes, I complained and even firm bounced for a couple of years and ended up at the last firm I worked for. I finally got up to 70K and thought my life was set . Then I came home @ 6:00 pm one evening and my little girl asked me why am I home so early! What? Huh? for three years I didn't even realize that in order to get to the level I desired within the profession, I was working 12 to 13 hour days EVERYDAY!

I still love architecture , thats why I do contract work every now and then, but I no longer make a living at it. I changed that 3 years ago.
montagneux



lanah
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Total Comments: 13

02/03/10 18:38
JRummachine
if you don't mind me asking what career are you in now? and is it better at least for you?
Urbanist


JRDrumMachine
Total Entries: 0
Total Comments: 2

02/03/10 21:36
Lanah

I'm an Electronics/Product Engineer now. I went back to school @ 35 and got a Masters in Computer Engineering. It was HARD as HELL. I don't know maybe it's my age but The Architectural program was a breeze compared to that ,although I didn't do any all nighters.

I did the computer software systems thing for awhile and found that it wasn't for me either. Then I got hired by Roland. They are a musical instrument company that has most of its revenue in Electronic music equipment. I started out as a tester but now I'm a developer. I love it and yes it's working for me on all fronts. Only negative is that I have to travel a lot because the main office is in LA and I'm not, but I work from home 50 percent of the time, travel the other 50. Pay is a lot better with half the stress.

I've read this whole thread and read your situation, you're young. I was going to advise you to hang in there. Architecture is at its worse for 20 year olds. Then I noticed that you were laid-off. You have NOTHING to loose, why not try something different. If you don't find what you're looking for you can always go back into Architecture.

I told myself that @ 37. I'm licensed so if I didn't make it the Engineering program then I'm still an Architect! I can always get a job.

I tried: I started a very small construction biz that was staying busier than my 43yr old frame could take.

Also, I was starting to restore muscle cars & was visualizing this as a viable business....

...then, Gub'ment Motors came a callin' & made me take a jjjjobbbbbbb!!!!! NnnnnnnOOOOOO!!!!!

lanah - that's an interesting read. What thread did that come from?

I would be interested to hear how his first interview went after getting the masters. Maybe getting the degree was enough to show potential employers he was serious about getting out of the architecture profession for good.

Pre-recession I thought about getting an MBA. Being not a specific degree like engineering I wonder if that would read differently? Anyway, cost, and a very burdensome load of work kept me from doing that. Years later the cost situation has gotten worse, but at least I have more time now.

aqua: Right after obtaining my architectural license (many eons ago) I went after my MBA. In the end, I've used that degree mostly in the real estate and design industry and I have no regets. But, for those architects thinking about using this recession to pursue additional education, an MBA might be a smarter - and more flexible - choice than taking on additional architectural training.

I think you are right that the lack of industry specificity in an MBA enables MBA graduates a wider range of career choices than is available to architectural graduates. There were a number of graduate architects in my MBA class and I'm the only one who returned to the profession. Of course, MBAs are a lot more common today than they were in the 70s, but if one goes into graduate business school to obtain the flexibility of changing industries, there's plenty of time to "redesign" oneself before starting to look for employment.

The worst that can happen to an architect who obtains an MBA is a better understanding of how to run a design firm.

take a look around, too, many universities are offering online (carnegie mellon and a few other reputable schools). The one I've been eyeing is mostly online, mostly your own schedule (you can take as long as you want), requires 10+ years experience in real estate related field. Only caveat is that it is damn expensive (private)!

but if you someone is considering spending for an education, that's the way I'd go.

I am starting to believe that everybody, including myself, who starts out in this field believes they will be an architect, in the traditional sense, for the rest of their lives. Well, that just isn't true. While most of us have degrees in architecture and have spent 5-15 years or more at firms developing certain skills, it does not equate to remaining an architect or working in architecture offices. The truth is that the world only needs so many architects of that type with upwards of 15 years of experiance for signing and sealing drawings. As it turns out, those skills you learned in the 5-15 years, and sometimes more, are not enough for this profession to hold onto you and you need to move on and hopefully up. There are many types of jobs out there for you that are both related to architecture and not so if you haven't made partner or equal job position/title or established your own firm at this point. So maybe you should be looking outside of architecture firms.

yup... not many people want to face facts.... sure you can be a die-hard person that LOVES the field, but at the end of the day do you have any day left to enjoy yourself?

Should I be a professional musician or an architect?

of those left in practice, it is not exclusively about talent, it is also about circumstance and connections

i know at least a few people who are being carried because of relationships, where they were kept or brought back before bringing back the most talented of those furloughed or let go -- i see a lot of protecting one's own going on

so while i agree that some brutal weeding out is going on, i would say that not everyone still working is more capable than those not working

which presents a dilemma when deciding whether to transition away or fight to get back in ---

there is sometimes a presumption that if you were worth it you would still be employed and that is an inaccurate simplification

so true - even if you make partner (and are bringing in work and getting work published) you can still one day find yourself locked out of your office without warning just because you pissed off the wrong person.

like most of life, it comes down to a little preparation, a little talent, and a lot a luck

It seems like most of the responses so far don't really veer much from the design industry... 3D modeling, set design, interiors... it's still pretty much under the umbrella of 'architecture' and it's all skills that most recent graduates are pretty well equipped with.

I was hoping to hear more stories like lanah posted... people not just bastardizing their degree and exhausting connections to get a job in a related fringe industry but completely leaving architecture behind, going back to school and moving on. I guess on an architecture discussion board the likelihood of there being many people who are no longer architects (read: design industry) is pretty slim.

All I have to say is more and more culinary school is starting to seem like a good option. People gotta eat.

If you think working conditions and wages in architecture are tough, you haven't seen anything like the food services industry (think Hell's Kitchen)

Agree w/ distant, I have several friends who have left the culinary world to engage in the lucrative business of being an artist. Their stories make the food industry sounds really cut-throat.

well with set design/exhibit engineering, it not a matter of just walking in with typical arch experience... most of the time they hire cabinet makers/millworkers and those that actually built with their hands.... the two exhibit houses, that i did work for, mentioned that they interviewed a lot of arch grads/degree holders, but they couldn't detail for set construction.... remember that the sets/exhibits have to taken down and re-assembled a lot... so the use of roto locs/french cleats/bolts and pins get used on the regular, along with maximizing material sizes, setting up sheets for cnc/water jet, and knowing tolerances needed for assembly....then figure production time and making it easier for the 'carpenters' in the shop to assemble so the idea of having dado/rabbet connections might be ideal.... etc....

many of the engineering disciplines i work with seem stable with respect to having work though they seem to be facing stagnation or downward pressure on their salaries

the only people i work with that seem to have real industry growth and growing salaries are those in printed electronics, packaging science, new battery technology, and also the human factors side of experience design

it was the first thing that came to mind that seemed remotely interesting. From what I have seen the best bets right now, in terms of job security and ease of finding a job: Pharmacist, Air Traffic Controller, Nursing and working at the Correctional Facility (although that might be more local).

uprock, I've done some film work... not set design, but other production design. If people think the hours/stress/pay of architecture is bad, wow. That is an experience I do not wish to repeat in my life ever. Horrible, horrible people.

yeah.... i heard being on a set/film is a bit rough....too many egos and working looong hours for low pay.....

Some of us became unemployed because our entire office closed. :) But carry on.

OTF says "I am starting to believe that everybody, including myself, who starts out in this field believes they will be an architect, in the traditional sense, for the rest of their lives. Well, that just isn't true. While most of us have degrees in architecture and have spent 5-15 years or more at firms developing certain skills, it does not equate to remaining an architect or working in architecture offices. The truth is that the world only needs so many architects of that type with upwards of 15 years of experiance for signing and sealing drawings. As it turns out, those skills you learned in the 5-15 years, and sometimes more, are not enough for this profession to hold onto you and you need to move on and hopefully up. There are many types of jobs out there for you that are both related to architecture and not so if you haven't made partner or equal job position/title or established your own firm at this point. So maybe you should be looking outside of architecture firms."

Maybe we actively avoid discussions about business and finance in the education of an architect is because the business model we currently use relies on having lots of young people entering the profession to do production at low wages who will never be able to sustain an actual "architect's" career. As OFT touched on, we only need half of us or less by the time we hit somewhere in the 5-15 year mark, and even less by the time we get to principal/owner level. And in hard times, it is even worse. Firm owners, please prove me wrong, is this an inaccurate ovservation?

Strawbeary: I speak only for myself and my own firm, but I don't really embrace what you write in your third paragraph. If a firm is paying attention, they will focus - as best they can - on productivity when hiring. The concept of productivity embraces the relationship between contribution and cost. Your argument focuses only on low cost.

I, for one, gladly would pay higher wages to recent graduates if they could, in fact, produce at a level to warrant the higher wages. However, because of the seemingly irreconcilable disconnect between the academy and professional practice, it is left to firms to teach young practitioners "practical knowledge" while the academy focuses on those more elevated skills that don't really have much impact on one's career until much later.

In my view, the schools (where most attitudes are set) avoid meaningful treatment of finance and business because a) the faculty simply aren't interested, and b) the faculty simply aren't qualified to teach those subjects.

If I've heard one lament constantly and consistently over 35 years of practice, it's "they really didn't teach me much about business in architecture school" -- yet, the academy simply won't hear that lament or do anything meaningful about it.

quizz - in response to

"In my view, the schools (where most attitudes are set) avoid meaningful treatment of finance and business because a) the faculty simply aren't interested, and b) the faculty simply aren't qualified to teach those subjects. "

this may be partially true, but i've guested in two courses - one on marketing, one managing a design firm - every semester for the past few years. avg. class enrollment is about 8, almost all at the grad level.

most schools would gladly offer courses in the business of design, using adjunct faculty who are more full time practitioners. problem is that numbers like that make it hard to justify the offering internally. it's a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't for them and not so easy to say they 'just aren't interested'. now, i'll agree that most full time faculty aren't going to be interested in teaching those courses, but that has everything to do with the screwed up tenure system in most schools.

that said, schools like stanford's 'd' school, where the focus is a little more explicit and perhaps more interesting in terms of joining design and commerce, don't seem to be struggling too much right now...

cherith - i know two people (architect and developer) who personally have said screw it, left the AEC world altogether, and are now in pharma sales. don't know if they've been in long enough to know whether they truly like it or not, but they simply couldn't stomach the 'waves' that the profession is going through. both are mid-career - early 40's.

so, yeah, it happens.

if you want a really interesting take on how 'circumstances' can screw up one's entire life trajectory, read 'outliers' by malcolm gladwell. especially the chapter on why certain jewish led law offices have come to dominate the m&a market. what's really striking is how, in that case, the depression of the 30's, combined with wwii, produced a generation of professionals who, in their early years, couldn't get a foot in the door of the 'white shoe' firms and who had to settle for what was perceived as the 'grunt' work of the times (m&a). yet, as the wave of these picks up 20 or so years later, the white shoe boys wouldn't adapt and now the best of the m&a firms can command fees that would make wall st. blush.

there's a lot of heartache in that chapter as well, which is a eerily prescient potential reading of how we (as a profession) may shake out of this whole thing.

quizz - Quite simply, I am saying that the profession can sustain only about 1/3 (no science, just my observation) of those graduates who expect to fulfill their career expectations as Architects. Of the firms I worked in, the ratio tended to be about 3-5 young (or support) individuals per Architect to facilitate the work. The young people are used for production work, but only 1 in 3 is going to be able to move up to a position where an actual Architect is needed and desired, which is what I think OTF is getting at in his comment.

Theoretically, could your firm AND your community sustain all the early career architects you hire through to their late career as Architects? In other words, if you are an Architect, and you hire 3 interns, can that scenario sustain itself if all 3 of those interns grow into Architects like you are?

I know when I was an undergrad those kinds of classes wouldn't have appealed to me - no matter how hard they pushed them. I preferred living in some kind of fantasy-land where budgets were unlimited and gravity didn't exist.

toaster, I would have signed up for those classes. I took some economics and finance classes outside of my design coursework, but not much.

quizz - I have to agree with Strawbeary on this one. Of course if the universities truly "prepared" grads for the real world they'd be more productive and hence worth higher wages. That said, I think most people starting out in Architecture think that with time and advancement they'll eventually make it to the ranks of principal.

The reality is that some people will stall out at some staff Architect position and linger on with an average wage and never go anywhere beyond that. I can name several past & present co-workers who do the same work I'm doing, but they are nearly 2x my age. All that extra experience earns them maybe 20% more salary.

Then comes a downturn and many of those people were let go, probably because their modestly higher salaries. Not to say other fields don't do the same thing, but generally speaking, seniorty doesn't mean much unless you're senior management.

It seems like most of the responses so far don't really veer much from the design industry

That's exactly my point when saying that employers won't consider an Architect because they'll never believe you are truly interested in leaving the profession.

Maybe if I start showing up to companies with my 'Architecture Sucks' T-Shirt they will get the message?

strawbeary: you pose two separate, but very interesting, questions.

It's a fairly simple math exercise to figure out how fast a firm must grow to provide meaningful career paths for a given group of employees. In my view, few firms can grow fast enough to provide meaningful career opportunities for all of the people who enter those firms. Moreover, few firms want to grow that fast. However, natural attrition arising from restlessness, boredom, changes to personal circumstances, etc. ease this pressure somewhat.

Nevertheless, I do get your point about the relative, and appropriate, relationship between staffing levels at various strata within a typical design firm. In practice, most firms will promote those they feel are the most able and allow those they deem less able to drift away over time. If the firm is growing, it will be able to promote more individuals than if the firm is not growing. In this current economy, promotions (and wage increases) have, for all practical purposes, ceased.

Communities are another question altogether. The long-term ability of a community to sustain a large and growing group of architects depends almost entirely on population growth in those communities. There is a direct correlation between population growth and the growth in construction spending. Communities that experience population growth can sustain an expanding number of architects and architectural firms. Communities that are not experiencing population growth cannot.

It is interesting to note that individual perspective on these questions can change quickly. As recently as the 1st quarter of 2008, there were really serious questions in our community about the adequacy of the labor supply in the profession -- capable people were really hard to find; even poorly qualified people were able to ask for, and obtain, very high compensation. By the end of 2008, for well known reasons, huge numbers of people already were on the streets looking (unsuccessfully) for jobs.

When I lost my job as a staff architect/intern it was because when the work dried up, I could not bring in additional work. The firm held on to me for several months let me try, but I couldn't make the leap to Architect. I had tons of leads, but alas I couldn't pull through to turn my lay-off into a promotion.

To lose a job in this market is to lose a career or at best take a substantial setback, hardly a leadership position where I want to be (and since achieved outside the profession). So, quizz, our esteemed MBA holder, what measures do we as architects take, or should take, to smooth out these wild rides to create the conditions for ensuring a credible, sustainable profession with well-deserving, diverse professionals? Many advances society makes is to balance uneven flows that cause disruptions (like say accounting, written language, roads) so that life is more comfortable. I know, "life isn't fair", "suck it up", "you aren't going to have everything handed to you" is the common response, but none of those statements ever came out of someone's mouth that wanted to improve anything or face any problems, they just want to watch you squirm, which is where a large portion of the profession seems content to operate in - perpetual frathouse mode. This difficult career path limits opportunities for to those that don't have other means (wealth and fame) and thereby limiting it's credibility and viability as I see it.