I graduated in 2012 with one year of placement work experience, so in total i've been working for 4 years now. With the exception of my first job after college where I got to assist on drawing sets and the occasional site visit / construction admin, I’d say 70% of my work experience has been solely doing competitions, diagramming, rhino modeling and renderings. Going in my 2nd and current job, I had made it clear to my interviewers that I would like to be involved on the more “concrete” side of business (drawing sets, detailing, meeting w/ consultants), which they acknowledged. Fast forward to 1.5 years later, I have essentially done nothing but competitions and renderings. And since I work for a multi-national firm in China, even the occasional “real & built” project is passed on to local design institutes for construction drawings & admin. I feel that I have learnt nothing but new modeling/rendering methods. I got an excellent review for working ridiculously long hard hours and creating all these presentation packages…so when this year’s annual review came around I felt that I had earned the chance in asking for a more diverse set of responsibilities. At this point I would be so happy to detail bathrooms. My superiors responded that I would definitely be included in the design development process should we win any competitions, and that was that. They seem uninterested in helping me acquire a more well-rounded work experience at all, and to be honest, it does work to their advantage to keep me around in the competition stable because I can churn out graphics and renderings like no other (it’s not because I’m some sort of visualization wiz, I just always make a point to get things done to the best possible standard that I could afford to, and I know my work ethics would translate well to any other task too.)
I’ve proactively involved myself in design discussions and contributed ideas that have been accepted and used in these competitions, but in the end all that’s earned me is more intense involvement in more competitions. I was left out of revit trainings at work because they thought I would be too busy for competitions. I apologize for the numerous times the word “competitions” has popped up here but it’s really all I do, so I guess it’s an apt reflection of my real life.
I guess the question is: Will I be better off going somewhere else at this point? And how would I look as a job candidate, given what you’ve seen described here? Would there be any firms that are willing to take me in as someone who has limited detailing/construction experience at 27 years old? Also if it makes a difference I’ve been taking ARE exams (and passed 3), and I’m working in China currently…
bowling_ball
Jul 2, 15 10:53 pm
If you're compensated fairly and your review was recent, I'd stay another 6 months just to see if they're listening. Having said that, it seems you've either been pigeon-holed or your firm isn't winning any recent competitions. In either case, you're not going to be getting the experience you want.
Jul 2, 15 11:00 pm
Try a small firm in the U.S. ????
sameolddoctor
Jul 3, 15 2:11 pm
The grass is always greener on the other side.
l3wis
Jul 3, 15 2:51 pm
try a smallerfirm in the US or a bigger firm that is less design oriented. i switched into a small firm after working for a global firm, doing competitions etc., and now because im at a small firm im tuned in and watching everything that goes on in the process. i read every email and can attend any meeting.
sameolddoctor
Jul 3, 15 3:23 pm
I think your bigger problem is that you are working in China.
proto
Jul 3, 15 3:40 pm
if you eventually want to be a designer and if you are in daily (or even every-other-daily) contact with the firm designer now, stay where you are. This will likely lead to more design responsibility over time, but it is certainly frustrating to feel like no more than "the pencil" at your stage of the game.
if you have no contact with the project designer and really are just a 3d draftsman, take those skills somewhere where you can be someone's "pencil" and in daily contact with the designer. you will learn, even if it seems that you are not, by being around that process constantly. IDP credits are not the end-all in architectural experience.
if you do not want to be a designer and want to be a more technically-oriented architect, change jobs and find a place that will bring you along with those experiences.
there's a little bit of a career myth in the do-it-all kind of architect in any medium to large office. Offices of that size need strong skills in each phase of a job and people who show they can design will be continually asked to do that at the expense of getting experience doing construction documentation.
small offices (already mentioned above) with give you a more rounded apprenticeship with exposure to every stage of the process.
zonker
Feb 11, 23 1:24 pm
I’ll trade you - I’m tired of doing documentation and detailing in a job Captain role - I do design as a hobby with Rhino and will gladly do design for free to break out of it the job Captain pigeon hole - IOW, careful what you wish for
You have a role that can be grown into more design responsibility- detailing and Job Captain roles?
PaulKersey
Mar 10, 23 7:52 pm
It's easy to get pigeon holed into a specific role in a large firm, go to a smaller firm and you will have a wider variety of experience, pretty simple. You will always be valued more and make a lot more money doing something that moves people like visualization, nobody is happy or moved by detailing bathrooms or most anything else.
Hi all…
I must have read this article - "Don't be a Tool: Role of Software vs. Vision in Architectural Employment" 50 times by now and it makes me both sad and eager to change my situation, which is quite aptly described by the author.
I graduated in 2012 with one year of placement work experience, so in total i've been working for 4 years now. With the exception of my first job after college where I got to assist on drawing sets and the occasional site visit / construction admin, I’d say 70% of my work experience has been solely doing competitions, diagramming, rhino modeling and renderings. Going in my 2nd and current job, I had made it clear to my interviewers that I would like to be involved on the more “concrete” side of business (drawing sets, detailing, meeting w/ consultants), which they acknowledged. Fast forward to 1.5 years later, I have essentially done nothing but competitions and renderings. And since I work for a multi-national firm in China, even the occasional “real & built” project is passed on to local design institutes for construction drawings & admin. I feel that I have learnt nothing but new modeling/rendering methods. I got an excellent review for working ridiculously long hard hours and creating all these presentation packages…so when this year’s annual review came around I felt that I had earned the chance in asking for a more diverse set of responsibilities. At this point I would be so happy to detail bathrooms. My superiors responded that I would definitely be included in the design development process should we win any competitions, and that was that. They seem uninterested in helping me acquire a more well-rounded work experience at all, and to be honest, it does work to their advantage to keep me around in the competition stable because I can churn out graphics and renderings like no other (it’s not because I’m some sort of visualization wiz, I just always make a point to get things done to the best possible standard that I could afford to, and I know my work ethics would translate well to any other task too.)
I’ve proactively involved myself in design discussions and contributed ideas that have been accepted and used in these competitions, but in the end all that’s earned me is more intense involvement in more competitions. I was left out of revit trainings at work because they thought I would be too busy for competitions. I apologize for the numerous times the word “competitions” has popped up here but it’s really all I do, so I guess it’s an apt reflection of my real life.
I guess the question is: Will I be better off going somewhere else at this point? And how would I look as a job candidate, given what you’ve seen described here? Would there be any firms that are willing to take me in as someone who has limited detailing/construction experience at 27 years old? Also if it makes a difference I’ve been taking ARE exams (and passed 3), and I’m working in China currently…
If you're compensated fairly and your review was recent, I'd stay another 6 months just to see if they're listening. Having said that, it seems you've either been pigeon-holed or your firm isn't winning any recent competitions. In either case, you're not going to be getting the experience you want.
Try a small firm in the U.S. ????
The grass is always greener on the other side.
try a smallerfirm in the US or a bigger firm that is less design oriented. i switched into a small firm after working for a global firm, doing competitions etc., and now because im at a small firm im tuned in and watching everything that goes on in the process. i read every email and can attend any meeting.
I think your bigger problem is that you are working in China.
if you eventually want to be a designer and if you are in daily (or even every-other-daily) contact with the firm designer now, stay where you are. This will likely lead to more design responsibility over time, but it is certainly frustrating to feel like no more than "the pencil" at your stage of the game.
if you have no contact with the project designer and really are just a 3d draftsman, take those skills somewhere where you can be someone's "pencil" and in daily contact with the designer. you will learn, even if it seems that you are not, by being around that process constantly. IDP credits are not the end-all in architectural experience.
if you do not want to be a designer and want to be a more technically-oriented architect, change jobs and find a place that will bring you along with those experiences.
there's a little bit of a career myth in the do-it-all kind of architect in any medium to large office. Offices of that size need strong skills in each phase of a job and people who show they can design will be continually asked to do that at the expense of getting experience doing construction documentation.
small offices (already mentioned above) with give you a more rounded apprenticeship with exposure to every stage of the process.
I’ll trade you - I’m tired of doing documentation and detailing in a job Captain role - I do design as a hobby with Rhino and will gladly do design for free to break out of it the job Captain pigeon hole - IOW, careful what you wish for
You have a role that can be grown into more design responsibility- detailing and Job Captain roles?
It's easy to get pigeon holed into a specific role in a large firm, go to a smaller firm and you will have a wider variety of experience, pretty simple. You will always be valued more and make a lot more money doing something that moves people like visualization, nobody is happy or moved by detailing bathrooms or most anything else.