I've always heard and read about star architects hiring interns on the condition that the interns pay the architects a fixed fee for the supposed opportunity they get to work alongside said architect.
While this has created its fair share of uproar and hate in the architecture community, I am surprised to learn that this practice has now crept into Indian practices. Internships in India are becoming pedestals to make money for the studios that are marketing paid internships - only, the studio gets paid by the intern to be given the internship.
I'm really unsure about how this will reflect on the overall structure of how architecture and practice currently works and has worked in the country. Having interns pay for an internship will just create a highly liquid market where the purpose of the internship will get overshadowed by the business of making money.
In an ideal situation, the Council should come up with laws and rules governing internships in India, similar to what the NCARB did in the United States.
What is the general opinion of the architecture community, though?
gruen
Sep 5, 15 7:56 am
I am offering the opportunity for any person to pay me to reveal my design process. But I call these people "clients" not interns.
natematt
Sep 5, 15 12:08 pm
If the person is so unskilled that the firm loses money by them being there... then sure.
Otherwise it's great business but really unethical.
The later is probably what most cases are though.
geezertect
Sep 5, 15 3:33 pm
If interns are stupid enough to fall for this scam, it's hard to feel sorry for them.
Great hobby, lousy profession.
zonker
Sep 5, 15 7:18 pm
it just become just another service, the studio offers - billable hours invoiced to the intern - IDP process or something a long that line -
Dev Ambardekar
Sep 6, 15 12:52 am
The problem that is happening is that there is a falsetto created about how great the firm is, which is probably why interns are willing to spend the money in an effort to get to "learn" from such firms.
In the end though, the whole purpose of such attempts is to make the idea of an internship more profit oriented which is rather disappointing, given how the profession should focus more on the giving back to the society and the profession.
DeTwan
Sep 6, 15 8:03 am
Those Bollywood films must have portrayed architects in the same lime light as Hollywood did. Remember, tv, film, & $ollywoods are fake stuff...Your best bet is to get out of a fake profession before you are too old to do so.
Volunteer
Sep 6, 15 9:35 am
Got to be the same Indian folks who call me to tell me I have a virus on my computer and if I will just give them a credit card number they will fix me right up!
FWIW Malwarebytes.com has a free program that did get the Indian crap off my computer. I was to the point to writing (polite) letters to the Indian Embassy. The assholes at their embassy never responded.
DeTwan
Sep 6, 15 12:56 pm
Yeah, you got to run a antivirus/malware when visiting those site. What'd you expect? You probably want to erase your history in your browser before your wife finds out too.
awaiting_deletion
Sep 6, 15 1:30 pm
Dev, how well do Indian schools prepare students for the profession? For the most part,and the more famous the school, preparation is fairly limited in the US and you hope at minimum the intern knows how to draw,so many firms spend a good 6 months essentially training the intern and for the most part do not make any money or even lose a bit. but what you suggest sounds more like a marketing scam for those with money to put fancy firn names on their resume....but lets say the firm is a very financially successful firm in real world Indian architecture, well published means little, maybe learning from the best will be good for the young intern. maybe they will skip the popularity contest and get into practice?
archmpf
Sep 6, 15 2:35 pm
From my experience, lots of Indian schools are very limited in scope when it comes to preparing them for the profession. Only a select few students have any idea about the real world. Most firms know this and take the task upon themselves to train interns. Also, the definition of an "intern" is a bit different here. Only the students in their time of academic training, which is usually for 6-9 months during their 4th/5th year of studies are specifically called "interns." Anyone who graduates with a B. Arch can apply for registration, get licensed and call himself an architect, which is very different from the millions of hours of internship required in the US to be eligible for the ARE. Ultimately, at the end of their degree, it depends upon the kind of firm the student interned at, which would result in him bejng prepared for the profession. Good firms take great pains to actually teach students and schools have very less to do with actual preparation.
I've always heard and read about star architects hiring interns on the condition that the interns pay the architects a fixed fee for the supposed opportunity they get to work alongside said architect.
While this has created its fair share of uproar and hate in the architecture community, I am surprised to learn that this practice has now crept into Indian practices. Internships in India are becoming pedestals to make money for the studios that are marketing paid internships - only, the studio gets paid by the intern to be given the internship.
I'm really unsure about how this will reflect on the overall structure of how architecture and practice currently works and has worked in the country. Having interns pay for an internship will just create a highly liquid market where the purpose of the internship will get overshadowed by the business of making money.
In an ideal situation, the Council should come up with laws and rules governing internships in India, similar to what the NCARB did in the United States.
What is the general opinion of the architecture community, though?
I am offering the opportunity for any person to pay me to reveal my design process. But I call these people "clients" not interns.
If the person is so unskilled that the firm loses money by them being there... then sure.
Otherwise it's great business but really unethical.
The later is probably what most cases are though.
If interns are stupid enough to fall for this scam, it's hard to feel sorry for them.
Great hobby, lousy profession.
it just become just another service, the studio offers - billable hours invoiced to the intern - IDP process or something a long that line -
The problem that is happening is that there is a falsetto created about how great the firm is, which is probably why interns are willing to spend the money in an effort to get to "learn" from such firms.
In the end though, the whole purpose of such attempts is to make the idea of an internship more profit oriented which is rather disappointing, given how the profession should focus more on the giving back to the society and the profession.
Those Bollywood films must have portrayed architects in the same lime light as Hollywood did. Remember, tv, film, & $ollywoods are fake stuff...Your best bet is to get out of a fake profession before you are too old to do so.
Got to be the same Indian folks who call me to tell me I have a virus on my computer and if I will just give them a credit card number they will fix me right up!
FWIW Malwarebytes.com has a free program that did get the Indian crap off my computer. I was to the point to writing (polite) letters to the Indian Embassy. The assholes at their embassy never responded.
Yeah, you got to run a antivirus/malware when visiting those site. What'd you expect? You probably want to erase your history in your browser before your wife finds out too.
Dev, how well do Indian schools prepare students for the profession? For the most part,and the more famous the school, preparation is fairly limited in the US and you hope at minimum the intern knows how to draw,so many firms spend a good 6 months essentially training the intern and for the most part do not make any money or even lose a bit. but what you suggest sounds more like a marketing scam for those with money to put fancy firn names on their resume....but lets say the firm is a very financially successful firm in real world Indian architecture, well published means little, maybe learning from the best will be good for the young intern. maybe they will skip the popularity contest and get into practice?
From my experience, lots of Indian schools are very limited in scope when it comes to preparing them for the profession. Only a select few students have any idea about the real world. Most firms know this and take the task upon themselves to train interns. Also, the definition of an "intern" is a bit different here. Only the students in their time of academic training, which is usually for 6-9 months during their 4th/5th year of studies are specifically called "interns." Anyone who graduates with a B. Arch can apply for registration, get licensed and call himself an architect, which is very different from the millions of hours of internship required in the US to be eligible for the ARE. Ultimately, at the end of their degree, it depends upon the kind of firm the student interned at, which would result in him bejng prepared for the profession. Good firms take great pains to actually teach students and schools have very less to do with actual preparation.
suckers