So I finally completed my IDP hours. I graduated in 2006 and just last month submitted my final hours. This however, included a 3 year hiatus from architecture after being laid off and 3 years working with a GC, which counted for some hours.
Just glad to have IDP out of the way. Next step, take the 5 exam route to licensing. I read that I could take 3 exams in the current ARE 4.0 and just have to take 2 in the new ARE 5.0. So hopefully by mid next year, I will have completed my educational goal.
Just thought I would share.
geezertect
Jun 18, 16 2:58 pm
Congratulations.
From everything I see posted on this site, IDP sounds like an impossibly cumbersome regimen. Seven years is absurd. The guy operating on your brain doesn't have to put in that many years of internship before license. Every day I live I am given some reason to believe that I was born at the right time and will be departing the scene at the right time.
REEEdiculous.
thisisnotmyname
Jun 18, 16 3:32 pm
IDP is some dumb ass sh*T.
You probably learned more working with a GC than you would have at most architecture firms.
x-jla
Jun 18, 16 3:34 pm
It's an ass backwards system
archanonymous
Jun 18, 16 3:47 pm
congratulations!
The exams aren't that bad... just get in there and do it!
Schedule 1/ month, and schedule the next before you take the current one. Don't be afraid to fail! What is $200 in the scheme of your career?
Bennythejetr
Jun 18, 16 8:53 pm
Thanks!
Everything I know I've learned from working with a GC. The last year i spent working in an architecture firm, but I helped them manage some construction projects. It worked out because I was able to get my final hours at the same time.
I want to stay in construction, but I am sure having a license will open more opportunities in the future.
go do it
Jun 18, 16 11:05 pm
I feel bad for you guys going through this crap. Did the NCARB just make themselves important or are they licensed by the government or someone?
Kind of like how the Democrat and Republican parties made themselves in charge of the elections?
thisisnotmyname
Jun 19, 16 11:40 am
Glad to hear you are sticking around construction. The happiest architects I know are doing some variation of a design/build business model.
archanonymous is right about taking the exams as quickly as possible.
Josh Mings
Jun 19, 16 11:45 am
He's definitely right. If you space them out too much you'll let things pop up and get in the way of taking them.
cosmo482
Jun 20, 16 2:44 pm
The architecture system is completely flawed. I feel bad especially for 4+3.5-year students. 8 years of school and 8-years on average to complete IDP and pass all the exams. You go to school as long and accumulate as much debt as a doctor, but only earn about 1/3 of the salary...that is if you are lucky enough to maintain employment. Oh yeah, and unless you go to U.Hawaii, you can't even call yourself doctor. Totally ridiculous. The NAAB has failed students and failed the entire profession.
Bennythejetr
Jun 20, 16 3:54 pm
That is why I am sticking to construction. Not only because I enjoy it, but also because my salary almost doubled going from being a PM at an architecture firm vs a PM at a GC firm.
gwharton
Jun 20, 16 4:58 pm
I finished IDP in 3 years. I don't get why you all seem to think it takes forever to do it. It was pretty easy to meet the requirements if I stayed on top of the record-keeping.
tduds
Jun 20, 16 5:02 pm
I imagine it's highly dependent on your employer. I should be finished at the end of this year (officially started in 2014, counted about 16 months of hours @50% from before grad school). Curious what categories are holding people up for so long.
natematt
Jun 21, 16 3:01 am
At about 2.5 years of work the only thing I'll be missing after the change up this summer will be about 80 hours of practice management stuff. I just realized I could be done in two weeks.... Not that it gets me anywhere without the exams.
On the fence
Jun 21, 16 9:57 am
You need to fix the college programs before you can fix the IDP requirements. And no, more years in design and theory is not the fix. You could have 8-10 years of college study and a PHD and still NEED 5-10 years of experience to be a licensed competent architect.
Eddie123
Jun 21, 16 10:40 am
The reason it took so long was because I was out of the architecture work field for 3 years after being laid off, and then I spent another 3 years working with a GC.
I've only worked with an Architect for 2.5 years. The first 1.5 years out of school, I did nothing but CD's and maxed out my 1600 hours, then I maxed out my supplemental hours with the GC, and finally completed the remaining hours this past year. So technically, it took me 5.5 years. I think if i hadn't been laid off, I would have completed it much quicker.
wurdan freo
Jun 21, 16 12:36 pm
I started idp in 1998... didnt have it finished by the time I moved to construction in 2004 (had grad school in there) and here I sit... Never plan on working for an Architect again so...
I think I'm missing 6 months or so...
shellarchitect
Jun 21, 16 12:55 pm
got a BS Arch. in 06, started IDP and worked for about 5 years, got the M.Arch in either '11 or '12, laid off while in school for awhile, took a couple more years to finish IDP, then got the exams in a little over a year - not sure the whole timeline but was 34 when i finally got licensed.
So I finally completed my IDP hours. I graduated in 2006 and just last month submitted my final hours. This however, included a 3 year hiatus from architecture after being laid off and 3 years working with a GC, which counted for some hours.
Just glad to have IDP out of the way. Next step, take the 5 exam route to licensing. I read that I could take 3 exams in the current ARE 4.0 and just have to take 2 in the new ARE 5.0. So hopefully by mid next year, I will have completed my educational goal.
Just thought I would share.
Congratulations.
From everything I see posted on this site, IDP sounds like an impossibly cumbersome regimen. Seven years is absurd. The guy operating on your brain doesn't have to put in that many years of internship before license. Every day I live I am given some reason to believe that I was born at the right time and will be departing the scene at the right time.
REEEdiculous.
IDP is some dumb ass sh*T.
You probably learned more working with a GC than you would have at most architecture firms.
It's an ass backwards system
congratulations!
The exams aren't that bad... just get in there and do it!
Schedule 1/ month, and schedule the next before you take the current one. Don't be afraid to fail! What is $200 in the scheme of your career?
Thanks!
Everything I know I've learned from working with a GC. The last year i spent working in an architecture firm, but I helped them manage some construction projects. It worked out because I was able to get my final hours at the same time.
I want to stay in construction, but I am sure having a license will open more opportunities in the future.
I feel bad for you guys going through this crap. Did the NCARB just make themselves important or are they licensed by the government or someone?
Kind of like how the Democrat and Republican parties made themselves in charge of the elections?
Glad to hear you are sticking around construction. The happiest architects I know are doing some variation of a design/build business model.
archanonymous is right about taking the exams as quickly as possible.
He's definitely right. If you space them out too much you'll let things pop up and get in the way of taking them.
The architecture system is completely flawed. I feel bad especially for 4+3.5-year students. 8 years of school and 8-years on average to complete IDP and pass all the exams. You go to school as long and accumulate as much debt as a doctor, but only earn about 1/3 of the salary...that is if you are lucky enough to maintain employment. Oh yeah, and unless you go to U.Hawaii, you can't even call yourself doctor. Totally ridiculous. The NAAB has failed students and failed the entire profession.
That is why I am sticking to construction. Not only because I enjoy it, but also because my salary almost doubled going from being a PM at an architecture firm vs a PM at a GC firm.
I finished IDP in 3 years. I don't get why you all seem to think it takes forever to do it. It was pretty easy to meet the requirements if I stayed on top of the record-keeping.
I imagine it's highly dependent on your employer. I should be finished at the end of this year (officially started in 2014, counted about 16 months of hours @50% from before grad school). Curious what categories are holding people up for so long.
At about 2.5 years of work the only thing I'll be missing after the change up this summer will be about 80 hours of practice management stuff. I just realized I could be done in two weeks.... Not that it gets me anywhere without the exams.
You need to fix the college programs before you can fix the IDP requirements. And no, more years in design and theory is not the fix. You could have 8-10 years of college study and a PHD and still NEED 5-10 years of experience to be a licensed competent architect.
The reason it took so long was because I was out of the architecture work field for 3 years after being laid off, and then I spent another 3 years working with a GC.
I've only worked with an Architect for 2.5 years. The first 1.5 years out of school, I did nothing but CD's and maxed out my 1600 hours, then I maxed out my supplemental hours with the GC, and finally completed the remaining hours this past year. So technically, it took me 5.5 years. I think if i hadn't been laid off, I would have completed it much quicker.
I started idp in 1998... didnt have it finished by the time I moved to construction in 2004 (had grad school in there) and here I sit... Never plan on working for an Architect again so... I think I'm missing 6 months or so...
got a BS Arch. in 06, started IDP and worked for about 5 years, got the M.Arch in either '11 or '12, laid off while in school for awhile, took a couple more years to finish IDP, then got the exams in a little over a year - not sure the whole timeline but was 34 when i finally got licensed.