I graduated from architecture school almost 5 years ago, from then i got employed in one of the highly ranked contracting company in the country, i started as a technical coordinator for 3 years then i shifted my carrer to site engineer and now is my second year in the fieled.
Honesetly after 5 years of working in construction i feel miserable, weak and confused. being in the construction field made me far from architecture and design. Sadly this is so depressing especially that im a talented creative person who always had the dream to start his own business firm and be my own boss.
Now i have thoughts of quitting my job and join any architecture firm in order to get the lost know how after 5 years, Im 29 years old now and this is making me hesitant to shift my career again and start from the bottom.
Anyone of you guys had the same situation? How did u overcome it?isn’t it depressing to start from 0 at the age of 29 with peanuts money only to get the know how?
randomised
Oct 28, 18 1:19 pm
"especially that im a talented creative person"
In your opinion ;)
You're not too old and you have real world technical and construction experience your peers in an architecture office could only dream of. You won't start on the bottom, don't worry too much about that.
chigurh
Oct 28, 18 3:38 pm
Sounds like they got ya with the golden handcuffs... gotta risk big to win big... or just keep on colllecting a paycheck.
archinine
Oct 29, 18 8:52 am
If you can draw a half way decent detail, which you ought to be after 5 years at a contractor’s firm, you won’t be starting at the bottom in an architecture firm. However, do some digging on these forums about ‘design’ in practice. You’ll quickly realize that whatever you learned in school is aggrandized. There is very little design in architecture of the sort you’re taught in school. The broad strokes are either directly from the client (and often minor details as well) OR are reserved for the very high ranking 20+ years experienced senior architects at the well known ‘design’ ateliers, of which there are few and the pay for lower ranking staff is uniformly crap. Do some research, make sure you’re interviewing the firm as much as they are interviewing you, and be thoughtful in your decision prior to jumping ship.
Non Sequitur
Oct 29, 18 9:02 am
"aggrandized" Good word. I'll try and slide it into a conversation today.
LITS4FormZ
Nov 4, 18 11:17 am
I’m not too far off on years since graduation and I had a similar path. I started full time after graduation at a firm I interned with previously. I was hired into a design role but there was an immediate need on site so I took a field engineer position. That lasted almost a year and a half and then it was back to the office for two years in design with some time back on site.
Another large project came up and I jumped at the opportunity. Repeat the cycle one more time and I’m “retired” from the field and in the office for good. I got licensed through all the project chaos and the field time was valued far more than office experience.
This was much easier to accomplish in design-build where there is some level of design occurring. If you’re working for a GC then look for positions in design-build or EPC(engineer-procure-construct). They will value your experience much more than a traditional AE firm that would likely see you as a purely CA asset.
Hello,
I graduated from architecture school almost 5 years ago, from then i got employed in one of the highly ranked contracting company in the country, i started as a technical coordinator for 3 years then i shifted my carrer to site engineer and now is my second year in the fieled.
Honesetly after 5 years of working in construction i feel miserable, weak and confused. being in the construction field made me far from architecture and design. Sadly this is so depressing especially that im a talented creative person who always had the dream to start his own business firm and be my own boss.
Now i have thoughts of quitting my job and join any architecture firm in order to get the lost know how after 5 years, Im 29 years old now and this is making me hesitant to shift my career again and start from the bottom.
Anyone of you guys had the same situation? How did u overcome it?isn’t it depressing to start from 0 at the age of 29 with peanuts money only to get the know how?
"especially that im a talented creative person"
In your opinion ;)
You're not too old and you have real world technical and construction experience your peers in an architecture office could only dream of. You won't start on the bottom, don't worry too much about that.
Sounds like they got ya with the golden handcuffs... gotta risk big to win big... or just keep on colllecting a paycheck.
If you can draw a half way decent detail, which you ought to be after 5 years at a contractor’s firm, you won’t be starting at the bottom in an architecture firm. However, do some digging on these forums about ‘design’ in practice. You’ll quickly realize that whatever you learned in school is aggrandized. There is very little design in architecture of the sort you’re taught in school. The broad strokes are either directly from the client (and often minor details as well) OR are reserved for the very high ranking 20+ years experienced senior architects at the well known ‘design’ ateliers, of which there are few and the pay for lower ranking staff is uniformly crap. Do some research, make sure you’re interviewing the firm as much as they are interviewing you, and be thoughtful in your decision prior to jumping ship.
"aggrandized" Good word. I'll try and slide it into a conversation today.
I’m not too far off on years since graduation and I had a similar path. I started full time after graduation at a firm I interned with previously. I was hired into a design role but there was an immediate need on site so I took a field engineer position. That lasted almost a year and a half and then it was back to the office for two years in design with some time back on site.
Another large project came up and I jumped at the opportunity. Repeat the cycle one more time and I’m “retired” from the field and in the office for good. I got licensed through all the project chaos and the field time was valued far more than office experience.
This was much easier to accomplish in design-build where there is some level of design occurring. If you’re working for a GC then look for positions in design-build or EPC(engineer-procure-construct). They will value your experience much more than a traditional AE firm that would likely see you as a purely CA asset.