So sorry for the stupid question but I came across several Architects' bios online and many of them have experience in programming ...any thoughts?
archanonymous
Nov 29, 18 3:21 pm
Depends where you want to go with your career.
Are you old and already experienced?
Are you in school currently or recently out?
Are you thinking of going to school?
We are close to a point where some facility with coding is as elemental as being able to type - part and parcel of using a computer.
It can be really beneficial to your productivity and ability to express and realize certain designs, but I wouldn't say it is elemental to the practice of architecture. Hopefully it never will be - there are so many ways to design and practice that I don't think it ever could be, but it is an important part of many firms' work.
peijunfei
Nov 29, 18 3:32 pm
It depends, not only different firms and position, but different country as well.
If you are obsessed with design, stand for your position like "designer""architecture"and "architectural professional", especially in big firm/corps. Because they got IT guy for basic technically (not architectural one) problem, and digital specialist/BIM specialist/developer doing their job to satisfy some design demands.
What you can tell is, in US, in big firms, the division of labor is highly refined. So if you want to do Coding guy, you may lost most of chance to do design in a big firm. Normally programming guys are paid more than same level architects.
Situation is different in small/mid firm, but it also depends upon what kind of design they do. I believe most NYC small firm which focus on residential renovation and retail are not interested advanced programming...
Well in China, where the architectural labor system is chaos, I will say everything may happen....
So follow your heart, what do you like more?
randomised
Nov 29, 18 3:40 pm
It seems overkill for the job you'll be doing:
peijunfei
Nov 29, 18 3:51 pm
Have been there!!!!
archanonymous
Nov 29, 18 4:42 pm
but what if you wrote a script for a motion-capture device so that every time the creepy principal standing behind you gestured, a script automatically moved the toilet?
randomised
Nov 30, 18 9:39 am
Pretty smart but the "work" would still be moving toilets around...
starling
Nov 30, 18 8:52 am
I just had a conversation yesterday with our BIM specialist who just attended the Autodesk convention in Vegas, and he talked praises about the strides being made in streamline processes for Revit. He made the comment “makes me wish I were a programmer”...
I think there’s a great opportunity to use programming at a large scale specifically for work flow in offices. Having a better process put in place as firm standards saves everyone time and is incredibly crucial to the design and documentation process.
So, yes I think we need more programmers. And no, I don’t think it it mutually exclusive to design.
JonathanLivingston
Nov 30, 18 12:56 pm
What kind of programming? Architectural or Computer ? In my experience both are valuable and most architects have little knowledge of either.
TED
Dec 2, 18 10:01 am
Aghhhhhh.
I find it bizarre that any student leaving HS or university today does not know how to code or programme.
I had my first programming course 45 years ago and the first day I entered SOM, I was programming.
TED
Dec 2, 18 3:33 pm
RickB, My First HS: Fortran programming was in 1973 with punchtape/Modem to the University of Chicago - carried on in University with 2 years of Calculus with Computer methods and 2 years of differential equations with computer methods - Bill Gates / Basic programme. At SOM, they had developed their own software (draw3d / Plus3D) then they partnered with IBM to develop their own software AES on an IBM RS9000 platform. AES was scriptable and very powerful. Went to AA and mastered Object Oriented programming - including C++, and many others - interfacing with range of software/hardwares. With the complexity and wicked challenges facing the world, scenarios can be built by grabbing open source live data and build real-time feedback(that's the difference Object-Oriented Programming or OOP brings to scripting)
Non Sequitur
Dec 3, 18 9:42 am
Ricky, my HS offered programming too. Not to the same level as TED, but we still had C++ and Visual Basics in addition to classic HTML. None of these are particularly difficult, but I excelled at them and certainly helped me understand how software functions.
Side note... I just aged myself here... VB came out 20y ago so I would have been learning it when it was shiny and new.
archiwutm8
Dec 3, 18 5:28 am
There's no harm in knowing more skills especially something as important as programming nowadays. If things fuck up along the way you always have a backup.
So sorry for the stupid question but I came across several Architects' bios online and many of them have experience in programming ...any thoughts?
Depends where you want to go with your career.
Are you old and already experienced?
Are you in school currently or recently out?
Are you thinking of going to school?
We are close to a point where some facility with coding is as elemental as being able to type - part and parcel of using a computer.
It can be really beneficial to your productivity and ability to express and realize certain designs, but I wouldn't say it is elemental to the practice of architecture. Hopefully it never will be - there are so many ways to design and practice that I don't think it ever could be, but it is an important part of many firms' work.
It depends, not only different firms and position, but different country as well.
If you are obsessed with design, stand for your position like "designer""architecture"and "architectural professional", especially in big firm/corps. Because they got IT guy for basic technically (not architectural one) problem, and digital specialist/BIM specialist/developer doing their job to satisfy some design demands.
What you can tell is, in US, in big firms, the division of labor is highly refined. So if you want to do Coding guy, you may lost most of chance to do design in a big firm. Normally programming guys are paid more than same level architects.
Situation is different in small/mid firm, but it also depends upon what kind of design they do. I believe most NYC small firm which focus on residential renovation and retail are not interested advanced programming...
Well in China, where the architectural labor system is chaos, I will say everything may happen....
So follow your heart, what do you like more?
It seems overkill for the job you'll be doing:
Have been there!!!!
but what if you wrote a script for a motion-capture device so that every time the creepy principal standing behind you gestured, a script automatically moved the toilet?
Pretty smart but the "work" would still be moving toilets around...
I just had a conversation yesterday with our BIM specialist who just attended the Autodesk convention in Vegas, and he talked praises about the strides being made in streamline processes for Revit. He made the comment “makes me wish I were a programmer”...
I think there’s a great opportunity to use programming at a large scale specifically for work flow in offices. Having a better process put in place as firm standards saves everyone time and is incredibly crucial to the design and documentation process.
So, yes I think we need more programmers. And no, I don’t think it it mutually exclusive to design.
What kind of programming? Architectural or Computer ? In my experience both are valuable and most architects have little knowledge of either.
Aghhhhhh.
I find it bizarre that any student leaving HS or university today does not know how to code or programme.
I had my first programming course 45 years ago and the first day I entered SOM, I was programming.
RickB, My First HS: Fortran programming was in 1973 with punchtape/Modem to the University of Chicago - carried on in University with 2 years of Calculus with Computer methods and 2 years of differential equations with computer methods - Bill Gates / Basic programme. At SOM, they had developed their own software (draw3d / Plus3D) then they partnered with IBM to develop their own software AES on an IBM RS9000 platform. AES was scriptable and very powerful. Went to AA and mastered Object Oriented programming - including C++, and many others - interfacing with range of software/hardwares. With the complexity and wicked challenges facing the world, scenarios can be built by grabbing open source live data and build real-time feedback(that's the difference Object-Oriented Programming or OOP brings to scripting)
Ricky, my HS offered programming too. Not to the same level as TED, but we still had C++ and Visual Basics in addition to classic HTML. None of these are particularly difficult, but I excelled at them and certainly helped me understand how software functions.
Side note... I just aged myself here... VB came out 20y ago so I would have been learning it when it was shiny and new.
There's no harm in knowing more skills especially something as important as programming nowadays. If things fuck up along the way you always have a backup.