dizzy dreamer 〆
Saturday, February 18, 2017, 9:23 PM
"Where do I start? I am the old fart you guys are chatting about…40 years as an owner/architect with offices in 4 cities, retired now. Yesterday I connected with an old friend who was an employee of mine. He was never able to license and at 50 something he still calls himself a “CadJocky”. He went on to lament about his job/career and how at this age he’s looking for a way out. It made me really sad to here his story. In my career I saw many good talented people drop out for all the reasons you guys state. That is why I came to this site today to try to reach out to the pain. This is a shitty business.After 40 years I just didn’t have any fight left. For 2 years I sat home and just stared at the TV. I was shell shocked and pissed. Since college I went through 6 recessions. What I’m pissed about is that no one ever even mentioned recessions to me in school. No one mentioned RFP’s, law suites, liability insurance, not getting paid, how to deal with ass-holes, how to run a business and the like. Schools create unrealistic expectations about the business of architecture. All they taught was space relationships and such and to this day do not teach anyone how to cope and survive in life. Where else are we to learn this?
To be an architect at any level you need to be engaging, be involved with community, speak publicly about the profession and teach architecture to community. The profession has failed miserably at this. If communities were better educated there would be better clients, architecture and commissions. This kind of thing floats all boats, including yours. Most owner/architects I know are terrible at this. Most are terrible at business. They have no sense of community activism, ability to engage people properly, terrible social skills, yet they stand at the helm driving the lives of hundreds of people and their families.
Students too need to be taught social skills, coping skills and be taught how to climb the ladder and what to expect along the way. I am a big fan of co-op programs, giving students a chance to test the waters before they pull the trigger. With regard to all the lamentation over salary maybe you can now see the other side of the coin. Owner/architects came from the same place you did. They don’t know what to do anymore than you do. These recessions are a cancer on our society, they cost practices millions. The ebb and flow of the waters is why you’re not being paid adequately. This part is not the professions fault. This kind of thing sucks the life out of a practice and it trickles down.
If architecture is a dream of yours please do not give up. Find ways to cope, seek out a life coach, seek out a mentor and keep talking about it. Keep Architecture (with a capital A) on your mind, go to lectures, read the mags and by all means network. It’s not the Architecture it’s the job and no matter where you go you’ll pick up the smell. Also, be active in the community, have hobbies and stay close to family and friends….after all, they will be the only ones there at the finish line.
As for me I am practicing what I preach and doing much better, its done wonders just to write this. I’m going back to school in the fall and I’m going to engage the faculty and Dean to try to talk some sense into these people. I hope this has been of help."
Labels: archinect
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hello i am qy 〆 ヒスイ sleep paralysis, wretches & sketches しめ
i study the making of places where people spend their lives
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