Door hardware, access compliance, project management systems, and marketing may seem dull and boring to you now but over time you may find that one or more spark a sustained interest. My former classmates are doing a variety of things from graphic design, to engineering, to construction so don't feel that even if you do get an architecture degree you have to work for an architecture firm. **Also, a "starchitect" is a star-architect. If there is 200 hours of time allocated to produce construction drawings (at your billing rate) and you work 8 hour days – that 25 work days of time. In a nutshell, what I am asking is - is it worth it to become an architect (and drown in debt)? 9. I have been fired by a client, while trying to fire them, because I didn’t want my name associated with their project. If you love it, if it's your passion, do it. A community for students, professionals, and lovers of architecture. Hello Reddit!!!!! Your clients hire you to give them a product that they want, not necessarily what you want. Understand your pre-and post-graduation financial situation. You're good with door details? Working in the profession is also nothing like what they'll teach you. I have been pursuing licensure but now am questioning if I even want to become a licensed architect. Architecture is a professional career, one that has been distinguished as one of the main fields to require a professional degree. Architecture as a degree is not worth it. Don't waste anymore time, drop and get a degree that's actually useful. They will probably reteach you on the job according to their standards. If you have to take out loans, learn how to live frugally. It just takes patience. For many college students, earning your degree through online learning sounds like an ideal choice. I think I'd be well suited to an architectural historian career, since the culture aspect is what always fascinated me. Architecture is a good indicator of the state of the economy. I'm sorry to hear that the job is killing your passion for architecture. Environmental-focused degrees are, of course, nothing new; undergraduate and graduate programs focused on topics such as environmental management and environmental science long have been popular fields of study. Unfortunately the passions we develop in school are rarely nurtured in the professional world. If your ideals are important to you, you will lose work. MBAs with a concentration in sustainability — often called "green MBAs" — are unique in that they focus specifically on the intersection of sustainability and business success and ethics, using the well-trodden framework of a conventional Master of Business Administration … With tuition costs rising out of line with wages, the returns of an expensive degree simply aren’t there anymore – and neither is the requirement, with graduate chefs making just 2%-11% more than their school leaver counterparts. You make nice renderings? Oh yeah – the projects you do that are good will also be disposable and shortly torn down to make way for yet another branch bank. Be honest with yourself regarding long-term relationship, family, and lifestyle goals. You are probably thinking that a clearly stated result, while demonstrating the error in the alternative, will win out. First 4 years out of college were awesome. Architecture students can choose between a pre-professional and a first professional degree. What are your passions, interests, and goals and how would architecture fit into that? Thank you so much for the response :-), it's good to finally hear from someone with a positive perspective about architecture. There are two things they didn't tell me when I signed up for my degree program, however: Architecture school does not teach you how to be an architect, in the real-world day-to-day sense of the job. This is like asking if doing engineering is worth it. I'm really into design and the arts, but seeing it from your point of view makes me want to consider this career path as a possible option but I won't limit myself to it. Eventually, they started putting me in front of clients because I am pretty good at talking in front of a lot of people and can think well enough on my feet to avoid saying something that will get us in trouble. As a result, you should be equipped to design projects that aren’t in the style of architecture that you would like to do for yourself. I very much appreciate you sharing your personal experience :-) and the length doesn't matter at all! I am an aspiring architect but am still in school (high school, if you will) and just recently joined Reddit. They get high profile jobs, huge budgets, publications, etc. It is very difficult to separate out the desire to create something with the business of how much time you have to create it. Licensed architect here, graduated in the US in 1997 with M.Arch. 5. When a $100,000 Grad Degree Is Worth It According to one study, the best paid master's degree fields are in business, information technology and engineering. Architecture is a great jumping-off point to learn about nearly any other subject, and the problem-solving skills you learn in architecture school would serve anyone in any job well. I know of about 10 married couples where both are architects. I have not tracked this information but rather basing it on what I know from colleagues working at other architectural firms. In 2018, these sectors combined to form 7.4%, or $1.5 trillion, of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Working in architecture is very quickly killing my passion for architecture. Thank you for the reply, I'll be sure to take into account your advice when the time comes for me to decide :-), New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the architecture community. This is an easy one because what I know is far from what I can afford. Studying an architecture degree is challenging but rewarding and can take between three and seven years to complete. This isn't to say that you won't enjoy it and please don't think I'm trying to dissuade you, this is just my honest opinion as someone who is also new to the career. My degree in French and Spanish – despite being a decent grade from a good university – is not worth the paper it's written on. The content of an economics degree course is hugely dependent on whether a student opts for a BSc or a BA course. Then everything went to shit and I got grumpy because being unemployed, or scrambling between contract jobs, teaching, and moving into my parents basement... lasted 3 years for me. No matter where you go (if you do choose to switch careers or even stay), I hope that you may find happiness and fulfillment in your job. Arch school is not easy, and will not be what you expect it to be. The fact that we do it here is evidence that other firms can do it as well if they made it a priority. My firm works as architect of record very frequently. I made a lot of stupid decisions as a young, single person with a good paycheck will do. I grew a lot as a person during those years. It doesn’t always work that way. It took me 6 years and 207 degree hours to get my Bachelors degree in Architecture and I studied abroad during that time. The hours you work are long and under-valued. I didn’t have to worry about how it was going to be detailed – that was someone else’s job. The fast-paced finance industry includes everything from banking and asset management to insurance, venture capital, and private equity. Do this in more than one office if you can. I get to spend a lot of my time designing (in my office of eight) but I spend a lot more time doing other things. Bachelor of Architecture (BArch), Architecture - Salary - Get a free salary comparison based on job title, skills, experience and education. I am talking about 401K programs, dental and vision insurance, availability to get long term disability, flex spending accounts, etc. I'm also sure that you've pretty much answered all of my questions. The difference is that the company doesn’t pay you more for working a 8 hour day versus a 16 hour day – but they do pay rent on the space you occupy, the computer you use, the software on that computer, etc. The average tuition for four years at a private school is $130,000. It may not be relevant to the job you have 10 or more years out of school, depending on your professional "track". Is a four-year college degree still worth it? If you really like architecture for what it is, then it's going to be worth it throughout your life. It's not uncommon for an architect to be 50 before he/she has "arrived". A degree in architecture is about refining your mind more than anything else. We really needed them both in this particular meeting. I was one of the 12 and I thought it was a terrible job. Following my casual advice is at your own peril … if you want my undivided attention, I would recommend hiring me. Get a part-time job sweeping the floors if you have to. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Budding chefs may previously have thought that culinary college is a no-brainer, but recent statistics actually suggest otherwise. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Those 12 were made up of 5 who designed things that actually got built and the other 7 designed things that sold the work that the previously mentioned 5 designed. That's going to be very, very difficult as an architect, particularly in the early years of your career. IB often provides excellent preparation for university (for those suited for IB). And b) Be patient with your job. How to build a shower that won't leak - Products. The time you spend working on a project, in many regards, is proportional to the quality of the end product. By Farran Powell , Editor Jan. 29, 2018 I’d like to think that most architects are pretty bright individuals and if they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer they could have. Moreover, it does not allow you to solicit architectural services to clients. Tagged With: Do you want to be an Architect, Top Ten lists. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. If you want to be a lawyer, go get a 4 year degree, then 3 years of law school, graduate and take a test. Should I continue to pursue this career? This is about putting your time in and paying your dues to develop the skill to practice architecture. Find something you love about architecture that you can do on your own time because you love it, not because you have to pay the rent. The profession is now climbing out of the hole it was in, I think even internationally things have improved beyond where they were when the recession hit. Studying architecture is very demanding and you need to be committed to do well. Two suggestions here: a) Don't let your job be the only architecture in your life. This is either because they are the only other people you see because of item #3, or your interests align closely so you run into the same people (because architects don’t stop being architects at 5:00pm). As anyone curious about their dream job might have done, I searched through Reddit about the life and education of an architect. We then take those and complete the entitlement drawings, permits, construction documents, oversee construction, etc. I'm still cynical based on my experiences, but I'm smiling a lot more with recent developments. Most of the time, so much fee is burned up during schematic design and design development when the people with the highest billing rates contribute, that the production period of the project is compressed down into a calendar deadline, not a fee-based allotment of time. Hint, it's not the architecture firm. Therefore, anything you read on this site is not a substitute for actually working with me. A lot of work goes in to creating buildings and very little of that time is spent on design. I am one of the lucky ones because I work at one of the rare (rare like finding a live platypus in your toilet kind of rare) firms that offers almost all of these things and we only have 6 full time employees. The truth is, almost none-of them are now. You end up with a project-centric resume instead of a firm-centric resume, and you are much more in control of your professional advancement. Now you're the rendering guy. Getting a fancy, expensive architecture degree does not allow you to call yourself an Architect. After part 2 you are pretty much an architect and will be capable of doing most things a fully qualified architect can with regards to design and work. They didn’t know that I was trying to get both the husband and wife into the office so we could give them the drawings, wish them luck, and then kick their sorry butts out the door. The negativity so far has made me doubt my choice of career as I have always thought of being an architect as a very satisfying job. You learn to work hard, accept criticism, and stick to your guns pretty early on. Most projects are developed for profit and despite the fact that good design equals good solutions which translates into a form of measured success, everybody wants more for less. So while I was trying to schedule a meeting with both of them, the husband got mad that we “weren’t listening” when the wife said she could handle the meeting without her husband. The structure of the education system in my country necessitates me to choose a subject combination (right now) which will definitely affect my eligibility for university courses available in the local universities here. I've only been working for a year and a half but I've found advancement in the career to be very difficult. 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