My license says I’m an architect. Why do I still feel like an intern?
My wife and I were talking the other night about where we will live next. We had expected to do a year in Boston before doing two 6 month stints elsewhere (my wife has a cool job). But she had some conversations at work and her mentor thinks it might be good for her to do the next rotation in London. No arguments from me. Who knows if it’ll happen**. That’s not really the point. Aside from the exciting possibility of one day soon being able to snootily say something to the effect of “I liked X about living in London, but I adored Y about living in Paris…”, I love that at my wife’s job they take mentoring very, very seriously. Which isn’t surprising since they didn’t hire her to stay in her first position forever.
How often do you hear someone at an architecture firm say (and mean) we want you to grow. How often do architecture firms really hire people for their long term growth and potential? Maybe this was my bad luck. Maybe it was the economy. Maybe it is a symptom of living in the shadow of my awesome and successful wife. Maybe it is just something wrong with me. But I still feel like an intern. Deep down I think of myself as one. I’ve been licensed for over four years. I’ve owned my own business for over three years. Half that time as a full time job. And I still feel like a damn intern.
Maybe it is that I got side tracked on my path to being a real architect, that my interest in BIM marginalized me, or that I had a different view of design than my bosses. Or perhaps it’s because no one was paying attention to my career other than me. I had no guide. I had no mentor. I had no one looking out for me and helping me be a rounded architect. Instead it was up to me and maybe I failed at that. I jumped through the right hoops but those experiences lacked the right value.
I don’t know. I struggle with it daily. But on the plus side I have time to take care of my daughters and can support my wife’s career by moving to some awesome cities for a few years. After all when we stop moving around, I’ll only be 35. And 35 is still pretty young to be a serious architect. I have plenty of time to explore and try on some more hats until then.
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**current signs point to Seattle as our next stop; but we’ll talk more about that in the coming months.
Tara Imani
Hi Jared,
I can relate to what you’re saying. I sometimes refer to my career in architecture as the long and winding road.
As other, more senior architects have shared on other online forums, choosing to be an architect means dedicating our lives to continuous education and retooling.
Particularly poignant for me was being told about LEED accreditation shortly after attaining architectural licensure. It felt like one more hoop to have to jump through while the ink was barely dry from the license waiting to be framed and displayed on the wall.
From what you’ve shared, it seems to me you’re doing everything right and are doing the right things.
I think it’s that stigma from our college days when we were all treated like design primadonnas. Something might need to change about that teaching method but I haven’t figured out what specifically.
Congrats to you and your wife on your individual successes and on building a family together- that’s the most important work, imo.
Blessings,
Tara
Jared Banks
Tara, thanks. And I agree. There definitely needs to be a shift in the way we’re educated. But I don’t know the answer either. I’ll keep writing though; maybe something will emerge…
Rick
Jared, i can share the same feeling with you. Difference is you still have an opened heart to your wife but mine fails miserably 🙂
Seth c
I definitely have opinions on the subject, perhaps we can talk about it over waffles.
Jared Banks
I’ll pencil you in for Saturday. And deal. And I thought you might.
Chuck Kottka
I think that is both the blessing and the curse. We often have the conversation about reinventing the wheel, but in the end, we still gravitate back to the laboratory, and that youthful wonder is probably some critical link to our success. I’ve worked for 17 years (registered for 8) for a couple of small firms, and had the pleasure of working my way up from intern to project manager, through all of the phases. However, I was laid off last year, and when I joined a larger firm, I was back on the bottom.
There is an issue of trust, and the firm can’t reasonably be expected to let me to take over any major projects, until I’ve been vetted. Unfortunately, the climb is slow in a down economy, with few real opportunities to prove myself. I’ve been filling the time as a BIM manager, and though I enjoy that work, it doesn’t buy me much street cred as an Architect. As time goes by, I feel my Architect muscles atrophying. I’m trying to pick up side work, but I now have a (hopefully irrational) fear that, if my neighbor wanted to add on a garage, I wouldn’t know where to start!
In the end, however, I think a lot of people are in the same boat, and it’s helpful to stay in touch with the design community. I figure I’m just waiting, resting, and preparing for the next big wave to hit. Either that, or the profession of architecture is about to become extinct, and this economic apocalypse will drive civilization to ruin like a Mad Max movie. In that case, I am also preparing to be the guy with the hockey mask, wielding an automatic crossbow and driving the rocket car. Bring it.
Jared Banks
Well said. Yeah I think that holding pattern many of us are/where in is very dangerous not just for our individual careers, but for our profession as a whole. Spending more time writing than practicing this past year has me feeling very similar. But I’m sure getting back into a normal architect job would/will be just like riding a bike. Only easier. Because then you’re not in charge of all the BIM stuff we have to deal with for ourselves and everyone else! And definitely, if you’re going crossbow, it better be automatic. Otherwise way too slow! 🙂