<p>Okay so i really love houses. The design, the colors they use, everything. My dream career would be designing custom homes for people. How difficult is it to get this job? All i hear about is why architecture is a bad career to go into because the pay sucks, hard to find a job, etc. Which is why i moved away from architecture and want to major in finance and go into investment banking. Any advice on what i should do?</p>
<p>Architecture is SO much more than houses and even design. Designing homes for people is pretty advanced into the whole business, you could try opening your own firm for that. If you think architecture is all that you said, then maybe you should go into another career.</p>
<p>in my 4 years here in arch school i have designed a monastery, a winery, housing developments, a massive underground archive, a theater plaza, digital form studies, a prosthetic device for an arm with plastic cables, and paper models from shoe studies…</p>
<p>but never a single house</p>
<p>having said that though, many architects do make a successful career out of designing custom homes for rich clients without having to go to arch school…though it is probably harder now with stricted NCARB rules and a difficult economy</p>
<p>Hi, im currently working as an architect in the UK and I design houses amongst many other things, occasionally at a million pound plus cost. </p>
<p>Firstly, a lot of the things that you hear about being an architect are in fact true, main one being its not a well paid profession for your average Joe architect. Secondly, its a lot of work and hard times at university to acquire the skills you need to become a professional architect. </p>
<p>Getting a job is dependant on the economy; it is very easy to get a well paid job when every thing is good with the world and plenty of developments happening around you. This reverses of this applies to bad recessional times. There are exceptions to this in designing hospitals and schools which tend to not be effected by economic trends, and good architects never go home hungry. </p>
<p>As for a job in architecture or in finance I personally couldnt handle all the number crunching of finance, I think thats why the pays so good! Architecture can be very rewarding, I have had clients cry in happiness due to my work and you just cant beat that feeling of knowing your own thought ideas and skills have made a positive influence in other people lives. Thats what it comes down too for me, although Im sure being able to go out after a boring day in the bank and buy a Lamborghini is a pretty good feeling too!</p>
<p>Architecture is not a bad career, just a little tough financially at times. The pay is not that bad, but the economic cycles can be pretty painful. </p>
<p>Doing residential work is very personal. I have only done one house in my career, and it was for a client from a large corporate project. These are very nice people, but dealing with the wishes of the wife and daughter was a challenge. You have to really care about the minutia of their lives. Do they want to share a closet, do they get up in the middle of the night to get a cookie, do they want to see their wife in the morning before she puts her makeup on, can they put up with seeing each other on the toilet? People who are good at high end residential are real people-persons and are great at this sort of stuff. They truly care if you want your socks on the left or right hand side of your sweaters. How the exterior of the house looks is the easy part.</p>
<p>Standard residential architects in our market get a 10% fee, and some of the best ones get 15% to 20%. With homes in the $3m to $20m range, you can do the math.</p>
<p>rick</p>
<p>As a parent of 3 students all going into architecture, I’ve been giving them some advice that has been [shared</a> here before](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1060400891-post29.html]shared”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1060400891-post29.html):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Note this salary-supplementing strategy can be used in any industry. One should diversify their stream of income beyond their direct employer.</p>