<p>I'm thinking about being an architect, but i'm not dead set on it just yet. It's ranked as a "fair" job to have by cnn, and the princeton review seems to really hammer on the "looooow pay for the first couple years and no input on the jobs" part of the career. I admit, I dont really want to go to school for 5+ years just to make 30-40,000 for my first 10 years of work, especially in such a demanding career.
So my main question is, do architects really have such a "hard work = small reward" type career with low pay? I love art and design, but I also like business, and if i can make twice as much with b-school i'm liable to go that route (i hate sounding soo darn greedy but being from a low-income family I want my family to be able to enjoy life and not worry about paying bills). </p>
<p>Architecture is for live-to-work types. Yes, it has a particular style of suckage at the beginning, and only a true, complete love of the field will get you through that. If you're a work-to-live type who doesn't want to leave your soul in your work, then nope, I'd say don't do it.</p>
<p>disclaimer: take it with a grain of salt, because I'm one who did it and wishes I hadn't. There are a lot of us.</p>
<p>so you became an architect and now you regret it? That seems to be the consensus of most. I want a job where I can use my creativity and critical thinking and communication, but if it comes at the cost of "living-to-work" and not making a really great living from it anyway, then maybe i should re-evaluate a career in architecture. What do you think?</p>
<p>First, as you've heard, the money just isn't there. And second, it's not as creative as you think- only the top .01% (and that's an incredibly generous estimate) get to be in Frank Gehry or Thom Mayne or Norman Foster or Enrique Norten's position. The rest of us start out drafting, occasionally designing little bits of projects, but not the way we would like it, the way we think our bosses would like it. The next level up deals with coordination between the various disciplines, like structural, mechanical, plumbing, etc. and gets slightly more design input, but mostly just from a very practical ('damn this duct doesn't fit, better put a soffit here') point of view. The level up from that deals with the ridiculous demands of the clients, and construction administration, and gets intermediate approval of design decisions of their underlings, and works out a lot of details. Then above that are the people who actual do the concept design, but also do the wining&dining of clients, firm management and other tedious activities, because they're the owner. They're usually around 50+ years old. Very few owners own large enough firms that they can delegate all the tedious tasks and only deal with the good stuff. It's very, very hard to make it to the point where you get the amount of design input we all want and all trained for in school without burning out. There are people who wouldn't have it any other way, who live for the bits of design work they can, who become sole practitioners ASAP just so they can do the design, and can handle that. The fact is that most of us can't. I'm not saying that you specifically can't, but it's good to be aware of the situation you're getting into beforehand. You're the only one who can make the decision.</p>
<p>what about urban desing or planning? Would a career in that field involve design and creatvity with a little more input, or would it be just about the same? Also, is the salary for an urban planner any better?</p>
<p>I would love to be in a career such as these, but everyone seems to downplay the job. I mean, most people i talk to don't like it or say they wish they hadnt done it. And like i said, i want to have a life outside of work.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about the corporate culture in planning or landscape firms, in terms of how much input you get. The planning/development route can be quite lucrative, at least distinctly moreso than architecture.</p>
<p>We all seem to downplay it because we've worked our asses of to be demeaned by bosses who think they're some sort of design gods, clients who don't seem to think they need their services (after all, they've got a cousin/nephew/friend's kid who took an interiors course in community college advising them!), come home to crummy little apartments, and watch our friends who got degrees in business buy their first homes and nice cars and go out all the time, while we spend our free time entering competitions, trying to get somebody to notice our work. It's hard not to be a bit down on it. But if you really think you're one of those people who would love it, then it might be worth a shot.</p>
<p>You are not correct LA. The money is there if you open your own practice. I opened my own practice in New York City when I was 28 having completed the minimum 3 year apprenticeship. If you get good summer internships and you get a top notch apprenticeship, there is no need to spend 10 years working for someone else. IMO.</p>
<p>I am not a live-to-work person and I never was--not in school and not in the New York offices I worked in. Phillip Johnson had a syaing: "If you can't do it in eight hours, you can't do it." That's my philosophy too. Once or twice a year we have a three week haul to produce some major set of drawings for a multi-million dollar project, but other than that, we live a cruisy lifestyle which includes 6 to 8 weeks of vacation every year.</p>
<p>All high paying professions require work, however. Baby investments bankers, accountants and lawyers sell their 20 something souls to get those six figure salaries. We didn't have to do that. In fact, we awarded ourselves a four month Rome Prize when we were 26.</p>
<p>There is plenty of time to make money. Enjoy your 20s, get out and see the world, develop your intellect and your ambition. Once you hve children, you will want more money. Money will not be a problem for you if you develop your business properly.</p>
<p>Like composing, archtiecture is an old man's profession. You get better and better commisions as you get older. We are nearly 50 and we have gotten ridiculously wonderful commisions in the apst year--with even crazier ones on the horizon. The jump in scale can only be attributed to our age. If we stay with it until we are in our 70's --like Johnson, Foster, meier, Corbusier, Wright, Pei, Polshek--we will be very very wealthy people.</p>
<p>Very good questions. Bottom line is that as an unique individual, you should do what you really and truly personally love to do. If you love architecture or design, go into it. Down the road, you may decide you love it less than something else, and you will redirect yourself in the appropriate direction. Remember that architecture and design is a field that includes much more than designing buildings and making drawings. There is the engineering aspect. Urban planning or real estate development. Workforce coordination. Business. Marketing. Consulting. Plus the community relations and client management aspects that some people enjoy more than others. These are all areas you can specialize in as your career develops.</p>
<p>A couple key points:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>For some people and for people at certain times in their life, there are more important things to them than just work, which affects what they "love to do." Part of "loving to do" something might include, for example, having a job that lets you work 2 days a week.</p></li>
<li><p>At least half of people who get architecture degrees end up working in other fields. Just to use one example, in many areas of business (e.g., anything that has to do with facilities, long-term growth, organizational development or planning), an M.Arch. degree is just as good - or better - than an M.B.A.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>cheers- I respect that. It's why I told ramsfan to take it with a grain of salt, I recognize that my perspective (being someone in the process of getting out of architecture) definitely makes me emphasize the negatives. It's good that he sees someone who's happy with the career to balance out the perspectives.</p>
<p>I believe Larationalist has it exactly right. What I might suggest is that you go to architecture school and see if you like it. If you do, then just keep your eye on the affiliated professions. If you are interested in business, you might consider finance, real estate development or construction. Other ideas are law (related to construction or leasing) or banking (construction lending). No disrespect to Cheers, but the odds of having that kind of career are much less than 1%. Even with extreme talent it is a crapshoot. If you have a built-in clientele (rich parents and friends, think Gwathmey's summer house for his parents) it is a lot easier. As in many professions, marketing abilities are key.</p>
<p>If you're so rich you're living off a trust fund while building houses for your parents and friends, it's even easier. But you still need those marketing abilities.</p>
<p>I was going to add a similar thought. In order to run your own business, it helps to be an extrovert (Gwathmey, Eisenman)--or at least an introvert with a talent for socializing (Meier, Pei, Rossi). If you've met any of the top architects, you would quickly realize that they have a gift for making strangers feel confident and welcome. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, architecture school draws many introverts who have no capacity for marketing because they are genuinely uncomfortable trying to make strangers comfortable; ie selling their talent to strangers.</p>
<p>For the record, I did not have a trust fund but the first year I started the practice, I made three times the money I made working for a famous architect. It is not only possible to do what I did, it is relatively easy. In fact, I have moved the practice twice--once overseas where we didn't know a single soul--each time with the same success as the first start-up in Manhattan. Funnily, the move overseas--where we got our first project through the bank teller--has proved to be the most lucrative.</p>
<p>I've thought about writing a book on how to open and run a successful practice--becasue I think it's pretty darn easy.</p>
<p>What is a good marketer? It isn't far off from a good architect, really. You have to be willing to be daring. A good marketer is merely good at asking people for work. There is no secret formula.</p>
<p>You have to be able to ask the bank teller for work (that was a $2M commission btw). Then you have to have the moxy to build a structure that will sit on it's foundations for 100+ years.</p>
<p>This thread has really been a great one for info (of the many i've posted, thanks again guys) and I'm currently doing more info on the career. I am really starting to WANT to do this.</p>
<p>Hey ramsfan here's a very important link for you, I highly recommend going here. It completely changed my mind about architecture, and it will show you the light if that doesn't sound corny.</p>
<p>It might be depressing if you thought you were gonna be an architect, but after reading this site, I took an architecture course at Washington University for 2 weeks in the summer. And, it turns out, much of our fears were true. I am with you on this, I really wish Architecture was worth it, but the amount of work we did that 2 weeks was way over the top and didn't get enough respect.</p>
<p>I've switched to Civil Engineering, which is supposedly easier and pays more :)</p>
<p>Ramsfan: There are drones in every profession, worker bees who put in the time for the money and then hurry home to live life. Then there are those who do the work because they love it, because it inspires them to work hard every day. The first ***** and moan about work, and frankly should find another job. The others are leaders in their professions and find life interesting both in and out of the work place. I've been both a workaholic and a 9 to 5 family man at times in my life, but at every juncture, I found that if I followed my heart and my interest, life seemed to take care of itself. Follow your heart and you'll be surprised at where life will lead you.</p>