<p>My hs D has been interested in architecture for a while now, and I am concerned that kids don't really know what an actual job is like. I have a contact at a firm that has architecture, engineering, interior design, and landscape architecture all in the same company. Would it be valuable for her to be able to tour there or even job shadow? Do you think that a student would be welcome in such a company? Could a student could gain useful information from this little snippet of the architecture profession?</p>
<p>Yes, I think it is a great idea as an initial step in high school. Your D can contact various people and ask if she can job shadow for a day. It is a nice inside look to see just what sorts of things these folks do in these specific fields. I recall once my older D (who is now a senior in college) job shadowed someone in a science lab for a full day (she was always good at math and science) and discovered that kind of job was not for her. While not a job shadow, I recall at the start of junior year when she created a temporary college list to explore, she wasn't sure if she should go into engineering or architecture and so at the first two schools we visited, she visited both departments. After those visits and observing what each was about, she ruled out engineering and from that point on, only looked at schools with architecture. She also did a few other things to see if she liked arch....(though she did not commit to BArch programs, just BA ones)....she did a year long independent study in junior year to learn some skills like arch drawing, etc. with a faculty member. She chose some arch topics for some school papers. Then, the summer after her junior year she did a two week arch internship. The previous winter/spring, she wrote letters to various architects in our town to ask about interning that summer. We have a bunch of architects in our town actually. Most were quite amenable to that. She interviewed and chose one small office and that architect, who is a woman architect in fact, actually gave her some real architectural tasks to do such as building a model, drafting floor plans on AutoCad and by hand, and had her attend site visits and client meetings. So, she was both observing and DOING in that instance. All these things helped contribute to her developing career interest prior to college. She wasn't ready to commit to architecture as she hadn't really studied it yet, but she was definitely leaning toward this field and chose colleges that had this major in a liberal arts context.</p>
<p>Is she your oldest?</p>
<p>Our school district has a day in the springtime, when kids are excused from regular classes (at the middle school, I think) - specifically to job shadow outside the school.</p>
<p>If the company is amenable to having your daughter there, via shadowing or interning, it would be a fabulous opportunity. Perhaps you can arrange for her to be there during a February or Spring break from school.</p>
<p>Thanks soozievt and mtpaper! Our school doesn't do that day-off-to-shadow thing, but we do have a program where students can apply for an internship where they spend one day per month on a job site. She will be applying for that next year. My son participated in that program for engineering and found it to be very helpful in the decision-making process.</p>
<p>Even though it would be short, I would think visiting that company for a day might be helpful. What do you think she might see in the course of a day? Do they draw, build models, meet with clients, do paperwork, etc?</p>
<p>I think if your D contacts the firm and asks about doing a job shadow, they'd likely match her up with someone on that day that was doing something worth observing, as opposed to doing paperwork, LOL. If someone knew they had a high school student job shadowing them, they'd likely make sure they saw something of interest that day or find another in the office who is doing tasks worth observing. The person may also be willing to chat over lunch about what they do, and so forth, as well.</p>
<p>Job shadowing is a great idea if a firm is open to it--some are, some aren't. Our HS has spring internships for seniors with decent GPAs (keeps them out of school from May 15 to graduation--a great thing!). Some kids intern in architecture offices, including my H's. A lot of H's coworkers are young (30s, 20s!) and aren't so interested in spending time with a high school kid, but since we have two teenaged boys, and because my H is a nice guy!, he spends a lot of time making sure the HS intern gets more to do than making copies--but making copies and doing grunt work is part of the process. He takes interns to jobsites, gets them going on CADD work, take them to town hall (face up to it--being an architect involves dealing with codes!), and has them do a little model building. Some architecture offices won't be so interactive, so shop around. It'd be a great experience. It's a great way to discover that being an architect, as with any profession, involves spending lots of time on the phone, lots of time writing reports, lots of time reading codes, lots of negotiating. It's not all DE-SIGN and standing on rooftops acting like the guy in Fountainhead!</p>
<p>While it would be fun to only go into an office when people are doing something interesting, it's much more real-life to go in frequently and be exposed to every aspect of an architect's life.</p>
<p>hmmmm- I think this is a tricky topic- mainly because there are a lot of architecture firms out there which I personally find boring and make architecture into something that mundane and ordinary. I have visited one of them and I know that if I had been exposed to architecture in that way as a preliminary exposure, I wouldn't have gone any farther. I think that the best way to see if you want to study architecture is to visit a school and sit in on a class or sit in on a crit, then to research architects of the past/ theory/ ancient architecture- then to look at the things that someone like Ricardo Scofidio is doing- and finally to find a firm which does interesting work and visit them.---- If you do the latter( going to an ordinary firm) you will almost certainly be disinterested and disappointed.</p>