Any Architects in the Bay Area with some time?

Hello all.

I have noticed through some of the “what do you do” posts that there are some architects in here. I recently finished school and am working in an architecture firm. This is my first architectural office job. I was wondering if there was an f-chatter out there that was / is an architect that would be willing to talk with me about the field. I am NOT looking for a job. I have simply noticed the drastic gaps between what were are taught and what is practiced. The way in which the firm is being run, the organization in general, the AIA, NCARB, etcetera. I am hoping that other things I have noticed are simply the dysfunctional members of this firm and not the industry itself. I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with someone about industry, and then cars of course. I am available for or by phone, emails, coffee, at one of the SR meetings. I do have two jobs, paying off loans, so my availability is limited but I can make arrangements.

Bowers

 

I am passionate about it. I have been for years, it is what got me threw school. I am just very surprised by what is being taught and what I have been doing. It seems that all the ideology and design concepts you are forced to do while in school do absolutely nothing for you in the real world. I went to Cal Poly and simply feel as thought I spent top dollar to learn what to call things on a building. I honestly feel I got more from working construction while I was going to college then I did from the college experience itself.

And now I am finding out all these hoops and other crap I have to jump through to accomplish my goal of being a licensed architect. These are all thing never mentioned while going to school. The San Francisco AIA, San Mateo AIA, Santa Clara AIA, and Oakland AIA have been no help at all because I haven’t paid my dues to be a member. In order to be a member I have to pay the NCARB. It just seems like there’s these organizations that are here to help but are simply scamming the system.

Seriously I could have bought a copy of the CBC and IBC stuck with construction for 5 years and learned more. It’s all very disheartening. I still want to go back to school and get my Master’s but I really don’t think that will help. Not to mention that the some of the people in the firm have higher degrees than me and seem to know absolute nothing. That may simply be the difference in teaching institutions, maybe not.

 

I have the Bachelors, Cal Poly doesn’t have an AIA recognized Masters Program but Berkeley does. I haven’t been able to get into Berkeley, they keep turning me down… they have meet their quota for white guys. Here in California you don’t need to have a masters to be eligible for the ARE exams yet, I hear they are working on it. You still need to complete the IDP process, then the CIDP process. All of which is controlled, monitored, and operated by the NCARB.

 

F-spider do you have any other advice other than trying to get into an arch firm that is run, and operated by a senior designer that is a world-renown multi-millionaire architect with a mile long intern list of people willing to work for free?

Jsa330 thank you. You have been helpful. I am still trying to get my Masters but I need to get out of the financial rut I am in first before I get back into school debt. I have the NCARB IDP paperwork filled out and ready to go but it will be a couple more months before I have the extra funds to send out to AIA, NCARB, and the state board. Things use to be simpler; one of the senior architects here had no formal education before taking his state test back in 75 something. I know / new it would be a long process, but it seems like the number of hurdles I have to jump through increases as I get more and more “into the system”.

Thank You. The office uses AutoCAD 2007, witch I convinced them to buy. We were still on 2000 when I got here. The renderings were done in Revit. I got certified in Revit, Inventor, and VIZ. I like Viz much more than Revit but the computers here can’t handle Viz and I don’t have enough swing to convince them to buy a graphic rendering computer then the 2000 dollar software for rendering. They are happy with the cartoonish rendering we do now. Viz is just way more photorealistic, and the video walk through I did in school were amazing.

Youngarchitect, you learning anything from this? Every school, well UC’s and state colleges with recognized Arch programs, are supposed to have an IDP mentor / counselor available. Turns out mine did not. The IDP is nation wide. ASK YOUR DEPARTMENT HEAD. This is a program that will take years to complete.

 

Your right that was unnecessary. I am sorry. I will take any advice I can get.

I don’t want to get the masters if I don’t have to. I don’t want to sound arrogant but after working like I have been already I really don’t think I will learn anything by getting a Masters. The original plan was to pay off the student loans I have now, work for a while getting my funds back up, by then either I should be eligible for the ARE’s or I could try and swing a 30 hour work week while going back to school for the Masters. I think is strange how we have to be apart of this IDP process and then NCARB lets us know when we are able to take the exams. There are portions I am fairly certain I could pass now. The CD’s and pre-designs defiantly, probably the general structures portion, the lateral forces after some studying, the rest I still need experience in.

 

I personally don’t think I need the Masters but I don’t what it to come around and bit me later down the road. I would think that as a client you don’t necessarily looked for a Masters over a Bachelor as long as both were licensed, but I don’t know I have never been on the client end of this scenario.

I do know what you mean by the getting into a boring job at a large firm. Before accepting this job I was interviewing with another, significantly larger, firm. I decided to go with the smaller one because I figured I would get more hands on experience in different portions of the filed. I really didn’t want to get pigeon holed and become a guy who draws toilets for the next 20 years. The larger firm would not leave my military history alone; they kept asking questions I told them I didn’t want to answer. They just rubbed me the wrong way. They seemed very corporate and uptight. I wasn’t even working for them and got the impression I would just become anther name on the payroll list somewhere near the bottom.

Is there an advantage for working for a larger firm, other than getting your name possibly associated with an industry noticeable project? I suppose they would have more people working for them and that makes for a higher possibility of having someone willing to take a newbie under their wing.

My high school drafting teacher was the one that got me started on all this. I blew through his class and found myself bored. He gave me a book of floor plans and told me to mix and match parts till I made a few I liked. That’s when it all started for me. In college there was one instructor in particular that was passionate about the art. He was the kind that would go out of his way to help you and make time to explain things that need further explanations. Come to think of it he was the only one like that the rest had the mentality of thinning the herd. If you didn’t get to bad. He knew nothing about the current requirements so hasn’t been any help in this portion of the game.

 

I am working at a small firm; there are only 8 of us, not including the receptionist. I was asking what the advantages of working for a larger firm are. My fear and why I turned down a larger firm was to not get pigeon holed into doing interiors for twenty years. I like where I am at but in a small firm I don’t see room of advancement. I think I would have to move to another firm if I wanted a higher position.

 

I apologize for not responding sooner, deadlines…

I would like to say thank you. Your insight and advice into the field based on experience gathered over the last 30+ years has been very helpful.

I am still seeking more information on the IDP program but I am getting the distinct impression I will have to pay for this information.