Why Do I Still Feel Like an Idiot in an Architectural Office, Even Though I Just...

[aa_gangchen]

1. Why Do I Still Feel Like an Idiot in an Architectural Office, Even Though I Just Got My Architectural Degree from a Top Architectural School?

You just spent 5 years of your life in college and two hundred thousand dollars on your tuition, and finally you graduated from a top architectural school. You just got a new job at a good architectural firm, and all a sudden, you realize that what you learned at school does NOT seem to help you at work AT ALL, and people at work talk in a language that you barely understand: Entitlement, RFI, Shop Drawings, CCD, Change Order, Punch List, etc. You feel like an idiot in your office and do not seem to know anything. This is a total cultural shock to you.

2. What Went Wrong?

Well, there is a huge gap between architectural education and architectural practice.

a. When you are in architectural school, design courses mainly teach you conceptual design. In the real world of architectural practice, conceptual design is only a very small portion of the design process. All the real projects will go through many phases, including Entitlement, Conceptual Design/Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Document, Bidding and Negotiation, Construction Administration, and sometimes even Operation and Maintenance.

b. In the real world, employees in an architectural firm are put in one of three categories: supporting staff (including administrative, marketing, and IT or CADD), designers, and management and production staff. If you are hired as a designer, you will have an easier transition from college to your job because a designer mainly deals with Entitlement, Conceptual Design/Schematic Design, and sometimes, Design Development work. If you are hired as a production employee, you will have a much harder transition, because almost everything you do in the office is what you have almost NEVER dealt with in school before. You will have to learn on-the-job.

c. In college, the knowledge you learned is piecemeal in nature: you learn structure as one course, and architectural history as another, and design studio is yet another, and so on. In the real world of architectural practice, you can be dealing with all these elements in one single project, and you need to be able to integrate the knowledge you learned from different courses and create a synergy. Synergy is defined as the working together of two things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.

To help you make a smooth and easy transition from architectural school to architectural practice, I summarize my professional experience and tips in this book, which should be useful to readers.

There are many, many things that you need to learn to work well in the real world of architectural practice, but there are only a certain number of tips that you need to know to be able to function and survive in the daily operation of an architectural firm or in the construction industry. In this book, we shall cover all the basic and pragmatic knowledge to help you handle the daily workload in an architectural office, and we shall tell you where you can find further information.

Copyright 2009 Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of "LEED GA Exam Guide," "Architectural Practice Simplified," "Planting Design Illustrated," and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture

Non-exclusive rights of use granted

[waynen769]

This why some Universities require you to do an internship while you are still in school.

[mclaw131]

This is also why, before a professional license is granted, you need to complete 5600 hours of internship. Most trades within this profession (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc.) require an apprenticeship after a related degree before being a licensed tradesperson.

School is only a tool, a direction. It is not, nor was it ever intended, to be a means to the end. If one was required to learn all the skills required in the profession while in school, then school would need to be MUCH longer than 5 years for a professional degree.

That being said, an internship while in school is hugely beneficial because it introduces you to all of these things you reference. Additionally, and I wish I had a little more of this while in school, not just one course, but a few courses in professional practice that investigate construction administration and contract administration, the backbone of the profession that few will immediately be thrust into, given an understanding of what is learned in school (like myself). At that point, it is the responsibility of the practicing architect, or direct supervisor, to provide guidance and education, and oversee the work so that it is completed successfully and legally under license. I might not know all the procedures, but with the assistance of my boss to educate me to be a better architect, I'm learning the skills in the trade.

Your book, although I have not read or reviewed it yet, as an architectural intern currently in process of IDP, and a adjunct professor in an Associates degree Interior Design program, may provide basic and pragmatic knowledge, it should not replace a professional degree education, completion of IDP, and passing all the Registration exams. I'll look around for your book, as it intrigues me. Anything that eases the transition would be helpful, but I hope it indicates all the above considerations.

[King]

Originally Posted by waynen769

This why some Universities require you to do an internship while you are still in school.

This is also why U of Cinn is constantly a top Arch. school from employers' perspectives because they have a 3 year study + 3 year studio program.
I personally think summer job might be enough though.

[Disgruntled]

Personally I think plugging one's own book in this forum is chicken sh*t!

Take a page from Dorf.

[aa_gangchen]

Please do not use foul language in your postings. Several comments:

1. We can have different opinions, but we should maintain basic respect toward each other as a human being.

2. You can use a pen name “Disgruntled,” and you can use your real name with the title of Architect or LEED AP or both with you real name, but you can NOT use “Disgruntled” with the title of Architect or LEED AP or both.

Last time I check, Disgruntled is neither an Architect nor a LEED AP

If you want to use the title of Architect or LEED AP or both, you should use your real name.

3. Just because you use a pen name, you cannot get away with everything you do. You should not do things that you’d not do if you use your real name. Nothing is REALLY protected in the internet.

If you are an architect or a LEED AP, you should set a good example for junior members of the architecture community.

Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of “Architectural Practice Simplified,” “LEED GA Exam Guide,” “Planting Design Illustrated,” and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture

[lug-nut]

One of the most important qualities of a good architect is having a thick skin.

[brudgers]

Originally Posted by aa_gangchen

If you are an architect or a LEED AP, you should set a good example for junior members of the architecture community.

By calling shinola "shinola," he is setting a good example.

[OF9]

Originally Posted by aa_gangchen

...1. We can have different opinions, but we should maintain basic respect toward each other as a human being.

2. You can use a pen name “Disgruntled,” and you can use your real name with the title of Architect or LEED AP or both with you real name, but you can NOT use “Disgruntled” with the title of Architect or LEED AP or both.

Last time I check, Disgruntled is neither an Architect nor a LEED AP

If you want to use the title of Architect or LEED AP or both, you should use your real name.

3. Just because you use a pen name, you cannot get away with everything you do. You should not do things that you’d not do if you use your real name. Nothing is REALLY protected in the internet.

...

WHO said anyone is not respecting your right to a heartbeat and to work to secure your right to breath and earn water and bread?

Now to expect that everyone will exalt you and your intellectual theories to the level of abject RESPECT is a whole 'nother ballgame entirely.

Besides, I think that the level of respect or disrespect is wholly determined by your manner of interpretation.

That is up to you, not others.

I think that the assumption that others are disrespectful stems from a latent presuppostion of your own making that anyone who voices a different opinion than yours is "disrespect".

Is that why the prison population, at the bottom of the honesty food chain, demand "respect" from fellow inmates at all costs?

Just saying...I think you confuse honesty with disrespect and would prefer an ego stroke and a lie to transparent, bold faced honesty. The irony is that should anyone treat you to the ego strokings that would accompany unfettered praise for your books and other crap that you sell, it would be the ultimate disrespect to you and the poster of such drivel in the long run.

NOTE: My analysis of your insecurities are based on other posts of yours over the past several months and/or years and not just this singular thread.

[sadie]

Originally Posted by aa_gangchen

You just spent 5 years of your life in college and two hundred thousand dollars on your tuition, and finally you graduated from a top architectural school.

Wow, if you spent $200,000 on college tuition to become a wealthy architect, the joke's on you!