Any architects on here?

[Muta]

I work in the industry and it's just fine. Lots of misconceptions around architects in this thread. Pay-wise, who cares... whether you make money or not, you should love what you do. Most architects I know are architects because they love what they do - and this is the way it should be in all industries. And, let's just say, I'm not scraping by.

[speede5]

Thanks for all the advice guys, Ill get the boy to read it all tonight.

[Ne7en]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

i wanted to be an architect
did a work term at an architect
no longer wanted to be an architect

i wanted to be an architect
worked at a firm as a technologist
no longer wanted to be an architect

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by blankall

Know a couple of architects and the pay sucks, unless you become established, but they don't go to school for anywhere near as long as doctors.

I don't know about here but in the UK it was about 7 or 8 years from high school to being an working architect, 3 for a BA, 2 years articling and then 3 doing the RIBA accreditation (or maybe the other way round, it is a long time ago) that is about the same as a doctor, granted the doctor part is way harder work from the point of veiw of shear volume of work memorized and hours spent out of the day, but the length of time was about the same as I recall.

[Matata]

The business model that nearly every architecture firm follows is to keep the money at the top and keep everyone at the bottom lowly paid and interchangeable.

Even if gets his degree, there's only about a 50% chance that he will ever actually work as one. If he does find work, he will be entering serfdom as a lowly paid, highly replaceable cog and will probably never come close to actually design a building. Project management (which you don't even need a proper architecture degree for) is about the most reliable career path a young architect can currently take. Also, due to advances in software, it now takes about 1 architect to do the work of 3, as opposed to 30 years ago.

I wouldn't recommend architecture to anyone that hasn't been passionate it about since they were, like, 8 years old.

[Mass_nerder]

I studied Architectural Technologies and worked at one of Calgary's larger architecture firms for 3 years.
I left last year and came to Halifax. Dalhousie has a 2 year Bachelor of Environmental Design program, followed by a 2 year M. Arch program. Dalhousie gave me 1 year's university credit for my Architectural Technologies diploma, so I only needed to do 1 year of general studies before qualifying for the program.
It's an incredibly competitive program, and I wasn't admitted despite having a 3.3 GPA from SAIT, a 3.67 at Dal, and 3 years of experience. I'm currently going back for a second year of general studies, and applying again next March.

My advice would be to do some in-depth research on a variety of different programs throughout Canada. When he's decided where he wants to go, do some serious research on what the requirements are, and what kind of work is expected if a portfolio is required for the application.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Matata

The business model that nearly every architecture firm follows is to keep the money at the top and keep everyone at the bottom lowly paid and interchangeable.

Even if gets his degree, there's only about a 50% chance that he will ever actually work as one. If he does find work, he will be entering serfdom as a lowly paid, highly replaceable cog and will probably never come close to actually design a building. Project management (which you don't even need a proper architecture degree for) is about the most reliable career path a young architect can currently take. Also, due to advances in software, it now takes about 1 architect to do the work of 3, as opposed to 30 years ago.

I wouldn't recommend architecture to anyone that hasn't been passionate it about since they were, like, 8 years old.

I remember the guy at RIBA who worked for some local authority when asked what he did explain that he was part of a team that designed road junctions. He had been doing this for 5 years since he left Uni and told us with a clear 'kill me now please dear God' tone how boring it was, one of the other guys designed garages for a living!
It was the single most depressing 'career day' I ever attended!

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I don't know about here but in the UK it was about 7 or 8 years from high school to being an working architect, 3 for a BA, 2 years articling and then 3 doing the RIBA accreditation (or maybe the other way round, it is a long time ago) that is about the same as a doctor, granted the doctor part is way harder work from the point of veiw of shear volume of work memorized and hours spent out of the day, but the length of time was about the same as I recall.

Here the quickest route is to do a professional 5 year Masters or BA Environmental design (has to be a professional degree) then you need to have a min. of 3 logged years internship before you can take the licensing exams

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I remember the guy at RIBA who worked for some local authority when asked what he did explain that he was part of a team that designed road junctions. He had been doing this for 5 years since he left Uni and told us with a clear 'kill me now please dear God' tone how boring it was, one of the other guys designed garages for a living!
It was the single most depressing 'career day' I ever attended!

It sounds to me that they picked the worst people possible to speak to you. The hardest part is the 3-5 years interning. After that lots of architects go out on their own. You can make pretty good money doing your own thing. It isn't even close to what a bunch of people in this thread are saying. Just like any profession it has its challenges and its rewards.

[RogerWilco]

Get your son to go to a library and look through a bunch of University Calendars. You can look up all the courses needed and the time required. Pretty sure you can do this all online now as well. Winnipeg has a five year professional degree that allot of Calgary architects have been through. Don't discount the US either, lots of Canadians down there when I was in architecture school.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by RogerWilco

It sounds to me that they picked the worst people possible to speak to you. The hardest part is the 3-5 years interning. After that lots of architects go out on their own. You can make pretty good money doing your own thing. It isn't even close to what a bunch of people in this thread are saying. Just like any profession it has its challenges and its rewards.

I think it reflected the different situation in the UK, this was the late 70's and at any time there is far less development going on there, I would imagine there is way more work here.

[sun]

If he has the drive and desire to get to the top and be a principal/own his own firm, then he should go for it. The guys at the top of the chain do very well for themselves. If he's content on being an employee, there are probably more lucrative fields that require less work/schooling. I've heard it's the lowest paying professional degree on average? Something like that. Compared to lawyers, doctors, etc. It's not like they make peanuts, just less compared to other fields.

Like others have said, he's gotta be passionate. It's an interesting field and I'm a little jealous.

i wanted to be an architect
and i kinda still do

[RyZ]

Tell him not to be a ######. I work with architects on a regular basis and they are the most miserable group of "professonals" that I have ever dealt with.

[Cheese]

Architects MUST make a killing...they NEVER pay their consultants on time. The splits they negotiate are downright embarrassing!

I have worked with Archs most of my working career...as above most are workaholics and IF your son wants to succeed he will have to put in MINIMUM 70 hour work weeks. I have seen many wannabes come and go after simply burning out.

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Architects MUST make a killing...they NEVER pay their consultants on time. The splits they negotiate are downright embarrassing!

I have worked with Archs most of my working career...as above most are workaholics and IF your son wants to succeed he will have to put in MINIMUM 70 hour work weeks. I have seen many wannabes come and go after simply burning out.

A little bitterness there cheese? LOL, I rarely work a 70 hour week and do just fine. But don't get me wrong, as an intern there were lots of 60-80 hour weeks, but that cuts back as you get older and experienced. And if you get paid late it is pretty much a given that the architect hasent been paid by the client and is probably carrying a much larger debt load then you are. But come to think of it, I pretty much always pay my consultants on time so maybe you realy need to rethink the people you do business with.


But I do agree that there is a bunch of bitterness, mostly with the older generation of architects. The younger generations seem to be getting a lot more laid back. Also, it isn't as much of an old boys club as it was even just ten years ago. There are alot more females taking the career path now. When I was in school out of 50 of us there were 5 females. And that is just between 92-97. It seems to be getting more towards 50/50 split now from what I hear.

[Bunk]

Tell him to go into urban design or landscape architecture instead. Much better and more professionally satisfying.

[RogerWilco]

Originally Posted by Bunk

Tell him to go into urban design or landscape architecture instead. Much better and more professionally satisfying.

If you go into urban design or landscape it looks like the University of Manitoba has a good route. They have master of landscape or planning or architecture. The problem with urban design or landscape design you will not have the option to ever become an architect. But as an architect by defalt you could do the other two and interior design if you wish to change course.

I also would be interested in knowing why you say landscape or urban planning would be more satisfying? I have done alot of urban design in the past and it is more paper work then anything else. Have never spent alot of time doing landscape design, normaly get a consultant for that.

[nik-]

Archaeologist and Architect have to be the two jobs that have the greatest divide in how awesome you think they'd be and how ####ty they actually are.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by nik-

Archaeologist and Architect have to be the two jobs that have the greatest divide in how awesome you think they'd be and how ####ty they actually are.

Journalist is up there as well.

[Shin Pad]

I've worked in the Architectural field for 38 years now. I'm an Architectural Specification Writer. I found a niche that not many people go into, so the demand for my services is overwelming. I work for a number of different Architectural firms as a consultant. I have worked out of my house for the past 20 years, and have done quite well.

Basically, unless you are a partner in an Architectural firm, you will make a living, but you will never be well off. So, you go into this field only because you love it - not to become rich. For every Marty Cohos, there are 100s of Architects that are struggling.

So, unless you find a niche like I did, this isn't a great field to be in as far as making lots of money.