The day before you started classes …

I’m not doing what I hoped to be doing the day I started classes but am pretty sure I couldn’t go back to my original career expectation and find fulfillment in it. While in college, my goal was conservation oriented—like working for the National Park Service. Now, as I wind down my career, I’m a bureaucrat managing public art. In between these, I did a lot of site-planning for large-scale residential projects as well as commercial and municipal design. Guess this means my career goal has evolved and that’s OK.

Many of the professors I had didn’t impart much wisdom about the future professional directions available to us. Those that did had lots of real-world experience. My original mindset, as well as thoughts about remaining in the profession weren’t changed by any of them disabusing me of my early understanding of the profession; they were changed once I graduated and experienced the mind-numbing, eye-ball straining sameness of production work that many of us do as LAs starting out working for others. That along with comparatively low pay, I believe, are partly responsible for many of us getting out of the profession.

I was originally interested in private residential and small scale social spaces (urban mini parks etc.) but was open minded and just soaked in the education and hoped for the best. I assumed I would be in some medium sized office and eventually feel secure enough to work for myself (not necessarily build a multi-person business). As it turned out, I found myself in a city with enough work opportunities to get the time needed for the exam, but that weren’t challenging or financially steady enough to justify staying on once I had that license. So I struck out of my own earlier than ideal, then just made it work. Fortunately, some repeat clients helped steady it, but there were advantages in being self-directed while my son was growing up. I later got invited for 3 years into a major firm in a nearby city about the time my son was leaving for college anyway, but a recession ended that and I floundered for a couple of years getting some old business back again.

The main semi-regret is that there was an opening in a city planning office, and I thought I was lucky to be hired. It was a commute and longer hours, which solved the immediate problem. Then in the course of working there, while I finally was able to get good benefits and save for retirement, the tasks of course were basically administrative and regulatory, not creative in the sense of classic LA. And it only took a couple of what I felt were bad “tweaks” made by management to turn me seriously unhappy. I did try for other positions but all were further away, had other negatives, etc. and I dreaded re-kindling what would have to be a new start from scratch 1-person business. The whole passage eventually lasted 15 years but I was “free” then to do anything I wanted.

During that time, new tools such as Google Maps, dropbox, and just plain information searching had evolved and so I thought I would try virtual consulting. It’s been pretty rewarding but not a substitute for a full time job if you are still in the main career lane or have more family obligations (my son is grown and all I want is a part time life challenge). I think I am essentially trying to “compensate” for the planning time and just enjoying the chance to tackle real life if minor scale projects. So at both the start and end of my career, that aspect of self-direction, i.e. flexibility &/or lower pressure pacing has worked out well.