Reply To: Leaving LA for Civil

To “bd”…just read your most recent comment.

Well, I definitely “understand” where you’re coming from. I invested (4) years of my life by enlisting in the U.S. Navy (served on board an Aircraft Carrier in the Mediterranean Sea)…so, I could use the G.I. Bill to help me get my (4) year LA degree @ Texas A&M University. I didn’t take out a Student Loan, still, it was a very financially difficult time for my wife & me. I did managed to graduate with ZERO debt, so, that was good. Then, designed for (2) different LA firms for about 14 years (plus 2 yrs. worth of over-time hours)…and the PAY was BAD. I left the 2nd LA firm in 1991 @ age 41…took me 2 yrs. of marketing & taking on every little design job I could get to FINALLY start earning a six figure annual income. Just 2 years after leaving that 2nd LA firm…my annual income went up 5x to 6x what they were paying me.

At the 2nd LA Firm (which specialized in designing Multi-Family Developments…I did gain a great deal of expertise with that type of project (being able to design every aspect of those projects)…so, in 1993, at age 43, I began picking up major Apartment Builder Accounts…and that’s a really great design niche! For the next 15 nonconsecutive years, working on my own and focused primarily on Multi-Family Projects, it was well over six figures every year; But, I was working 10 to 14 hours a day and sometimes 7 days a week.

Note….I think today, for entry level LAs, the starting salaries are around $40,000.00 regardless of what city or State you’re in. And, some cities/States have high cost of living and high State income taxes. To me, those were always important considerations back when I was looking for an LA firm to join.

I think the KEY in Landscape Architecture, really is, getting to the point where you can design “on your own”. I have an LA friend in Florida who (with only 2 years of design practice under a Licensed LA) has his own LA practice…now in his 7th year and doing very well, and is very busy. I have helped him on and off over the years…as I just felt he needed more than JUST (2) years of experience to go it alone….but, it is possible.

I know of a Freelance Website called “UPWORKS”, that you might want to check out. It’s almost FREE to submit proposals for Design work…even for autoCAD work only. There are many Landscape Designers and LAs earning a lot of $$ from that website…UpWorks pays you directly (they take out a percentage of the fee for their profits). But, even you have a FULL-TIME job, you could still earn $$$ from this UPWROKS website @ home. Though, you might need to have “autoCAD” on your home computer. I think the KEY with UPWORKS is to keep your fees as low as you can. Check it out.

Hey, good thing that you can increase your SALARY @ a CE firm by 50%…reading what you’ve written, I think that sounds like the way to go for you, at least for now. You can always “quietly” be on the look out for an LA job…but, unfortunately, LA firms don’t pay all that well…until you have at least 10 yrs. of design experience. STILL, being “freelance” and on your own…IMO, might be a “goal”, because, designing for other people is making THEM wealthy, not you.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob