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Noted. Thanks for the feedback. 

Thank you for the reply, I did the opposite, I broke my back and now work in a metal work firm!
Going on the rough exchange rate, the Autocad course here is 6 weeks and would cost approx $800, that’s also a 6 week period I wouldn’t be able to work because I couldn’t find a night school but I’m getting there slowly. #
I’ve literally just started a…[Read more]

This reply addresses the CAD portion of your post.
A co-worker in one LA office I used to work in was trained as a steel fabricator on buildings. He injured his back and couldn’t return to his original trade so he taught himself Autocad (I want to say he did this in 6 months to a year) and was able to parlay his relatively quickly gained p…[Read more]

Potential job opportunities are also a function of your local economy. States like Florida, Arizona and Nevada, that way over built in the single-family market still have not returned to pre-recession hiring levels. Other locations like North Dakota, Texas, Maryland, are hot now but whether they will continue to be so when you complete your degree…[Read more]

Another benefit of the chips may be that you can use them in the summer hot months but remove them to take advantage of the heat in spring and fall to extend the growing season.  Over asphalt is fine, and often better in urban environments as the surrounding soil often isn’t particularly clean (lead, etc)

A large portion depends on how you position yourself: networking and quality of portfolio are for the most part how you land a job.  Some people are offered positions prior to graduation, others will struggle.  International employment is common, but in some parts of the world they expect graduate degrees and they also do not have student loans (…[Read more]

Hello Lauren, thank you for the offer, I’ve uploaded my current resume if you don’t mind having a look still.

Thank you, my portfolio was in the first post. I haven’t really had chance to touch it since the original posting.

Hello, sorry for the ghost bump, life got extremely crazy since the last posting. If it wasn’t for my back condition flaring up so I’m off work then I wouldn’t be catching up at all!
Since my last posting I’ve looked into getting cad training but the cost is prohibitive so I’ve been trying to pick up the basics on my own time. 
I have recently…[Read more]

I’m designing the beds with a 2″ gravel base and filter fabric for drainage, and I may also have them drill drain holes on the downhill side of the beds. 
I had thought about the glare, and was hoping a matte paint would help alleviate that, but I like your idea of wood chips more.  I’ll have to look into that and make sure it won’t wash away w…[Read more]

How will the raised beds be drained?
Painting the asphalt a light color just seems blinding to me and uncomfortable for those in the garden area. Consider laying down wood chips and at the end of the season collecting what remains as compost or mulch.

I tried to add text to the photo of those barrack looking buildings.  That was a project I did in Garmish, Germany in 1979 while in the Army.  That building was then the “Russian Institute” where our army prepared people for “visiting” the USSR.  We had some left over money and I was asked to build a “garden” over the parking lot without re…[Read more]

I would look at huge government agencies like State Transportation departments or environmental protection divisions or planning divisions – state agencies often have budgets that can absorb interns, have lots of really intense work, and would love to have some cheap labor for a few months – we hire interns where I work, a huge state…[Read more]

A lot depends on what you want to do after you graduate – some programs train you to be useful from day one in a design firm that sees project through construction (I’m A&M is one) others are more theory driven (GSD is more the latter, big scale planning, diagramming but not a whole lot of actual detailing or understanding of construction).  Also…[Read more]

Thank you all for the great advice! I ended up taking the non-profit job and I think it is a lot more interesting than the admin job would be (and although not much design there is a lot of interesting networking and great people that I interact with everyday). Cheers to all who offered their take on this and good luck to all with similar job…[Read more]

Thank you for your input! I actually just got off the phone with a friend who is a current student and, coincidentally enough, she said something similar to what you shared. This new perspective definitely has me leaning toward Harvard, based on my career goals.

Note that you won’t have much in terms of skill set for most smaller design firms, but finding an engineering firm w/ an LA department or a cross disciplinary firm/agency may be a good start (say parks departments or environmental consultants).  A larger firm may be able to let you intern, but full-time positions may be difficult as the firm…[Read more]

I second this, although the newest format has this a bit skewed for site work (Masterformat separates by trade, or at least is intended to – which may be an issue for some manufacturers as they do items across sections, say lighting and site furnishings or green walls and planters).  Most suppliers will list their pertinent sections on their…[Read more]

I use Impression fairly regularly.  On a more powerful machine it seems to be more stable, but still glitchy.  I’ll have to check out m-color, I hadn’t heard of that before, but I’ve been looking for a more stable platform that is a little less cartoonish.

Impatience is the mother of motivation. It is not a flaw.