Chad Danos

Claudia and others,
My career has been affected because of the slowing/halting economy. My first job “let go” was in 2005 and the last was in 2007. In both cases, I was let go due to lack of available work. Times like these force us to be creative and more importantly flexible, and in the near future, that flexibility becomes a selling point. You…[Read more]

Before spending $1600 or trying limited trials, you should consider free software available through Vectorworks for students http://www.nemetschek.net/student/ This will provide you with a full version of the software, and that includes Renderworks. With this, you will be able to do the work of AutoCAD, Land F/X, Photoshop and Sketchup, and GIS, too. For…[Read more]

Having been in the industry for about 15 years, I would suggest recent graduates should take into consideration the other benefits offered by employers to “sweeten” the deal. When we thought my wife was going to be able to work from home to watch our first (and soon afterward our second) child, we couldn’t afford daycare, but my employer allowed…[Read more]

Nick, I would agree that any experience will help in boosting your starting salary, but the key change will be seen when you take on project management experience and registration. As you may suspect, entry level positions will be working on the projects that project managers are handing off to them to complete in production. The best way to…[Read more]

For GIS, ESRI may be as good as it gets, but if you are looking for a program that will receive and manage Shapefiles for your analysis and presentation purposes…as well as precisely overlay with Geo (World) Referenced Sat Image Files and even exporting to shapefiles, I would recommend Vectorworks Landmark. You can take the GIS information you…[Read more]

Andie,
I have instructed the LARE reviews in Ohio since 2000 and St Louis for the last 2 years, and have repeatedly recommended Ready Set Practice, as it really is more apt for studying. I also recommend AIA Glossary of Construction Industry Terms. This has many terms and definitions that might not be as obvious in one place and if there are terms…[Read more]

Because the understanding of BIM is less of a known entity to landscape architects, it might be easier to learn about it from architecture cad technology writer, such as Jerry Laiserin, who writes for Cadylist…see the following link

http://aec.cadalyst.com/aec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=470080&sk=&date=&pageID=3

Keep your eyes out though,…[Read more]

Andrew, I’m glad to hear others speak about the success of Vectorworks (Landmark), as I can now say the same…a year ago, I had not heard of the program, but now I’m glad I have…and have more to say about it than the American industry standard…in other nations, around the world, it is actually the other way around, as Vectorworks is the…[Read more]