George McNair

The problem is that arch/la professors tend to guide students toward traditional career paths in la/arch and there just are not enough jobs/projects right now to support all of the new grads that want to practice design right out of school.
 
Recession seem to occur every 30 years and LAs get hit hard during these times.   Be ready to weather the storms.

What?

I graduated in the spring of 2009, and did not find an industry job until fall 2011.
 
This doesn’t sound like a good career endeavor since we are adivising someone on career choices. During recessions, some professions do well while others dissolve. 

Nursing is a very good bet.

My point is, do you know what CEQR and NPDES are? These are legistlative driving forces behind employment of LA’s (with health benefits),
 
Please tell us what your point it all about?

 
You are a smart young man looking to the future. The plan to teach CAD at the high school level is a good choice. Stay out of L, Architecture unless you want to get a PHD and teach, or get on with the government……………………I have to go and will be back on the form later.
 
If you insist, then Architecture is another way to go.
 
 

Now we are on the same page, and I fully agree with your comments.  My original comments were not too well focused and confused your train of thought. My LA career is coming to an end since social security and medicare are happening. My LA goals are more limited, and political. I plan to stay active for as long as my health holds up. My comments…[Read more]

Jason your words below are characteristic of many LAs and I fully agree. When it comes to massive site plans, we are the most qualified by training. The political powers need to realize what we do and put us in the drivers seat. 
 
Jason said, “Our voice is not strong, our voice is not united. We do too much crap and we cede parts of our p…[Read more]

Yeah, I have been cracking the books too……………….really up on the magnets.

 
email me Francesco    gmcnair2@frontier.com

It is really great to hear from you and Jason. It’s encouraging to hear some progress is being made on the political front by the ASLA. Do you have budget figures that specifies the money spent on political lobbying and adds that define what landscape architects do?   
As far as my contribution, Steve Potter and I initiated the Landscape Ar…[Read more]

 
Zach, you are entitled to your opinion but you missed the point. Yes, we do all that you suggest, but we add more layers of education and marketing of the LA profession. All sucessful industries lobby the political system for their causes. Lke it or not, we are competing with landscape contractors, engineers, architects, and plannners for a la…[Read more]

Bottom line is why a MLA? Isn’t anyone paying attention to the economy and which professions are ALWAYS hit the hardest during recessions?
 
This is so true. Anyone in the building industry gets hit the hardest and not just LAs. LAs do get the worst. I found this out in 1982 when my Oregon design build business went from going wide open to n…

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Mike, nice pictures of your landscape projects on your personal page.

Your plan is workable if you can find the right person. Most builders may want to employ you rather than partner up. A new landscaper may want a partner. You may wind up doing some of the actual landscape construction work to stay busy. This means shoveling bark, raking future lawns, or clearing irrigation ditches. The paper work is about 20% of…[Read more]