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Hi Scott
I learned the ropes in the field prior to Licensure; I started at an ornamental tree farm then became manager and head of landscapeoperations, then lead designer, then partner in a design build firm, all the while not fulfilled in my carrer thinking that I took the wrong path by not stepping straight into a design firm. It wasnt until I joined a great design firm that I realized how important and valuable the years in the field proved to be. My work station was surrounded by LA’s with Masters Degrees, but with zero field experience; after my first six months I literally had to complain to the principal of the firm because 2/3 of my time was spent explaining to others how things really worked… The unfortunate thing is that most contractors think that all we know is what was learned in college and boy do I hear that a lot; just this week I prepared a punch list for a project and the response from the Landscape Contractor (absolutely the worst display of landscape contracting ever) was, and I quote, “I wouldnt expect anything less from someone thats never actually done any work” I quickly scheduled a site meeting and spent two hours with the contractor explaining how and why i knew that he spent the majority of his time on site cutting corners… I absolutely agree with the German LAs thoughts… How can anyone design with cofidence if the elements they are using are foreign to them?