[Jessyca Frederick]

Thank you for sharing, Aaron!

[Jessyca Frederick]

Thanks, mauiBob.

Your [deleted] comments about timing the market, while initially hard to connect back to my available choices, does drive the point home. When I consider leaving my Extension program for a year and a half and then returning to finish a MLA instead, it does feel like I’m trying to time the market.

 

My instructors frequently tell me I’ll be an excellent Landscape Architect (I always hope they’re not just blowing smoke up my a**) but having potential and no experience isn’t going to get me  my first job. I think that we plan to relocate to a smaller town (in LA now, looking at SLO or the Palm Springs area) is adding extra pressure to my thinking about all of this as well. Last night one instructor suggested I find a niche (either technological like Green Roofs) or thematic (urban infill), etc. That thinking about where the profession is going will help me figure out how to succeed.

 

I’m someone who is very entrepreneurial and driven to succeed at anything I do. I think my biggest fear is not of failing to be well-off or even of not being good at LA… it’s the fear of not even being able to get started.

 

As a side note, I find it fascinating that everyone loves this Katy Perry song (not surprising, just fascinating).

[Jessyca Frederick]

Please tell me I’m not the only geek who knows the origin of this “Don’t Panic!” button! Thanks, Thomas.

[Jessyca Frederick]

Oof. I’m sorry this is what you’re experiencing.

[Jessyca Frederick]

I can handle ups and downs in a market… I’m super concerned about not being able to get in if the time between when I finish school and when there is demand is too long. Will I fall through the cracks or will I be able to get a job eventually?

[Jessyca Frederick]

I’m not sure that making money is the goal (I expected a 2/3 salary cut), but being able to get a job is on my list of must-haves for a new career. Four years of school is a big commitment and an investment of time and money. To not have any job prospects at the end of that four years is pretty sucky, especially since I need a job in order to get licensed and practice on my own some day.

[Jessyca Frederick]

“Really want” is definitely hard to define. I feel like Landscape Architecture is the thing I was meant to do and I just figured it out a little later than others. I left a lucrative career as an ecommerce exec to go back to school to do this. I want to do this, but not if it means forever struggling financially and being frustrated about not finding work for years after I graduate… there’s a common sense factor in there somewhere, no?

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