You make a good point. Someone who is working retail or food service is going to invite assumptions about what they’ve been doing during school or since graduation. Before I landed an internship as a E&S plan reviewer, I worked, you guessed it, in a coffee shop for three years. I wasn’t doing a lot of extra thinking about LA since I was…[Read more]

I like that kind of strategy. What have been the most valuable sources of data in your research?

Thanks for your humorous take on it. There is always a hint of fear in breaking from the conventional, but most times that break is exactly what it takes to get the response your looking for.

I’ve come across a similar internal debate as to how to handle this subject on my resume and perhaps some of you could provide me with some specific insight. Typically, I follow the format of being as brief as possible (1-1.5 pages). Since my past two places of employment have not been specifically design firms, I’ve created a separate…[Read more]

You make a very good point in your last paragraph. As I understand it (and have experienced in the office I used to work in), when a large firm hires a local firm, it is usually to take the lead on construction administration and assistance performing CDs. Perhaps non-local firms should set a different precedent, while preserving their…[Read more]

As an initial impression, I think your portfolio effectively displays your proficiency in a broad range of skills. You provide a nice mixture of projects for the viewer to consider. It sounds like you might still be working on additions to this and I do hope there are more for a couple of reasons. Overall, the format of the pages is good.…[Read more]

I currently work very closely with the landscape contractors and many are locals who have grown up cutting grass, planting trees, shrubs, and flowers, and maintaining peoples’ properties. Many of them pick up the difference between a rose and an azalea and, through…[Read more]

This one is currently free. There are several others that you can download a trial off the SketchUp downloads page. Also, if you’d like the opinion of a more experienced professional, Daniel Tal has a list of non-photo and photo-realistic renderers in the SketchUp group here on Land8.

If you give Kerkythea a try, I would highly recommend…[Read more]

I’ve seen it said on a number of threads that a digital portfolio would ideally be e-mail attachable (5 MB or less). What method have you found to be the best for keeping the resolution of images crisp while keeping ultimate PDF sizes low. Is it easier to do so by creating the whole package in InDesign as opposed to combining…[Read more]

It’s true, there is a crisis and the most recent unemployment numbers don’t offer much encouragement. I took a few minutes to peruse the forum you linked to and I have to say it’s not a place I would care to spend a whole lot of time. I imagine that a great number of people posting there are unemployed and looking for a place to vent. That…[Read more]

What would you say were the biggest short-comings to GIMP and Inkscape? I also swallowed the AutoCAD pill while in college and think I will be in that boat for a while.

I was required to take two semesters of professional practice in my fifth year and was taught by two very different people (one who was my boss at the time). The first was aimed more at architects and was taught by an MBA with little or no design experience, but heads up large institutional projects such as the…[Read more]

Again, I agree with the bulk of your concerns. Obviously, anyone who is facing an inconsistent flow of work, either working in a firm or simply trying to find an ‘in’ into the industry, will try to make the best of the situation. However, your last paragraph troubles me because it likens to other discussions I’ve seen here on the Lounge…[Read more]