Jonathan P. Williams, RLA

Nick that is very true I did not think about that.
Normally they do go lower than you ask so if you get timid and say 38 becuase you are afraid they might say NO… you are stuck with a job at 36 that you can’t pay bills with.
 
Now what good is that.

You mentioned negotiating skills. I sold cars to help pay for college, please no jokes, and learned some valuable skills in negotiating.
I will give you four pointers
 
     1. Never give a number first.
 —Avoid this at all cost. You want to know how they value you.
 
      2. Get as much up front as you can.
 —An extra 4k up front could t…[Read more]

Heather I agree completely was that we need to be imaginative. That is where I started with all of this. I saw this idea and I wanted to see what would happen it was explored.
 
The idea of of Master/Aprentice is maybe where the profesion should be headed. This idea of a co-op alows for that kind of relationship in a tough market and for little…[Read more]

Very well put. I agree with this stance completely. The co-op is not a singular firm it is a group of individuals, and possibly other firms, and so the ideas will be unique and unlike what you get from a traditional firm.
 
I belive this model would be apealing to clients becuase many are at a point with the economy  and overconsumption that th…[Read more]

 
To address a few issues.
 
At the creation of this Co-op I do not see it competing right away with large established firms. It would need to have a collection of work produced as reference to go after some larger projects. The only way I see getting this would be through pro-bono work or work brought in directly from the Co-op’s mem…[Read more]

A co-op has a new, young, fresh sound. It gives the impression of working together for a common good. So from that stand point, marketing.
If it is an interdisplinary co-op it may bring in projects normaly only given to large engineering or LA firms. Yet the client does not want such a big firm working on it.
 
The people joining may not be…[Read more]

I think it would be more of a specialization set up. I also agree with Jonathan in that it would problably need to be a interdisciplinary co-op.
I may not have explained well that in the arcticle the partners of the Co-op are not working in the architecture feild. They have ‘Day jobs’, in essence they are just a group of ‘friends’ getting together…[Read more]

Thomas,
Thank you for the comment on the website. I have not updated it since January so it is lacking my newest work and sadly has a few bugs to be worked on. Will be rebuilding the whole thing shortly.

As far as your comment on 10-12 hours in Auto CAD is that in reference to working for a firm? or at what I am currently doing? Because believe…[Read more]

I have first hand experience with this.
Currently I hold a position with a Design/Build company that also does a good deal of maintenance.
I was more than willing to go into a LA firm and ‘pay my dues’ but there were none that were hiring entry level BLA graduates and I was snubbed so many times my enthusiasm for LA has dwindled.

So I am at a…[Read more]

That is just a start. There is a long road ahead of the profession. I think changes are happening all over the profession and hope that with a new editor our leading organization will give us some good articles on what those changes are and what they mean.