Jonathan Sampson

Absolutely. And, you have to add-in that licensing requirements mean that production staff are (legitimately) utilized at the lowest rate possible; and, they have to accept those conditions if they ever want to become licensed. It’s sort of a scheme that you have to buy into (I did not). 

(this is a first!) 100% agree. Doesn’t matter if you’re a BLA or a MLA, you will only be valued as an entry level draftsman (draftsperson), and you should expect to be making entry-level wages.
For me, having had a fairly lucrative career prior to entering the LA industry, being paid poorly for hard work (that a 23 year old should be doing),…[Read more]

Let me blunt – getting started in LA is a young person’s game. I completed my MLA and started in LA in my early 30s and I found it impalatable. MLAs programs take what an undergrad BLA does and multiples it by 2. In essence, you complete over 100 graduate units in 3 years. Having done other graduate work, I can tell you that it doesn’t even…[Read more]

ALSA’s response is damn spot-on!

Very reasonable response, thanks Bob.

🙂 

I think so too – it’s going to be a repeat of the 2000 era boom/bust cycle. Build build build, money money money… and then oh $hit. 

Oh Craig, you know the answer to that: OBAMA! Right Bob??? But yes it is shocking that this sort of discussion has been floating around Land8’s forums. Bob and I have butted heads on other Land8 threads as well, so his rhetoric is no surprise to me. Don’t worry, if it wasn’t Muslims (btw, did you know Islamic followers consider everyone who…[Read more]

Having worked on both sides of private sector and the public sector – if you don’t have LA’s providing oversight and direction to the public (infrastructure) contracts prior to the RFP process, there won’t be any/many LA contracts to the private sector (who do you think advocates for LA work? Certainly not engineers). And it’s certainly up to…[Read more]

Back on point – federal agencies are already feeling the crunch of budget cuts and more cuts can be expected on the coastal states if they don’t crack under pressure from dc. So like I expected, public sector LA jobs will almost completely evaporate unless they are tied to the DOT where highway projects will probably get greenlighted. We all know…[Read more]

You have a very interesting perspective Dave, some of your opinions I share, some I don’t. The ACA could be improved. Like most legislation it will need refinement as time goes on. It does benefit people, though, and it’s fairly obvious that it has a place in some form. Congress stonewalled the last administration because of his kenesian policies…[Read more]

Anecdotal evidence: my MLA class was about 65% women, but the data (like CLARB shows) indicates that the industry is about 50/50. But you and I both know that there’s a lot of burn out + a lot of people just never get their LA license. So I’m guessing that those two conditions help explain the data gap. Another piece of anecedotal evidence: I’ve…[Read more]

Come on Bob, you haven’t corned the market on what LA is. I know lots of successful LAs that probably couldn’t pass a life drawing class, but are doing just great in the industry. Face it, hand drawing is disappearing. Which is kinda sad, actually. 

Fact: more women are in LA school than men. Reality: seems like a gender split field, but that’s probably from flame-out more than anything else. 
Fact: most (new) LA’s have minimal hand drawing skills. Reality: almost everyone just uses CAD and Adobe Creative Suite and 3d modeling. Only basic site sketches get drawn. 

Actually, it makes sense why a) people wanted to give mortgages to people b) why people wanted to have them. It stems from the American dream (right?), not ‘social engineering’, unless you call the propagation of picturesque 1950s american values as social engineering (which you could). Yes, people thought they should own a roof over their heads,…[Read more]

Really Bob?! Who put us in this situation to begin with – uh, Bush anyone? And with those free-market republican ideals American’s over reached to buy homes that lenders gladly supported and developers (every tom dick and harry) cashed-in on it all. I mean, have you ever worked with (not for) developers? They are, above all, business people only…[Read more]

I agree that university’s are businesses and to be skeptical, but when I applied to my MLA program I was one of about 50 candidates for 12 spots. Maybe for the BSLA there are better odds.

I’m just parroting. My opinion is this: by selection, everyone who gets into LA school is talented. Some are better than others, but all are talented. Everyone who gets through LA school has the right skillset to find work. That’s a fundamental of getting through an accredited problem. We should stop blaming students for their lack of attitude or…[Read more]

I whole-heartedly agree.

Really. You don’t think everyone accepted into an architecture program has talent? Or, that anyone who graduates from an accredited LA program worked hard? Or that they persevered through public humiliation via critiques because of a positive attitude? Give me a break. And smart networking is what – sucking up to the right people? I thought you…[Read more]