[Lauren Davis]

With all due respect, you don’t know the first thing about me Mr. Cohen.

I have not spent “ four years and a goodly amount of your parents money” nor have I “gone into debt.” I pay for my own education (state school) and have scholarships to supplement my fees. I have worked part-time jobs since I was 16. My mother, who is out of work, is in no position to support me financially and I know it’ll be up to me to support her in the future. I have already started investing in my future for retirement and am very conservative about spending.

Like I said before, I did not take your first response personally. I was put off, but you did not scare me away. I do, however, take offense to your assumptions about my background and that I am fiscally irresponsible.

Since I have been funding my own education, which is an investment in my future, I want to make sure I am spending my money wisely and choosing a field that will satisfy me intellectually, spiritually and financially. I do value your advice as a senior member of the forum and profession, and am considering finding summer or part time work at a garden center or nursery to get some plant knowledge under my belt.

[Lauren Davis]

Hey, just to let everyone know I’m still checking in and I’m really appreciating all of the input. 

Craig, you’ve talked a lot about your experiences and provided good food for thought on other people’s responses and I want to thank you for that. I think I know exactly what Mike is talking about though, and I think his post is more of a ‘keep your chin up’ message. Henry Cohen’s reply was one of the first responses to my thread and he basically told me the profession wasn’t for me if I had to ask questions. His response kind of shocked me and was really off-putting. I didn’t take it personally, but I thought it reflected poorly on the discipline, especially since it was the first response and wasn’t at all constructive advice. Luckily, everyone else chimed in with their two cents, good and bad, which I’m very grateful for.

As a side, I’m on vacation right now with family so I’m not really in a position to be visiting firms yet (but I get to talk career plans with relatives, yay…), but it’s definitely going to happen!

[Lauren Davis]

Thank you everyone!

Many of you suggested that I talk to professionals in my area. This is a good idea, but there was a reason why I came to this forum. Usually, if people have gripes with their job, they’re more likely to speak up about them over the internet. They’re less likely to say anything bad if you go visit them. I mean, they’re representing their company after all. Also, since landscape architecture is a smaller discipline, I think that a lot of the information out there is advocacy-related so it’s all positive, positive, positive! Which is why my expectations went way up!

So this thread is giving me exactly what I was looking for. A mix of the good and the bad. Please keep it coming, I’m learning a lot. 

I will do more thinking and visit some firms. What ya’ll are telling me is that how I make it into this field will depend on the intensity of my passion, which I can’t gauge the level yet since I don’t know enough. It seems interesting and I’ll do more research but I’m not sure how much I want my life consumed by my job…and that seems to be the sentiment in this thread.

Lauren

[Author]

Posts