Mandy

For me personally, grad school, I feel, will be a way for me to kind of “restart”/”reignite” my career. I don’t think the type of work I’m currently doing professionally will lead me to what I’m ultimately seeking. I’ve tried applying for other jobs to no avail. So where do I go from here…I can 1) wait it out…cross my fingers and hope what I’m…[Read more]

I also like to add that when I graduated with my BLA, it was the beginning of the decline. I got interviews, no problem, but what I wasn’t getting was the actual job because I graduated lacking technical skills to jump right into whatever positions they were offering. It took me 6 months to land my current job. Within those 6 months, I took an…[Read more]

In this current economic climate, it’s an employer’s market. They have their pick of the best and the brightest and yes, it does frustrate me to see job listings requiring MLA’s plus, plus, plus……., but, if I were in their position I would be doing the same thing. Not having the MLA or BLA or whatever skills they ask for puts you behind the…[Read more]

You might find this article reassuring…

http://blogs.hbr.org/schrage/2010/07/higher-education-is-highly-ove.html

After all these posts, I can’t help but notice a divide between the younger generation of LAs and the older generation of LAs. This then leads my train of thought to several articles I’ve read on HBR (Harvard Business Review) about the generational divide between the gen x, gen y and b…[Read more]

Pat, I’ve been on several heavily political projects and I have no problems working directly with city agencies or developers and believe it or not, developers are much easier to work with than architects. Everyone knows the issues on the table and a better product is developed because of that.

However, when we are working as a sub under an…[Read more]

Rob, I understand my 2.5 yrs of experience doesn’t amount to much and I’m painfully aware of all the things I don’t know, but what I do know, I know well.

My ideas are often immediately discounted because of my lack of experience and I often give 200% of myself to a project because I am so aware of that fact.

I’ve worked with architects who…[Read more]

In my office as well, my boss is more on the passive side and refuses to push certain issues because my boss doesn’t want to anger or offend our architect clients, so we end up doing whatever they want us to do. It makes me a little angry seeing how docile my boss can be towards certain situations. I really like Jason’s idea of advertising…[Read more]

By the way, thank you very much for your insight, it makes me feel less alone…

I can’t believe how similar your experience is to mine. I work at a very small firm where I literally do everything. I “led” a small school project within the first year I was with my firm. Since then, I’ve been a critical designer for every project that comes through the door, so It’s obvious that my boss appreciates my abilities as a designer,…[Read more]

Site architects…i like that…

I agree, but my employer also hired me for my ability to think critically about design. I’m not going to just sit around and hope the architects will figure it out when I know what they are proposing is obviously flawed. Anyways, the little story I told in the beginning was only to set the stage for a larger discussion on why so many LAs get no…[Read more]

I’ve only been in the field for a little over 2 1/2 yrs and it’s starting to wear on me. I tell myself that maybe it’s because I work for a small practice, therefore, we’re not in the position to negotiate. I would like to hear the experience of people from larger practices.

Since you have taken the plunge and decided to pursue a BLA, I would recommend that you intern at a variety of firms both large and small. While in school, network…network…network!!! Be nice to your professors as well as the architects.