[Sarah Deosdade Tucker]

My opinion echoes the previous commenters. From what I’ve seen, the typical employee with an MLA is behind those with a BLA. My personal belief is that it stems from exactly your concern: no foundational knowledge/skills. What I’ve seen and experienced in school and professionally was that those going for an MLA either had no background in landscape or design, or held a BLA and were more interested in an academic career as opposed to a career in practice.

That being said, taking some sort of certificate program–or at least basic drafting and/or design courses on the side–would definitely be a plus. I don’t really know anything about those programs, but if you’re really interested in practicing, that could really help you on your way. As Andrew pointed out, most of us do begin our professional careers as productions workers–CAD monkeys, to use a bit of jargon.

I’m glad you stumbled across landscape and have taken an interest in it. My own personal interest has always been the effects of landscape on health and wellness, so it seems to me your background in psychology could be a great influence on your design. Also, colleges and universities really seem to revel in having MLA students with a wide variety of backgrounds, so don’t think of a non-design background as a handicap.

Good luck!

[Sarah Deosdade Tucker]

I’ll echo what others have said: this question is on a cycle that comes up periodically. I’ll start off by saying that I’m a young’un–I graduated in 2007 and have worked at 3 different LA firms since then. I remember this existential question coming up when I was in college, and I’ve witnessed 75% of my class abandon the field when the last recession hit. I was fortunate: I kept my job until 2011 when I was laid off along with a quarter of the office, and I was only out of work for about 7 weeks. I recently moved back to the company I did my first internship with.

No, I do not think our profession is dying. I think we are, as ever, misunderstood, under-appreciated, and under-utilized, but what else is new? Other design professionals and engineers who know their stuff know they need to hire us to make their projects better. As a young LA (received my license in 2013) I’m seeing first-hand how our profession is becoming more known. My area tends to lag several years behind the trends in the rest of the country, and it’s interesting to see where we’ll be heading soon and try to advocate for (or against) those trends.

As to branching out, I think it is really dependent on the company. I see many firms specialize more and more on certain aspects. My first company was somewhat high-profile in our area and was prime on most of their projects, some very large in scope; they were a healthy mix of hardscape, planting, grading and drainage, planning, lighting, etc. My last company did primarily high-end residential and was about half planting, half hardscape. My company right now probably does 75% planting plans with some planning, not so much focus on hardscape, and primarily public-sector work.

Like most LAs my age, I graduated shiny-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to make big changes! Change the field! Make our world a better place! You can guess where that’s gone. However, far from being disillusioned, I’ve become more realistic. We will always be misunderstood, under-appreciated, and under-utilized. I don’t think that will ever change. There won’t be a time when high school or college students learn who Lawrence Halprin, Garrett Eckbo, Hideo Sasaki, insert-big-name-LA-here are. They won’t associate us or any of those names with Frank Gehry, Frank Lloyd Wright, Renzo Piano, or I.M. Pei.

I’ve realized that the best way I can advocate for our profession is to do quality work that people will enjoy. When they walk through the amazing urban park in my city and enjoy the dog park, playgrounds, art, mature shade trees and trails, they won’t know which firm designed or led decision-making for most of that. But they will realize that there’s a better way to do things than the trapezoidal concrete channel that runs along the road that park lies on and collects trash. They may not know what to call it, but landscape architecture will there.

Other consultants are trying to cut into our work. To be honest, informed developers and clients know the difference between a site designed by a landscape contractor or engineer and one designed by an LA.Will we be consumed by other professions? Possibly. But I think that’s a long way away.

As for ASLA and whether they are doing enough, that’s a loaded question. Nationally? I think they’re trying. State-level? They’re caught up trying to make sure the state still requires licenses for us. Locally? Mine is a joke, though others around the state are doing well.

I’ll end my speech there. I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m very optimistic about the field in general. Until the next recession. Then I might give up and let my software/web developer husband take care of me for life while I plant pretty flowers in my yard.

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