[Tonie C.]

This is probably a dead thread, but I wanted to offer a little reality ck in case anyone is still refrencing it.  There is no way you’d find even a room-mate situation for $600 per month in SF unless it’s with a relative or someone who has had rent control for 20 years.  They’d be more likely to pay around 2K to share, 3k+ in a one bedroom. If you can live with a few room-mates you can lower that number a bit, but probably not below 1K.  

IMHO you need 75K plus to do ok in SF, living with a room-mate.  Ave SF salary for a landscape designer is 62K, and for a landscape architect is 72K. Starting salaries are in the low 50s.  

I’m not trying to be negative, I just want people to understand what they’re getting into if they move here. Rents are similar in the surrounding areas until you get pretty far from the city, 45min – 1 hour away.    

[Tonie C.]

I know this is a really old thread, but people tend to refer to them for info.  On that note, here is a nice concise (free) X-ref tutorial:  

http://www.netcomlearning.com/webinars/541654/Free-Webinar-AutoCAD–External-References-training.html

Sorry, Land8 won’t let me make it a live link. 

[Tonie C.]

I love the graphic design, the hand drawing, etc. You have a great editorial style. Congrats on the win!

[Tonie C.]

I think CAD is very hard to test for because there are so many ways to do the same task.  Most of those tests only accept one way of doing something.     

Why not hire on a trial basis?  Do a temp to hire with a 90 day window.  Let them know that you want them to use your office CAD standards and be able to perform XY and Z within that time frame.     

[Tonie C.]

I agree with the location issue.  I would think the West Coast and the bigger more progressive cites in the east would be better than more traditional environments were they are not as interested in design.  My first job in landscape architecture was for a west coast city govt. and I loved it.  They were some of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with.

I also agree that you should cast a wide net, it’s tight out there.  There are about hundreds of people applying for  every LA job where I live.    

[Tonie C.]

I haven’t tried this yet, but thanks Dennis and Jon for such specific info!

[Tonie C.]

Yeah, I kind of wondered if that was the case.  The work I see from Caltrans seems to vary a lot, some nice design but a lot of engineering influence ; )  

Do you know which of the Bay Area districts might have a more LA-friendly environment?  

[Tonie C.]

Thanks for all of your responses, very enlightening.  It sounds like it might be an ok fall back option but not a progressive work environment.  

With the economy being what it is I thought about taking the exam to get on the waiting (and waiting, and waiting) list so I would have a opportunity should I ever need it.  Is that a good strategy or is it not worth bothering?  

Hey Boilerplateer, sorry about the surly environment.  I have a friend who is a charming happy-go- lucky Californian LA who recently moved to New York (Manhattan).  If you have any leads for him please let me know, he doesn’t have any connections there.  He moved for his wife’s job transfer.      

[Tonie C.]

The California Department of Transportation.  THey hire a lot of landscape architects.

[Tonie C.]

I’m not sure if someone mentioned this yet, but I would take your Facebook user name off. 

I checked out your website and you might either want to leave it off or do a cleaned up version for professional purposes.  I would edit out the darker stuff like the hanging corpses and bloodied eye.  You might want to scrub out all of the violent, religious, and political images; those things tend to make people uncomfortable. 

The pdf version looks great.  I agree with someone’s comment about removing the black boxes, they are overwhelming.  If you really want to include a photo I would get a more professional one taken.  46 pages might be too long. 

I like your graphics.  One of the main complaints I see in portfolio reviews is that no one includes hand rendering.  Yours has a nice mixture and you can obviously draw!  You also show a lot more personality and warmth than some I’ve seen; I have a good sense of who to expect walking into an interview.     

I hope I don’t sound negative.  Overall I really like it, I’m just nitpicking because, well… you asked. 

 

[Tonie C.]

I agree with Wes, reduce the text into summaries or bullet points.  I find the gray boxes a bit distracting too.  It seems like an unnecessary element that isn’t adding anything.

 

Be sure to proofread, and maybe ask a friend or instructor to edit too, I saw some grammatical errors.   

 

Almost there…. : )

 

[Tonie C.]

I use a Mac mini for everything but AutoCAD.  Like Henry C (above) I use Parallels to run the PC version of CAD.  For me it was more about what I was used to, but a lot of people don’t like the MAC version.  

The PC to MAC conversion is not as painless as I had hoped but it’s doable.  The basic tools that annoy me most are the calendar and mail functions, they’re just too stripped down.   

[Tonie C.]

7 weeks is a pretty short prep period for an MLA program. The programs I know that take non-LAs require a year of prep. There are books that you can buy to demystify things a bit. The old, really old, standard for non designers entering design was; Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and Later. I think it’s pretty easy to find used copies. For your time frame this might be a good book to introduce you to design thinking. Design basics by David Lauer is more thorough but also far more expensive. The library at your school should have copies of both.

That said, a lot of people go into LA thinking it’s about plants or ecology, etc. it can be, but you have to make it that. It really is a design profession first. It sounds like you may be in the wrong program for your long-term goals. Maybe you should sit the next semester out to either prepare for design school or find an ecology program.

For the next few weeks I wouldn’t worry so much about final results. Get into the process of seeing and focus on how you think through problems. You won’t be able to present a perfect drawing but you’ll be able to present your creative process. It’s ok if your drawings are more like diagrams than fine art.

[Tonie C.]

Such an interesting thread, I think that a lot of people in a variety of professions are struggling. It’s not an LA recession, it’s an international recession. I know that there some bullet-proof careers out there but I’m not a doctor, lawyer, or business executive ; ). I’m trying to take broad approach to the situation and cast a wide net. I just finished a stint in project management. I learned lot and I think it will make me a better LA. My next gig may be some other suburb of LA (yup, just made that up, look at how that creativity flows), but what else can I do? As I scan past the seemingly endless ads for UI designers, I sometimes wish I could switch but I can’t. Embrace your DNA people. Each of us will survive this in our own way. I think that it’s good to be honest with people when they ask about the profession, but please be honest with yourself too.

[Tonie C.]

Nanda

Congrats, and thanks for sharing!

[Author]

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