For quite a while now, I’ve been seriously contemplating leaving the profession of architecture. By quite a while, I’d say it’s been nearly a year. I’ve worked in architecture for over 10 years at multiple different places across a few different states. The main reason for the job jumping was due to that recent economic downturn called The Great Recession. While the rest of the country complained about 10-15% unemployment, the architecture profession enjoyed a fantastic 25% unemployment. It was the single hardest hit profession, even beating out the construction industry. I was lucky that my biggest unemployment stretch was only 6 months. However, I ended up working at some places that were either poorly managed or who cranked out poor designs. Usually both.
I’ve tried to look at that experience as just that, experience. Mostly about how not to do things. There is a joke in the architecture profession, and it is that architects are notoriously bad at running a business. My varied experiences taught me this is true and it’s not really that funny. I don’t think that I’m any type of business guru, but there are some things I see that seem like common sense that don’t really get attention within a lot of firms. Things like tracking what’s been charged for projects and how long those projects actually took and how much money it actually cost so that there was a record of profits and losses.
There’s also the human resources factor. This is about the management of people. I’ve worked places where it seems like the managers don’t have a clue what I’ve done, managers who don’t seem to care what I’m doing, and managers who just want to stand on a pedestal and “cheerlead” rather than actually set up tasks and accountability for the team. I think one of the more frustrating encounters I had was realizing that I was stuck in a particular position with no opportunity to move out despite repeatedly noting to my company that I wanted to.
I have always believed that for me, working in architecture would mean meeting with clients, learning about their needs and dreams and goals. Taking that information and creating a general concept, refining it, then creating all the details required to get it built. Ultimately I envisioned seeing that concept built and then following up with the clients a year later to learn about what was successful and unsuccessful with the project. Perhaps that’s a romantic look at the profession but it’s what I’ve always wanted for myself.
In my decade plus of being in the profession, I’ve met architects who have admitted they don’t care about design, but about the connections and details of the construction. I’ve met some who want to be the face of architecture by going out and networking. I’ve met some who want to sketch and design only, then pass that off to a different team. In a larger firm, I’ve been able to see a good spot for the first two (assuming that the networker once worked in the role of the others) but I still cannot see where someone who only designs is a true benefit to a project. Maybe because my experience with that type has been someone who doesn’t have the experience of those other two and not understanding how a building needs to go together usually means a lower quality design that may deteriorate faster and/or lead to a very unhappy client when it just doesn’t work right.
I rarely meet someone who does what I want to do, but I know that type exists. They are usually solo practitioners, which explains why I don’t end up working with them. Every now and then I go to a conference or other event and meet up with them and I’m reminded that I do like the field of architecture. Maybe my final path isn’t meant to be in traditional practice, but I still get reminded that it needs to be a part of my life.
I’ve had this type of recent experience and am grateful to all those in my profession who continue to inspire me to keep going. I’m also really grateful to those who I meet in the profession who are still involved but have taken one of those alternative paths, you give me hope that there’s multiple ways to find contentment within the overall profession. I don’t need everlasting happiness or pure excitement every day, I just need to wake up on a week day and not have to pull myself out of bed only to trudge into a job that steals little pieces of who I am every day.
I’ve had a lot of jobs and haven’t liked any of them for more than a couple of months. I’ve been asked and/or accused many times over the past few years, is it the job or me, because I’m the common thread in the equation. After this past week, I’m once again resolved, and deep down know, that it’s not me, it’s not the profession, it’s the job. Maybe it’s time to get better at picking them.
