What I want in a career
The values I want in my career are time freedom, surroundings, cooperation, creativity, and high earnings. What time freedom means to me is that my own time isn’t wasted on work. I make my money, and I’m able to spend my money on necessities and more. When I have children I’m able to spend time with them and be there for them and also for my wife. I can travel and explore different parts of the world whenever I choose to do so. The surroundings I work in are comfortable, and not too crowded, and also everybody isn’t in your business. I need my space. I can’t stay stuck in a room for along time. I have to be in an open place, mostly outside with the fresh air. Creativity is very important to me. I have a big imagination. I’m always looking around at buildings, tools, cars, etc. I come up with design in my head but never draw them on paper. To be able to see my designs actually come to life is a dream come true to me. Cooperation is most important, especially if you are working in the field of mechanical engineering. Hearing what other people have to say can save your job. If it is in the office or outside in the construction zone, hearing what other people say is really important. Money is an important factor to me. I just want a decent pay so I can have the necessities, a little bit of luxury, travel, and of course help my family. I plan to own the company that I work for and get paid for enjoying my life.
The type of skills I would like to use are inventing, building,
constructing, observing, researching, designing, organizing, and assuming
responsibility. The skills that matter to me the most are designing and
inventing. That’s what I really want to do, design to make something work
better than it used to. Inventing is a dream to me. Making something that no
one has made is hard. It would be hard since a lot has been invented so all you
can really do is make the invention work better. Organizing is one of the
skills I need to work on. You need to have leadership and public speaking
skills to know how to organize. Speaking in front of people gets me really
nervous, and I can’t speak clearly in front of people. I can lead people and
motivate them, but I’m not loud enough for them to listen to me.
How much money I want to make is about $130,000 a year. I’m not planning
to stay in the lower level. My goal is to make it to the top and stay there. I
want to take advantage of the easy money and make my life stress free. I’m
going to push myself to the top. $80,000 is reasonable for me its enough for me
to get what I want, but it’s not enough money for a family. In my late 20s I
want to travel a little and enjoy my life a little. At the age of 30 I plan to
buy my first home or condo and probably my first luxury car. Probably in my
early 30’s I plan to get married and have children. In my 40’s I want to watch
my children grow and be there for them when they need me to be. In my 50’s or
60’s I plan to retire and enjoy my life.
Day to Day Life of an Architect
The day to day life of an architect is stressful; most people
believe that an architect just designs buildings and bridges. Actually most
architects don't get to start drawing till they have been in the business for
about five years. Most of the people working in this field end up leaving
because they don't expect to be stressful. Most architects start of as interns
to see and get a field of the environment. Architects just starting off don’t design
they research zoning, buildings codes filing or work alongside an experienced
architect. Also they spend most of their time on the computer using a program
CAD (computer assisted design) this program will be mandatory since most
designs or blueprints are done in computer now. Architects usually work eight
to fives. They usually work after if their constructing a model or designing a
building. Architects that are starting off work or work as an intern will gain
roughly about $35,000.
Architects that start
building their career they gain more responsibility. They start to help
out with designs like bathrooms, heating, lighting, etc. Also they begin to
work with clients and that’s when they put their people skills and their real
architecture skills. Showing their clients visions or putting their clients
vision into a paper. That’s when the architect’s hour’s increase and that’s
when the stress starts to come into play. Architects must always have their
clients satisfied and make sure the project is going good and that nothing goes
wrong. Most architects will be drafted and they will spend most of their time
traveling on the road. The places that are visited by an architect are usually
just to be inspected.
More experienced workers
don’t really spend their time designing. They really mostly just work with
their clients, work on the phone, be in meetings, work with engineers or go
they go to the construction zone were their designs are coming to life.
Architects that are having their designs build usually write letters, file
reports, and work with their clients or contractors. An architect must make
sure that they meet all the building codes, the life safety codes, and must
also meet the cost of the construction. This means they constantly meet with
their clients for their clients can be satisfied with the plans and engineers
to see if there are any problems wit the plans. Architects that have years of
experience and have become professional in the field don’t really work with
clients or construction. They mainly spent their time designing and creative
planning. Most of them end up being professors at universities, lecture or
write books. Most architects end working over 40 hours a week specially when
the deadlines come.
Steps to the Career
The steps
you need to take to be an architect is getting a professional degree in
architecture from an officially recognized school, work as an intern under a
licensed architect, and pass a registration exam. To obtain a professional degree
in architecture you must be in the 114 schools that offer the program that are
approved by the NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board). In some state
you can get a degree that is not approved by the NAAB. A five yea Bachelor of
architecture would be the fasted way to professional degree. Some courses that
maybe required are drawing, history of architecture, introduction to
architectural practice and theory and basic design. These classes are mandatory
and have to be taken, one year of calculus and physics. For the fifth year for
a person going for a bachelor all that will really be required to do is a year
long design project. Also it is required to do a year long internship either at
home or over seas. After all this has been completed most states require a
registration exam which is called the ARE (Architecture Registration
Examination). This exam is supposed to show the skills, knowledge, and the
ability that are needed to be an architect. Also another requirement to be an
architect is public speaking skills this will be needed because architects
consult with their clients all day. After that all that is needed is to find a
job as an architect.
Salary and Benefits
Architects just staring of or work as an intern can be expected to be paid about $39,420. An architect in California just starting of may get paid close to $60,000. Architects that work that have work in the business for a couple of years will get paid from a range of $48,780 and 83,450. After being an architect and working for about six or more years will be expected.
Room for Advancement
Architecture isn’t a dead end job. It takes time to advance and to what an architect really does. To really do what an architect does will take a while, architects don’t start off working on the drawing board and just design buildings. Architects have to work their way up and have to deal with the stress that comes with the job. Architects start off as just working as interns. Interns work along side professional architects and really just working on the computer or file reports. When an architect really begins to work as an official architect they really just help with designs and they begin to work with clients. Architects at this level won’t really spend their time in the office architects travel to see the site where the client wants to built their building and if it’s safe. As an architect gains more experience and prove themselves they begin to run projects. They work with their clients trying to fit the budget while trying to satisfy the client. They work closely with engineers, visit the site to where the design is being built, they must make sure that they meet the building codes, the life safety codes. At this point most architects will take up management. Most architects that have worked in the business for along time will end up being professors at universities. Some may have a big project that will set them for life and they will be able to retire early.
Overall Advantage and Disadvantages
The overall advantages of being an architect are strong math skills, strong communication skills, strong writing skills and thinking skills. Having strong math skills is helpful. Most jobs require math skills and having this an architect has a bigger advantage of getting a good job. Also having strong writing skills an architect can also get a good job as secretary, newspaper writer, or even an author. Also an architect has to have god communicating skills and mostly every single job requires people skills. Having this skill an architect can get a job anywhere knowing how to handle with customers or clients. So an architect can also have a part time job when they are barely starting off and pay isn’t that good. This will help you a lot since architects staring off don’t get paid a lot only about an average of about $60,000. Another advantage of being an architect is the travel. An architect will never really be tight down to a small office. All the places an architect gets to go. The disadvantages of being an architect are that you may always be tight down with deadlines. Work may have to be done at the house to keep up with schedule. Stress may be a key factor since all the paper work or either the design has to be changed. Most Architects end up working more than 40 hours a week. So when a big project comes up or when the deadline for a project is do. An architect will be tight down to his job and nothing else.