Report
Introduction
Architecture has been around for a long time and the demand for architectural services is growing fast. Currently there is high demand for architects because of society's demand for housing and buildings. Architectural drawings started off on papyrus with the Egyptians and now we can be fully immersed in the project with virtual reality. Architecture techniques are rapidly developing. And students like me can't keep up with the 21st century skills and attributes that we need to succeed. In this inquiry I will be looking into What is Architecture, The Challenges of Architecture and how to deal with them. I will also cover the qualifications needed and what knowledge you will gain from them. I will contact a couple of experts who will help with learning a deeper understanding of architecture. And I shall discuss what employers are looking for and what deliberate acts I need to take to become successful in this profession.
What does architecture involve
“An Architect is a person who creates plans, makes technical drawings, analyses clients, construction management and discusses regulations with consultants. An average day in the shoes of an architect may include: Creating drawing clients, analyse the site or working on projects”. This job is also very rewarding, registered Architects with 10 years of experience can earn up to $140,000 annually. Architects sometimes specialize in one phase of work. Some specialize in the design of one type of building. Others focus on planning and predesign services or construction management and do minimal design work. Architects also have to be up to date on resources, because not only do architects design the house they also have to choose the right materials for the house.
“It is a long procedure for a project to be completed, an architect must go through 4 different stages for the design to be completed.
What qualifications do you need
To become an architect is a long hard journey which needs to meet many standards. “You will need to have to be registered with the New Zealand Registered Architects board, which requires you to complete 3 to 5 years of work experience post graduation. Or if you want to be a registered Architect you usually need a Bachelor of Architectural Studies”.
If I was applying for the bachelor of architectural studies at The University of Auckland this is what it would look like. A New Zealand university entrance qualification or an approved alternative. Prior study in specific subjects (design, digital technologies and many more) is required. “And this 3 year course just like many other courses comes to around $20,000 a year”.
Architects also need to be registered with the Architects board and this is what is required.
“Complete at least 140 days of practical work experience, 95 days must be post graduation and 45 days must be spent under the direction of a registered architect in New Zealand.
Or complete 260 days of practical experience of which at least 215 day must be post graduation. And at least 85 days must be in the practice of architecture in New Zealand”.
What skills and knowledge do i gain through those qualifications
The skills and knowledge you gain from the qualifications to becoming an architect are perpetual and give you a good strong foundation in your architectural future. Some skills and knowledge you will gain are the knowledge of building methods, skills in different drawing and presentation techniques, understanding structural principles such as Newton's law of motion, and the knowledge of relevant legislation.
Not only do the qualifications teach you skills specific to architecture but also skills that you can use throughout your career pathway. Excellent attention for detail, Ability to use initiative, excellent communication skills and analytical thinking skills.
how does architecture impact society and what it might look like in the future
“Architects are the foundation of the world's structures. And by studying the built environment of the past, combined with modern-day research on psychology and the environment, we’re coming to understand the effects of architecture on people in entirely new ways”. If we look towards the future of architecture and we address the rising population growth we need to utilize new technologies that will respond to natural disasters, overpopulation and any other problems with structures. With new technology cities will be retained and not impact the environment.
Virtual reality is becoming increasingly prominent in the world of architecture and there's a lot of forward thinking going into this field. According to Medium.com every architectural design will be soon fully immersed.
“Globally, over 50% of the population lives in urban areas today, and this trend is expected to continue by 2045, the number of people living in cities will increase by 1.5 times to 6 billion, adding 2 billion more urban residents”. In New Zealand this percentage is already much higher than the global figure. According to Statistics NZ; ‘As of June 2018, the urban population made up 87.2% of New Zealand's total population.
Effort pays off/Numerical data
Here are 6 different Jobs available in New Zealand: Architecture, Civil Engineering, IT, Farmer, Automotive Technician and Surgeon. This Graph shows the Median Pay for each of these jobs and the Minimum Years Training required. All these Jobs vary in annual salary and the required years of training. In conclusion, it is clear that a surgeon gets paid 150k a year but has to train for a minimum 13 years and a farmer earns 55k a year but there is no minimum training required. So, in this series of data the highest paid job requires the most training and the least paid job requires the least training. Whilst the surgeon job pays more there is also a large cost to do the training.
Here is an example of why training longer will pay off in the long run. Here we have two people, Jerry who is a Surgeon and Bill who is a Farmer. Both leave school at 18, Bill starts working at a farm straight away earning $55k, while Jerry goes to university to study to be a surgeon. 13 years later and Jerry has finished his studies with a $200k student loan whilst Bill has earnt $715k before tax. In the same year Jerry graduates university he gets a job as a surgeon in a hospital earning 150k a year before tax. Another 34 years later both Bill and Jerry are retired at 65, but who has earnt the most money? In total, excluding everything, except his student loan, Jerry has made $4.9 million and Bill who didn't go to university only earnt $2.6 million excluding all payments. While these numbers do not take into account other factors they give a picture of the earning potential of Bill and Jerry in their chosen careers.
Pathway to becoming an architect
The career pathway recognizes the steps that I need to take in order to become an Architect (qualifications only). The green path represents my schooling path and the qualifications needed in order to apply for a job as an Architect. At the end of the green pathway it breaks away to two different paths, the red represents the Entrepreneurial path and the blue represents the Employee path.
The Entrepreneurial path shows the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur, While this path is risky it can lead to success over time. This requires a lot of commitment but it is risky, only 30% percent of entrepreneurs stay in business. And the other 70% fail and either start again or take a different pathway. This path requires commitment, hard work and initiative just to name a few and without them you will more than likely fail on this pathway.
The next pathway is the pathway of an employee. This pathway is a lot safer and if you meet deadlines, show good work ethic, are committed and have good communication skills you will become more skilled in that field. And eventually after years of employment and hard work it will pay off but not as much as that 30% that risked almost everything to be in that business position.
Both these pathways have their ups and downs. The red pathways less chance of success but huge reward and the blue pathways being high chances of success but low reward (in most cases). So the question is what pathway to take?
After careful consideration I think that the blue pathway is the better option for me. This is because if I chose the red there is too great a chance of failing and even if I did make it there is too much pressure of owning a business and I am not sure if that is for me.
Students need to be prepared and educated for their future career. Populations are rising, technology is developing and more and more jobs are slipping away from us. Students need to utilize skills like thinking and communication to get the best chance of securing jobs and standing out from the hundreds of applicants. Right now there is high demand for architects but with many other jobs getting taken over by machines, architecture could become a much more popular job.
Secondary education
If students want to learn how to secure their dream job in the future they need to start working for it now. “To become an architect you need to familiarize yourself with maths, physics, design and visual communication (DVC), digital technologies and construction and mechanical technologies”. These subjects will really make you excel in the field of architecture. If we look a bit further along the pathway we get to NCEA, all New Zealand schools you have to undertake NCEA level 1 and nowadays most jobs require you to complete level 2, My job is architecture and personally i would stay all the way up to NCEA level 3 to get the best education I can.
Say everything is going fine, you pass NCEA level 3 with Excellence endorsed with all the subjects you need to qualify for your job and you're confident that you can do the same for your bachelors degree but there is still more you can do if you can do part time or full time. “For example you could take an NZ diploma in architectural technology. This course requires you to have a certificate in applied science (level 3), it lasts 2 years and is level 6 qualification. It does come at a cost of $7,500 but it is a good education and gives you a good foundation for your bachelors degree”.
University
This is the second step to becoming an architect. It is compulsory to attend university because this is where you take your bachelors degree in architectural studies and a master of architecture (professional). If you failed in developing qualities needed for your career University is your last chance to gain those qualities before you start your career.
BAchelor of architectural studies
“A bachelor of architectural studies is a level 7 degree. This 3 year course develops your design skills and the design process. There are many different Universities across New Zealand that offer this degree some are the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington. The cost of this 3 year course is estimated at $22,000 overall”.
Master of architecture
“The Master of Architecture is the final qualification to becoming an architect. This level 9 degree costs around $8,000 approximate overall universities and lasts only 1 year. This qualification is targeted at students that want to excel their learning further and it can be taken at both Auckland university and Victoria university of Wellington”.
Key qualities
These are only some qualifications you gain and learn about, but college is also where you can gain qualities and skills. An example of that is the 21st century skills, these skills show employers that you demonstrate good characteristics. These are the skills you should learn to develop your learning ability. “Critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, flexibility, leadership, Initiative, productivity and social skills, these are the 21st Century skills. Knowing these skills is good but developing them is something else these skills allow you to become skilled in any career”. Not all of these skills you can learn in college but you can take extra curricular activities and courses that will help learn these skills.
I have talked about skills and knowledge you gain through qualifications and about 21st century skills but what I haven’t talked about is understanding those skills and knowledge. The skills specific to architecture you can use to become more productive and develop better collaboration skills in the workplace. These work specific skills really give a strong foundation and work ethic and without those skills you will go nowhere in your career. Highly desirable in architecture are skills like excellent attention for detail, ability to use initiative, excellent communication skills and analytical thinking skills, these are what really makes us shine and we can use them throughout our life.
Key qualities that I need to have in order to have a successful career in the field of architecture. I have chosen the ability to use initiative, good work ethic and commitment. These qualities are what will allow me to (with my competencies) shape myself into the perfect applicant for architecture.
Initiative
Taking initiative is where you initiate and access things independently. This quality is really important and was even recognised by my expert Aaron Henstock, and here is what he said. “Independency, showing independent work is very important. An employer has limited time to teach you everything, they want to see that with a little of their guidance and input you will be able to piece things together on your own”. Independence is where you're doing something without help or guidance and without it we're useless on our own. An example of this in year 10 is our inquiry a lot of the time where we are working on our own and have problems we need to deal with ourselves. This program gives me a good basis for developing this quality.
Work ethic
The second key quality an architect needs is a good work ethic. “People with a good work ethic have the ability to stay focused on tasks for as long as necessary to get them done. Focus is equally as important as persistence when it comes to work ethic”. Work ethic also links to one of my key competencies, productivity and if we combine this quality with that skill we get fast focused productive learning everywhere in life. My expert has also made a reference to work ethic and here is what he said. “A good work ethic, attitude and ability to work well with others as a team effort, this shows great architectural qualities”.
Commitment
Being committed to anything positive in life is great this shows that you are passionate about something like a person or cause. A commitment is why you wake up every morning, it obligates you to do something. If you lose that commitment you are not passionate about anything and lose that dedication that once powered your day.
Key competencies
Key competencies are things architects need to complete daily tasks, work well with others and just generally be the best version of themselves. After talking with both my experts I have found the 3 main competencies needed for this job. They are Communication skills, Productivity skills and Analytical thinking skills. These skills will shape me into the successful architect I want to be. There are many more I could list but these are the three main skills I think are important.
Communication
Communication is the ability to communicate with peers and in architecture it means communicating with colleagues and clients. Communication is a good skill to have. It can lead to many other traits and skills like collaboration and the ability to ask questions and to admit when you're wrong. Architects need to have good communication skills as they are pretty much always working with other architects on projects or working with different consultants that check their design. I talked with my experts about this skill and this is what they said. “Keep learning. Keep asking questions. If you don't understand something don't be afraid to say so”, without communication you wouldn't know how to ask questions the right way and learn from your mistakes.
To learn and have good communication skills we as students need to be engaged with our teachers and peers. This builds a good foundation for further learning in terms of asking questions and asking for help.
Productivity
Being productive is important because it shows the commitment and dedication you show in your career. “There are a lot of things that affect how productive architects are. It's important to be productive when meeting deadlines or finishing projects” Says expert Aaron Henstock. “People with a good work ethic have the ability to stay focused on tasks for as long as necessary to get them done. Building persistence will allow you to basically train yourself to work for longer periods of time while also working harder.” A good work ethic allows for productivity and this is necessary for being successful.
You can work on being productive now by using your time efficiently to allow time for breaks, set self imposed deadlines and minimize interruptions. And working in a space full of other people should be easy as long as you stick to those aspects of productivity needed.
Analytical thinking
“Analytical thinking is a skill of being able to extract information from data, identifying and defining problems and solutions for the problems identified in order to test and verify the cause of the problem and develop solutions to resolve the problems identified”. Analytical thinking demonstrates fast but thorough work and we can use that everywhere in life. An example of how architects can use analytical thinking: When architects are running out of time in designs and projects they can use this method of thinking to identify the problem of why they are running out of time and develop solutions to resolve the problems identified.
What do employers look for
“There are general things that all employers across all industries look for. A good work ethic, attitude and ability to work well with others as a team” says expert Aaron Henstock. “While good tertiary study grades may help you, it is more likely you will grab an employers attention by providing examples of work that accurately reflect what you would be doing in the position you are applying for”. Aaron also said if you work hard and show dedication (if you secure the job) it will turn you into a great employee.
Not only do you need to be a hard worker but you also need to use some of those skills and knowledge I was talking about before. In the interview you need to use your communication skills and be engaged in conversation with your employer, you need to show creativity, stop thinking about what you can do to pass and just scrape by, but instead what you can do to exceed the expectations of the employer. They are looking for outstanding applicants that can demonstrate skills that allow for productivity in the workplace.
What deliberate acts should I do between now and the time that I start my chosen career to set me apart from other applicants?
With the knowledge both my experts gave me it is clear that I need to plan ahead in order to be successful. Planning ahead is the most important thing students can do. It means that we know each step we must take to become successful. This is why this inquiry is important; it gives us the opportunity to find out exactly what steps we need to take. It is also important to keep asking questions and learn as much as possible from experienced people inside your career.
“Allow yourself to make mistakes” says expert Aaron Henstock, “it seems a lot of people interested in architecture are of a personality type that has strong links with perfectionism. This is a good thing for learning such a detailed subject, but it can also get in your way if you are afraid to make steps or decisions in case they are the wrong ones. At some point you have to make a choice and move on. If a mistake is made, learn from it.”
Another way I can develop is to help me achieve my goals. Things like extra courses and having a driver's license are big ticks when applying for a job.
DEveloping KEy qualities
Not all qualities are learnable but luckily the key qualities I have recognised that are most important can be. We can improve our initiative in the classroom and at home by doing some simple tasks. For example, doing more than expected. Every week I have an expected set of math’s homework and instead of doing only that expected work I do even more and take initiative by doing something that wasn't asked or suggested by someone else.
I can develop a good work ethic by studying hard in school and focusing on completing my assignment deadlines. Being focused will allow me to be more efficient in the classroom. An example of how I can develop a good work ethic is, by focusing on my work and not getting distracted.
The only way I can learn to be committed to something is by choosing something I am passionate about, that is the only way I will learn best and succeed, so that is why I chose this job to study. If I chose a career that was only for the money or with less working hours I am not sure I could commit to waking up every day and doing it. You spend a large proportion of your time working, so make it something you love.
Developing Key competencies
As I have said, planning is important so that is why in year 10 I should be starting to develop some of those key competencies. Communication is a huge skill to have and lucky for me I am surrounded by students in the classroom everyday. Just like in a workspace you usually have to work alongside other people so If I can collaborate with my peers with communication it should be a natural part of life that I develop and a skill I can use forever.
I can learn productivity in the classroom and at home by getting my head down and studying for a certain amount of time and doing non-stop work. Another thing you can do is set goals for yourself when working in those set work times. One final thing that I can do in year 10 is minimize distractions, distractions slow down work by a lot and with those tips set myself certain working hours, set goals and minimize distractions and I should be able to get work done faster and more efficiently.
The final key competency is analytical thinking and in year 10 this is how you can learn it. Every time you come across a problem, take those steps of analytical thinking, define the problem, extract information and identify and implement solutions.
If I don't take these necessary steps in year 10 it will be harder for me to make time to learn them later when I'm doing NCEA or even later when I am taking my bachelors degree.
Conclusion
When I heard we were doing an inquiry on careers, I was excited that it gave me a chance to explore a career I was interested in and learn about what I could do to become successful. Planning is important, if I could take away one thing from this inquiry it would be that. Planning allows us to understand the steps we must take and how we take them to achieve our end goal. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to meet with two experts with so much knowledge in the field of architecture. I was buzzing after meeting with my experts and seeing their workplace and what a career in architecture might actually look like. I am now more truly committed to pursuing this career and feel amazed by the magic of architecture and being an architect and feel excited about the future and what a career in architecture may bring.