Life of an Architect Podcast Ep. 137: Is Architecture School Broken?

Today we are tackling a topic that we have never covered before, not even a little. Imagine walking into a crowded room and not knowing who to talk to or what to say, a situation I have found myself uncomfortably in more times that my therapist can ignore. The ability to build meaningful relationships and strategic alliances is a critical part of the success of any business. Today, Andrew and I will discuss a topic that at least from my side of things, have zero training in but is nonetheless a part of my job description and responsibilities in the office. Time to have a frank conversation about the indispensable practice of turning professional interactions into valuable assets. Welcome to EP 154: Networking.

Whether your interests or skills lend themselves to design or technology, I think it is safe to say that creativity plays a role in the day-to-day experience of an architect. Sometimes you aren’t feeling it and the ideas don’t flow – which is bad. Sometimes the ideas are flowing too much, which can be worse. Either way you have to start somewhere. Welcome to EP 153: Inspiration.

All around the country, new architecture school graduates are rolling up their sleeves to start their professional journey with their first “this time it counts” job. Some will be excited for this moment, some will be optimistically cautious, and then there are those who realize that this is the beginning of the end and the longest holiday they will take for the next 30 years is two weeks maximum. Andrew and I thought we could help these people ease into this phase of their lives with insightful and relevant information that could profoundly impact the trajectory of their entire lives. Welcome to EP 152: Tips for Starting a New Job.

We are finally conceding to a request that’s been made a thousand times–-do an episode on starting an architectural business-–a topic that I have resisted for essentially six years, and I think I’ve finally broken. This is not as easy of a topic to discuss as you might think because there are a million different ways you could answer a question this broad. In an attempt to make this conversation of value, we are going to start at the beginning, and we are going to eat this whale one bit at a time.