Celebrating Career Paths Beyond Architecture

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Let's talk about career pathways in Architecture and, in particular, beyond. When I was getting my BArch and my MArch at two different schools, I was often told: "You can do anything you want with a degree in architecture."

However, I felt like there was only one career path when I graduated and joined a firm: ➡️➡️➡️ Owner, Principal, or Partner within a firm. ➡️➡️➡️ Everyone within the profession (that's to say, within a firm environment) supported my career as long as I stayed on the path.

"How is your path to your license is going?" >>> Was the number one opening question at many an AIA meeting and in any casual setting where I ran into an architect who was further along in their career than I was.

However, as soon as I stepped off the path (especially after getting my license), my network began to shut down. ❓What do you mean you're not interested in staying in practice? ❓Why would you throw away all the experience and knowledge you worked so hard to obtain?

❓Why would you want to do anything else? Suddenly, I felt very isolated, my community of architects couldn't understand why I was stepping away, and those who were previously my mentors felt like they didn't know how to mentor me anymore. What happened to:

"You can do anything you want with a degree in architecture." There are many individuals who have a degree in architecture (some of whom are licensed and some of whom are not) that are making their path forward by doing what they love - architecturally adjacent and beyond.

Those individuals, many of whom we went to school with, are still - surprise - lovers of architecture, advocates for the profession, and are quick to hire those with an architecture background because they know first-hand what the education and experience provide.

How do we create an environment more inclusive to these individuals so that we can collectively raise the value of architects and the profession? #architects #bettertogether #futureforward #elee4aia #designers #systemthinkers #architectstudent #thefutureishuman