tonight i dropped by a blog i hadn't visited in awhile, written by a very thoughtful young architecture-school graduate who articulates well many of the same thoughts and emotions i might have expressed when i was at his stage of life (had i then been able to write as well as he does, of course).
he's currently experiencing that "should i throw in the towel?" angst i remember so well, so i thought i'd share with him my thoughts (and they're very inside, so you may wanna skip this one).
back when i was a regular reader of your blog, tracking your gradual awakening from the lies your teachers told you was a subtle thing, kinda like watching a kid grow. but, coming back cold after after a year or so, the change is easy to see.
and i can totally understand why.
after my first year at university of texas SOA (and two semesters of the standard "introduction to architecture" indoctrination), i was one of the pod people, too--convinced beyond doubt that "we" were special beings who saw things differently than the unwashed masses. we studied only the 1% and their immortal creations, with rarely a mention of the bread-and-butter work that would be the destiny of most of us.
my small class of '84 would produce not one, but two superstars: craig dykers, and mehrdad yazdani (one of whose success came as no surprise; the other, as an utter, jaw-dropping shock. i'll let you figure out whom is who).
as for the rest, all i know for sure is what happened to those who are still my friends: two still tenuously employed and as-yet unpublished, another who operates a rather successful headbanging nightclub in austin, and the fourth of whom found the golden ticket--he became the office IT/CAD guru who never picks up a pencil, but can rest assured that (in his own words) "they'd dump a partner before they'd fire me".
me? i left long ago, and get my architectural gratification from doing the occasional house for myself, and sketching out quick, on-the-fly remodels for friends, co-workers and acquaintances (for which they're invariably blown away and grateful, though never to the point of being moved to actually pay me).
these days, i work not for architects but for lawyers, and watch a never-ending stream of smug pups with mostly-mediocre minds sailing straight outta law school into six-figure jobs--entitled beneficiaries of a profession which has convinced the public of its indispensability to society (the AIA could learn a few things from the ABA, all i'm sayin').
my advice to you (since you don't ask)? carve out your own niche, and make of the profession what you want it to be--utilize your talents in ways which please you and you alone, and do great things. whatever you choose to do (and my previous words notwithstanding), your education will prove invaluable to you throughout your life--i wouldn't trade mine for the world.
[oh, and the easiest way to do that? your inner voice is telling you already: get the hell outta here while you're still young (and it's still possible)--find a country that's vibrant, growing and debt-free, and where you won't have to spend the rest of your life paying for my generation's mistakes.]
that's all.
i had more to say, and thought about pouring another cocktail in order to facilitate doing so, until i remembered it was late and i have stuff to do in the morning.
so that's all.
2 comments:
When I was in school, I remember the architecture students thought of themselves as a breed apart.
So, how did they lie to you in school?
They lied to me in the sense that they implied that I could get a job that would use any of what I was studying.
So, yes, I had a wonderful education as well. None of it has any application to anything I do or have done in the real world. But, what else is new?
While I get what you are saying -- most young people do not. They will have to experience it for themselves. That is part of the naivete of youth.
MKF,
Thanks for dropping by again. I always appreciate your perspective, and this again, one of those times, where your experience sheds light onto questions that we all ask ourselves but seem to rarely talk about in public.
I hope that, as you say, I am on the way to carving out my own niche. It may be even more difficult than that traditional path, but so far, I'll say that, while the work has been hard, the pay low, it feels more rewarding than the life that people told me architect's should follow. We'll see.
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