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Dawson B. Cloward

Ms. Amanda Tibbitts

Language Arts 12

8 March 2019

Architect

Many try and find a career in which they both enjoy and earn their desired pay. It

is important to find out as early on as high school what you like to do and what you are

good at. All of these factors can show what you would be good at or enjoy doing as a

career. This also affects where you go to college or some form of higher education and

what degree that you will pursue. Your career can affect the rest of your life and

impacts the way you can provide for yourself as well as your potential family.

A career in architecture is something that I would love to pursue. In many areas

it is very appealing. Ever since I was a kid I have always been interested in building

things. I would create buildings and other things using Legos or other types of building

blocks and even video games. I have done lots of research past what I already know

about this job to really see if I would enjoy this career. Many points will be discussed in

this paper, including job benefits and salary, which is important for any job. Education

requirements, the amount and type of schooling needed in order to be able to be hired

as an architect. Work environment, which consists of working location. Job duties,

what you do daily as a full-time architect. Work schedule, which includes information
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about the flexibility of hours for an architect. All of these main points along with others

will be discussed thoroughly.

Plain and simply, an architect is in charge of developing and drafting plans for

potential residential and commercial buildings. They use programs such as CADD

(computer-aided design and drafting) to make plans for projects. Typical duties of an

architect include meeting with clients to see what their requirements are for a structure,

give estimates on costs and the time needed to construct the building, and directing

workers under them that prepare the documents and plans/drawings for the project.

Other responsibilities have to do with the construction site such as working with the

engineers and contractors and visiting the work sites to check up on the progress of the

construction.

Architects’ salary is well above the national average. As of May 2017, architects

made a median salary of $78,470, while the median salary for all occupations was

$37,690. This is well above the national average pay of all jobs. This allows for better

financial capabilities and stability.

The outlook for this career is currently at 4%. This means that the job market will

increase by around 5,500 new jobs from 2016-2026. The expected growth for this job is

substantially lower than the average job outlook, which is at 7%. Even though the job

growth for this job is slim, this always for great competition in order to have the best

person possible get the job. This is especially important in the building of houses and

other structures, as quality is very important. Also, to add to the competition, high
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numbers of students are graduating with architecture degrees, so competition for job

openings as well as internship opportunities will be high.

As stated in the article on architects in the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in order to

become an architect, a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement. Most of the time

it is in an architecture degree program. Sometimes this can also be a master’s degree.

This is quite a decent amount of schooling that is required, but the pay is worth it, as

mentioned before. With 4-6 years of schooling along with some internship, the pay and

benefits will be worth it and all the hard work and schooling will pay off.

To go along with the pay and education of architects, many firms offer higher

salaries and better benefits for architects with master’s degrees. In the article

“Architects’ pay growing faster than similar professional salaries, report says”, in 2005,

more than 40% of firms offered more pay for potential employees with a master’s in

architectural studies. Again, this requires a few more years of schooling but is well

worth it when you are making a lot more money in the long run. These higher salaries

can also include better compensation and benefits.

Higher pay leads to more happiness and job quality. But job quality and

enjoyment can be a result of many factors. “Working conditions, autonomy, employer

mission and learning opportunities”, all can affect your job satisfaction as an architect.

A learning and growth type of environment is more important to your satisfaction as an

architect early on in your career, rather than the pay. As the career of an architect goes

on your pay becomes a lot more important. Pay increases can be a result of “becoming
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an expert” at your job (Hubbard). Being the best at what you do means that you will be

paid like the best. Just like professional athletes, the better you are the better the pay.

The job environment for an architect is as one might guess. They spend most of

the day in an office. In that setting they meet with clients to discuss and show plans for

a project as well as collaborate with fellow co-workers such as drafters or other

architects on projects. The other ‘office space’ for an architect is the job site. They

frequently make visits to the site and check up on the progress of the construction. For

job sites that are a good distance away from their residence, one may take a business

trip for multiple days to oversee the start or evolution of a project. The usual checklist at

these visits include meeting with the engineers and building developers to discuss any

potential problems that could come up as well as review and make sure the client’s

objectives and needs are being met.

An architect’s work schedule can vary. Whether one is self-employed or not,

most do work full-time. Hours worked depend on the type of project being worked on.

According to ​Neil Kokemuller, ​longer hours are usually a result of a “time-sensitive

project”. Running behind on a project can also require an architect to work long days in

order to catch up. Working long days can be stressful and take away from family time

and entertainment opportunities. But by keeping up on projects and managing time

well, longer work days can be limited and can let the architect have a lot more time to

themselves

Being a self employed architect can be a lot more stressful and usually work

heavy hours. Along with their usual architect duties, they must also operate their own
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business and everything that comes along with that. It includes taking care of money

such as bills, salaries, and taxes. Furthermore, one must also hire and train new

workers and keep up with necessary licenses. An advantage to being self-employed as

an architect is that you do not have to report to anyone, and rather lead and have others

see your vision.

Some disadvantages could include an increased stress level and . Having to

juggle owning and running a business along with duties as a full time architect can lead

to worrying about too many deadlines and managing a business. Also having to work

longer hours can create less time at home and can even decrease the hours of sleep

one could get. Both of these along with others can heavily affect the satisfaction of

one’s job, as mentioned earlier.

As a regular full-time architect, the working schedule is also quite flexible.

Depending on project deadlines, you can work at hours that are needed. If a deadline

is quite far away, an architect could work less hours one week to make more time for

personal or family affairs that particular week. If a project deadline is looming close,

then an architect can work extra hours that particular week to catch up on anything. Job

flexibility is key to job satisfaction and also quality of life.

All in all, architecture is a career with a lot of potential. Writing this paper on the

information about an architect as opened my eyes more to the career as a whole.

Before I dove into the research, I was very interested in the career of being an architect

and have considered it as one of the majors that I would go into during college. Now
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with more information about it, I am actually more interested in becoming an architect,

and the benefits of this career heavily outway the negatives in my opinion.

This research has taught me much more about this career than I already knew.

This new information will eventually help me to choose what career/major that I will

pursue in college. I am now heavily considering this as my career choice. I hope that

this also was an informative piece that would give others a broader understanding of

being an architect.
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Works Cited

“Architects’ Pay Growing Faster than Similar Professional Salaries, Report Says.”

Fairfield County Business Journal​, vol. 44, no. 34, Aug. 2005, p. 8. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=19990103&site=eho

st-live.

“Summary.” ​U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics​, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 Apr. 

2018, www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/architects.htm. 

Kokemuller, Neil. "Working Conditions for an Architect." Work - Chron.com,

http://work.chron.com/working-conditions-architect-29381.html. Accessed 15

February 2019.

Bernard, Murrye. “A Year Later: Retaking the Job-Market Temperature.” ​Architectural

Record​, vol. 198, no. 8, Aug. 2010, p. 38. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=55691148&site=eho

st-live.

Selma.Milovanovic. “From Architect to Zoologist, How Much Jobs Pay.” ​Canberra

Times,​ 9 Jan. 2019, p. 4. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=DOC73JPL3ISSXI2I

2OQEG&site=ehost-live.

Zhao, Shenghuan, et al. “Reflecting on the Architecture Curriculum through a Survey on

Career Switching.” ​Design and Technology Education​, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2018.

EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1171593&site=eh
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ost-live.

Mckay, Dawn Rosenberg. “Everything You Need to Know About Being an Architect.” T
​ he 

Balance Careers​, 12 Dec. 2018, 

www.thebalancecareers.com/building-a-career-in-architecture-524863. 

Hubbard, Brandon. “Do You Love Your Architecture Job?” T

​ he Architect's Guide​, The 

Architect's Guide, 28 Mar. 2018, 

www.thearchitectsguide.com/blog/love-your-architecture-job.