I happen to be the only person in my office accruing IDP (Intern Development Program) hours currently and if you’re situation is anything like mine, you may not get a lot of support in understanding the steps you need to take in order to become licensed. Here are a few tips that you may or may not have known about earning training hours for IDP:
1. If you attend any ‘Lunch & Learn’ that is AIA accredited at your office, you can translate that time into IDP hours! It is a credit that is hard to beat in my opinion. All you have to do is show up and hear to what a rep has to say and they’ll provide you lunch! Honestly, on that intern salary, a free lunch is hard to pass up! You do have to submit something from the AIA verifying your participation.
2. The EPC (Emerging Professional Companion) provides opportunities to supplement an intern’s education. There are quizzes available online for IDP credit too! This is a great resource because it compartmentalizes each component of design. There are definitely certain disciplines that are hard for interns to get their hands on in the office (since we have less experience) and the EPC is a resource for some of that information. We have to start somewhere, right? www.epcompanion.org
3. If you become a LEED accredited professional (LEED AP), you can earn up to 5 training units, or 40 training hours. This would get documented in the supplementary education area.
4. NCARB also offers supplementary education hours that can be earned on your own, outside of the office. If you go to www.ncarb.org and click on ‘Experience Through Internship’, there is a list of opportunities interns have in gaining additional training hours for their IDP.
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This is great Terra. No one is really understanding or helpful when it comes to this stuff. Everyone in my office already has all their hours logged and I get so overwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've learned is to record your hours overtime you turn in a paycheck. This way I avoid having to sit down for a day and try to categorize everything I've done.
Oh and I second you on the text book thing. Did I not realize that most of my time would be spend drawing details and understanding building construction? I never even knew the layers inside a wall until recently. Oh if I would have listened then...
Sorry you guys are not getting much help in this department. Ask the people in your office who have finished IDP most recently. They should be able to help you guys out the most as they know the most current rules.
ReplyDeleteAlways remember too that while you probably can't bill your overtime in the office, it still counts toward your IDP training units. You need to be careful how you report this though. You need to report total hours worked in the period to be able to claim this.
When you guys feel like you are lacking certain credits, always ask for that experience. Your supervisors are not at all paying attention to this (not because they don't want to help you...it is just too far in the past for them or they didn't go through the same process). Mostly I see this in interns not getting enough CA experience. Believe me if you ask for this, your supervisors will be more than happy to oblige! I also think that any time you spend on ASI's, PR's, or even as-builts could/should be counted in this category.
Don't forget about the community service requirement. (No problem for you, Terra) I see a lot of people forget about this until they are almost done with IDP. It isn't very many hours (80)but some people don't realize that it doesn't have to be architecture related. It can be just about anything that you are interested in.
Find a good mentor. (I never did that) I don't necessarily mean the person that you have listed on your IDP forms, just someone (even a peer) that you can go to with questions and can help supporting you in getting the experience you need.
Oh, and to your friend Ashley, even if we paid attention to all the lectures and books in college, it doesn't really mean anything until you are out there doing it. School is supposed to teach you how to think critically. If you can do that, you can learn everything else. I still refer to Graphic Standards or other resources now and then.
Good luck!