It's Not Saving Lives...

I am extremely grateful that I have been given the opportunities to work on the projects that I have worked on and that my colleagues have put trust in me and my ability to do the work. However I often wonder when will I have the confidence to do any of this without fear of jacking something up? I can say that I am definitely more confident in my abilities now than I was 3 years ago when I began my first internship, but some days I still feel absolutely clueless. I wish there was there was an easy button that I could push that would automatically enlighten me. Unfortunately I’m starting to realize that in architecture, no two projects are alike. Each project offers new scenarios and issues that we all must address and solve on a continual basis ranging from unforeseen site conditions to budget issues.

With that said, I am getting pretty far in completing my IDP hours and am struggling to get experience in a few categories. Last week I invited myself to go to a subcontractor meeting on site of a project that I had worked on with my coworker. I felt rude at first for inviting myself but came to realize there’s no other way to get the experience. Nobody else is going to invite me along because they’re not thinking about my career and experience as much as I am. Why should they? They have their own careers and matters to worry about. It turned out to be a great learning experience for me and my coworker was happy to bring me along. It just proved to me that I need to be proactive to get things accomplished.

I am still curious as to how I’m going to gain all the necessary experience before becoming a fully licensed architect? I’ll probably be asking myself ‘when will I know it all?’ when I retire too!

For now I’ll put my mind to rest knowing that it’s not saving lives, it’s just architecture.