Internship: you get out what you put into it, Part 2 of 2

Internship is a process in which you have to be fully invested. In order for it to work, and in order to get the hours of experience you need, you'll need to call attention to the experience you have missing. But internship is a two-way street; if you've clearly asked for the experience, it behooves your boss and your firm to make sure you get it, as it gets you that much closer to being licensed and to being more useful at the firm.

You do indeed have to ask for experience you're missing. Don't make the mistake of waiting for someone to ask you if you're missing hours or if you'd like to do something--ask for it! One of the parts of architecture school that's missing from architecture work is the frequent reviews and feedback, like you would get from your professor. Instead of waiting for your once-a-year or even twice-a-year performance review, sit down with your boss more regularly to ask how you're doing and explain what you need or are having trouble with, perhaps after each milestone deadline, or even once a month or every other month. Regular feedback keeps small performance issues from becoming big problems, and it keeps you from being blindsided by criticism at that ever-important official yearly review (you know, the one where your raise, if any, is decided).

How you ask for this additional experience is important. Sure, you'd like the hours so you can finally wrap up IDP, but for some bosses and firms, this sadly isn't a good reason to help you get those hours. Sometimes, bosses and firms are shortsighted and can only see what's good for the firm short-term: how can we save money on this job, for the next two months? When this happens, try framing your request in the service of the job or firm: how can you getting experience on this help your boss/the project/the firm? It can be as simple as you seeing a faster or more professional way to produce a document or promote something, or you may appeal to your boss' humanity: "Kelly, you seem so frustrated--your phone's ringing off the hook from the client and you're trying to get this spec section finished. How about I use the spec from the Xxxx Project to edit this project's spec for you so you can calm the client's Chicken-Little nerves?" That last sentence is important, because it includes a specific action that can be done, not just an open-ended (and easily deflected) "how can I help you?"

If you can't appeal to your boss' humanity or to the service of the project or firm, try talking to another manager in the office (if yours has more than one manager). A simple "I need 24 more hours in bidding and negotiation, and Karl doesn't have anything right now to really give me in that category--do you have something coming up that would help me polish off those last few hours?" will allow you to ask others for opportunities without laying blame. (And frankly, if Karl is a jerk, chances are the other managers know it already.) If there's nowhere else to go, that's a sign that you may have grown all you can at this firm. Find out if you can gain some supplemental education hours through NCARB, and then as the economy allows, start looking.

Short-sighted managers are everywhere, but most bosses in architecture are good people who would be glad to help if you ask. Showing them that you want to finish off those hours is a good way to show initiative, and it's even better when you can explain how you getting those hours helps the firm as well as you.