...and now it's time for a station break.

As I write this, I'm preparing to go on a cross-country train trip across Canada with my husband for our birthday.  (Yes, we have the same birthday but different years.  And we're both architects.  Kinda sick, isn't it?)  Despite the fact that work has been relentless and my deadline have been almost-brutal, we decided back in the spring to take a week off around our birthday to celebrate and be together.  I won't be checking email, and everyone's going to have to survive without me for a week.  Wah.

An intern at my firm once said, "There's never a good time to take a vacation, so you might as well take one whenever you can."  That's good advice.  There will almost always be a deadline, a problem, a crisis looming that will deep-six even the best-laid plans.  Follow those plans anyway.  Leave the office.  Don't cancel the trip--go.  If you can't afford to leave town, tell everyone you're going camping in a remote area.  Then don't check your phone or email.  I've actually not checked my phone or email for a week, and it was immensely restorative.  My husband and I went to Yellowstone last year for an early birthday trip (the first week of September instead of the last week), and we watched no TV and checked no email.  It was some of the best sleep and rest I'd ever gotten in my life, and we're looking forward to unplugging on this trip as well.

I encourage all of you to take your vacation time, and really take it--unplug and don't be available. Everyone will miss you and be glad to have you back, but they won't die while you're gone. The work will be there when you get back.

Redlined Resumes: more info, please

This week's Redlined Resume comes from SE, whose format I strangely like.  S/He starts with Experience, then goes to Education, which puts the emphasis on SE's experience and work ethic--a subtle but important angle.  However, I need more information as to what experiences and tasks were included in that work experience because the jobs and roles have been overly-bulleted.  When SE was a woodworker or fabricator, what did s/he make and do every day?  When SE was a shop manager or designer, what did s/he design or do typically as part of that role?  By defining those roles and tasks, SE can indicate to a potential firm all the many skills that s/he has and can contribute to a firm.

SE will have room on the resume to add those things once s/he deletes the list of attributes under "Areas of Competency".  As I've stated in a previous post, seeking out new challenges and a willingness to learn are a given for any intern and don't need to be stated in a resume.  (Hobbies at the bottom of the resume can also be deleted--we can talk about hobbies during the interview.) I would also find a different phrase than "hard work" to describe the physical building and labor that SE has done.  All of architecture is hard work, even if someone isn't swinging a hammer.

By removing some extraneous info and adding more explanation to his/her various job descriptions, SE can illustrate a great blend of design knowledge and technical experience that would be an asset to any architecture firm.  Right on, SE!

Redlined Resumes: international resume with a flair for the dramatic

This week's Redlined Resume comes from NS, who lives in Sri Lanka.  NS's resume is dramatic in a couple of senses of the word: s/he has experience both acting in and working on plays and for theater companies, and s/he has done a lot of politically-charged work with design.  Like many resumes I review, it could use a little more air, perhaps by removing the info about the senior thesis and by editing some of the nonprofit work descriptions.  (For example, I don't think it's as vital to discuss how the various workshops and volunteer efforts were funded as much as it's important to know how you used your design skills to help the underserved or underprivileged workshop participants.  Were you a mentor for their academic and social growth?  Did you help them express their anger and sadness through art and drawings and building models?  Those are all good descriptions of your efforts.)

NS's resume also suffers a bit from what CE's resume suffered from last week: a mild identity crisis.  When I read this, I can't decide if NS wants to work in theater or be an architect.  I realize this could be a partial curse of a crappy economy--if you can't be with the one you love (architecture), then love the one you're with (theater, landscape/gardening, retail management, etc.).  However, NS will either need to tailor to whom s/he sends his/he resume (firms that do lots of theater work or politically and socially-charged work), or s/he will need to edit his/her resume a bit more to show that s/he does want to do architecture rather than theater.  It may be that NS needs to include a small paragraph on his/her resume to explain how architecture, theater, and social movements all work together and inform design...or something.  (There's something good there, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to come up with a good summary.)

NS has pretty good descriptions of his/her job duties, though I would replace the word "liase" with "worked with" or something similar. ("Liase" might require someone to use a dictionary--you'd be surprised how often your vocabulary surpasses that of a 45-year-old hiring manager at a firm.)  There are a few terms in this resume that need to be defined (such as "BOQ"), but otherwise we get a good picture of NS's architectural experience.  With a little tweaking to make clear what NS's intentions are for a position at a firm, this resume is well done.  Hats off, NS!

Redlined Resumes: strength in need of definition

This week's Redlined Resume comes from CE, who has taken an unusual but welcome approach by making his/her resume into a landscape format document instead of portrait.  A very quick glance at his/her resume shows me that it's clean and mostly easy to read, but it could use a little air.  For example, putting a little more space between the two columns would help it read a bit better.  CE has what appears to be a lot of experience in architecture as well as landscape architecture and gardening.  The experience is good--s/he has been able to find work in a bad economy. A hiring manager needs some explanation here, though, if that manager is to call CE in for an interview.

Phrases and titles mean different things to different people.  CE uses the title "Project Manager" for one of his/her jobs, which to some firms would imply that s/he is actually a licensed architect and was in charge of everything from the drawings to the consultant coordination to the budget.  Without further explanation of what his/her duties were as "project manager", a potential firm might see CE as exaggerating his/her qualifications (unless s/he in fact did do all these things, in which case CE is completely telling the truth). Phrases like "urban grow site" can be meaningless to an architect, so again some very brief definitions might be of use here.

I have to admit though that I can't tell what kind of job CE is applying for with this resume.  Perhaps this is a resume that CE will use to amend slightly depending on if s/he applies to a landscape architecture firm or a building architecture firm; as it is, I can't tell which is his/her strength or which one s/he really wants to do.  If CE wants to demonstrate that s/he understands how buildings and site work together, then that needs to be said as part of his/her job duties at one or more of the positions held ("Led design direction to incorporate site and interior spaces in XYZ Project").

A few minor formatting issues include skills and address. I only caught the physical address in the lower right corner after staring at and marking up the resume for three or four minutes, which is longer than a firm manager might look at it, so I would make that bolder, larger, or located in two places (upper left and lower right).  Also, I would bullet the skills a little to make it easy to see what kind of skills CE has.  Using paragraphs to describe one's job duties is conversational and pleasant, but reading a list of software names is easier done in a bulleted or partially-bulleted format.

Overall, nicely done, CE--just needs some definition of what you're looking for, what your job duties entailed, and a little breathing room.  Good luck!

Interns as the Great Reminders

I talked with an intern recently who expressed frustration with the process of getting a mid-year raise for passing the ARE. He mentioned at his end of year review that he was only one test away from finishing, and he did end up passing his last test in February. He mentioned the possibility of getting a mid-year raise to his manager. The manager brought it up in a management meeting in March, and he told the intern-now-architect that there was "strong support" for a mid-year raise. But alas, that was March, and it's now nearly fall. The new architect said to me, "I don't wanna toot my own horn or nag, but what am I supposed to do?"

Well, personally, I'd recommend tooting your own horn and nagging.

Part of managing up to your managers is reminding them of what you've discussed: you'll be off next Thursday and Friday, there's a conference call at 1 pm, s/he needs to look at the plan you printed out for them, yes it's on their desk. But sometimes you have to remind your bosses of what you've been promised: a mid-year raise, flex time, reimbursement for a test or some other professional expense. It's easy for well-meaning managers to forget sand for not-well-meaning managers to ignore. Reminding them lets them know that they need to deal with this issue, like it or not.

It's easy and natural to feel like you're being a jerk or a braggart when you remind your boss of a request. These reminders are necessary in a modern architecture firm when people get busy. A gentle reminder is okay and sometimes even welcome ("hey Carl, what did the principals say when you discussed my mid-year raise with them? Do you need anything from me to make that conversation go anywhere?").

A note to my loyal and inspiring readers

Folks, I've received a lot of email recently from you, and the messages simultaneously dishearten and inspire me.  So many of the emails include tales of workplaces and bosses that range from schmucky to horrible to downright abusive and hostile (so much that a few of you might have some legal recourse, if you were so inclined).  I read at least once a week about someone working tons of thankless overtime or being shouted at in meetings due to minor infractions, and it makes me weep that my profession dares to behave this way, as if somehow passing the ARE entitles one to acting like a jackass and treating others like dirt.

But I'm also inspired that in each of these emails is the same grain of hope: "It can't be like this always, right?"  "I know it gets better, so what should I do?"  "How can I solve this problem with my boss/client/coworker?"  Each email contains a sense of positive reality--knowing that the situation in which the writer finds him/herself isn't "just the way things are" and knowing that it's supposed to be better.  The fact that time and again this hope and knowledge reveals itself tells me that the architectural workplace is undergoing a slow sea change.

Now and again I read some headline that's meant to alarm me: "Millennials will take over the workplace by [insert year here]!!!1!!"  My first thought is no, they're not going to "take over", it's just that they will be the majority of the workforce but not necessarily in charge.  And then my second thought is good--I'd like to see the workplace get taken over by a group of people who work hard but also have a realistic sense of work/life boundaries and insist on being treated like human beings.  My hope is that enough of you do recognize that humane treatment of employees and coworkers and good pay is a right, not a perk...and you'll flock to the firms that support these initiatives and desert those that don't. 

But in the meantime, the questions and situations still come.  The resumes ripe for redlining are sitting on my desk, waiting to be looked over and eager for some face time with a red pen.  And in my day-to-day life, my dream project--a rural greenfield hospital with a medical office building--has just kicked off with a vengeance and a fast schedule.  Furthermore, some recent changes in my health have me realizing that I need to incorporate a little more down time into a schedule that is fast getting more and more packed.

So I beg your patience in addressing the questions and resumes that are coming in.  Every email I get is read and considered, and I don't want to fire off a half-wit, half-ass response on this blog when I'm being asked some pretty important and serious questions. If you have emailed me a question or situation, feel free to email and remind me, or even add more details, or update me on how things are going. 

Many, many thanks again to everyone who has read, commented, or submitted a question or resume to Intern 101.  I appreciate your patience and involvement.  I'm not going anywhere; it's just taking me longer to get back to everyone.

Lulu's Mailbag: burned out and micro-managed

The lament in R's email is probably familiar to some of you.  Oh, how I wish it wasn't:

I feel like my work life has completely consumed my personal life.  I have been working for a large firm (500 + employees) for over two years and workload is unrelenting, unappreciated, and micro managed.  My work load has average 70+ hours, consisting of a  6 or 7 day work week over the course of two years.  My skill set varies from advanced computational design, rendering, and being able to complete several project types of construction documents with minimal oversight.   I've graduated in the past five years and completed several parts of the ARE, but my work load prohibits me from being able to successfully study to gain my professional license.

It's not the unrelenting hours and unappreciated part that upsets me, but being micro managed to the point that I feel completely incompetent in the most menial tasks.  My senior designer is one of those "personalities" that can not consider something complete until his fingerprint has been cemented in every facet of the design.    It  has gotten to the point that normal dialog becomes combative just on the premise of winning the argument, not about right or wrong or even design.  I feel completely helpless and taken advantage of in my current situation.  Is their a way to address this without being too aggressive?  Or is time just to cut and run?

Your question deserves multiple posts, R., but for now my super-short answer to you is to either ask to work for someone else in your company (since it's so large), and if that fails or doesn't seem to be an option, it's time to look elsewhere.  Super-high workload + micromanaging = burnout.  No proper, sane company of ANY KIND, architectural or otherwise, can refute that essential truth of humankind.  The unrelenting hours and lack of appreciation should upset you, though.  If someone has been able to keep you busy for 60 hours a week for 2 years straight, then they had the workload to hire another person.  If they didn't have the cash to hire another person with that kind of workload, then they're shitty businesspeople, and they deserve to lose talent.


As for the micromanaging, there are certain things you can do to try to stem the flow that behavior, but it sounds like you might not care to have that dialogue any more, and with good reason. The reason you feel taken advantage of is because YOU ARE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF.  You have no personal life and no way to finish taking the ARE because you spend all your time working. If you like the company otherwise, I would recommend going to HR or whoever is in charge of making the teams and asking to be put on a different teams (and explain why in a professional manner).  If you've tried this with no avail or you're just done, then polish up your resume and start looking.


I would like to address your concerns in some future posts in more depth, but for now, please take care of yourself and keep me posted on how things progress.


All the best,
Lulu