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Posted by Edgar on March 24, 2008, 12:49 pm
>
>>> Hello,
>>> I am a junior in high school and was contemplating a career in
>>> architecture, but I would like to know what the realistic expected
>>> salaries would be. I live near Philadelphia so I visited Penn State,
>>> Philadelphia University, and plan on visiting Catholic College in DC.
>>> While at Penn State a girl who was about to graduate indicated she had
>>> a confirmed job lined up, I asked her privately what the expected
>>> salary was, and she replied 35k/yr. I began to think, for a 5 year
>>> degree, and required certification, 35k was a little low. I then
>>> asked what she expected to make after 5-10 years, and she replied 50k/
>>> yr. I quickly thought that the engineering side may prove more
>>> profitable, but not sure. Are these realistic salaries? Why are they
>>> so low? Any suggestion or guidance would be a great help. Thanks.
>>
>> I'm pretty much in agreement with most of the people here. If all you
>> are looking at is money, then yeah, engineering is the way to go. But I
>> like others think it is totally wrong to look at a future career with
>> only money on your mind. If you enjoy creating things from thin air,
>> drawing, seeing your design ideas get built, then architecture is very
>> rewarding. What your friend said is probably average for an architectural
>> career. It's an old mans game, and the best you can get is running your
>> own firm. The architect is THE BOSS when it comes to the design of
>> something. You have to know everything about everything. The engineer
>> is almost always going to work under an architect and will engineer
>> something someone else has done. But you gotta start at the bottom in
>> this game like any other. Part of the reason you get such lower pay at
>> the start is because you start as a draftsman and lots of people can get
>> a certificate to draft at a 2 year school. But knowing how to draft and
>> knowing architecture are two different things. You should be able to
>> move up faster than some of those other people. But again the big money
>> doesn't come without experience and many years, and eventually your own
>> business.
>>
>> The best thing to ask yourself is, if you could do something for the rest
>> of your life for free, what would it be. Then try and go get paid doing
>> it. Your better off loving your job and getting paid less than usual for
>> it, then hating your job, getting paid the big bucks, but never having
>> time to actually enjoy the money you make. Remember your at the job for
>> 8 or more hours a day, every day until you retire. That's a lot of time
>> to put into something you don't really enjoy. Think about happiness
>> before money and you'll never be unhappy no matter how much you make.
>>
>> That being said, you can also be creative in the engineering field and
>> make good money doing it. You'll need a lot of math skills, you'll be
>> doing a lot of number crunching. One thing I would highly recommend if
>> you do want to get into this field, something I wish I would have done,
>> is to actually go out there and build things with your hands. Take
>> summer job in construction, break your back now so you don't have to make
>> stupid mistakes later. Once you know how things actually get put
>> together, you'll be way ahead of the game when your out there trying to
>> design or engineer a building of your own. You'll know what works and
>> what doesn't. Good luck to you!
>>
>> --
>> Edgar
>>
>>
>> --
>> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>
> Yes EDgar;
>
> I agree with EDS except if you don't want to live in the bottom of a
> modern world.
>
> What was said:
> "Your better off loving your job and getting paid less than usual for it,
> then hating your job, getting paid the big bucks, but never having time to
> actually enjoy the money you make. Remember your at the job for 8 or more
> hours a day, every day until you retire. That's a lot of time to put
> into."
>
> Yes you can have what is said and get a low pay but what if you get
> married, want a house, have a car, have kids, hospital payments with
> today's economy you almost can't make it on a architects pay unless you or
> your family already have money and survive comfortably. The only ones
> that get the pay, that is deserved, from an architect is the Principles of
> the firm and his associates. And then again if you are the principle you
> are so involved with the business of the firm while your help does the
> design, drafting, specifications and the like. Ahh yes, and you have to
> stamp and sign what they have done and take all the responsibility of the
> project.
>
> By the way the secrete is, if married you and your wife have to work, hold
> off on having kids, save for a house while both of you are working.
> Hopefully you will get a house which is your first, you might be able to
> get another in later years. By the time you reach the associates status
> and the pay you then might design and build your second house. Be careful
> though your worse client as an architect will by your wife when designing
> your second home.
>
> Take your pick...
>
> CID...
I've pretty much followed the route to a tee. Getting ready to try out the
licensing tests now that they will have switched over in July. Have a
girlfriend and we own a small house together. Don't plan on having kids
anytime soon. We get by and enjoy life together. But my lot is fairly
large so I can expand the house someday, and hope to do so. Either make it
a bigger house or make it a multi-unit rental property. Been getting a lot
of project management practice lately too. But yeah if you want the wife
and kids thing right away, with a wife that stays home and takes care of the
kids and all that good stuff, do like was said and get into banking. I
guess Kris is right, it's all about what he wants in life, and there is
nothing wrong with wanting to be rich. Only thing is that most younger
people don't really know what it actually entails to be rich. Long hours,
time on the road, away from your family, and almost ALWAYS thinking about
work. You'll probably need a little more time in architecture to get there,
but you can get there, no doubt.
--
Edgar
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
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