Problems of Fresher Architects

Things to unlearn as soon as you start a job.

Architecture students, graduating from all good, reputed institutes, with a spring in their feet, full of courage, expectations & hopes find a very cold reception when they start seeking jobs.

Confused? why? Find out what happens.

All of us coming out are mini masters in the making. All are constantly fed on a high protein diet of Architecture for the past 5 years. A habit which ultimately starts hurting.

Common misconceptions are-

• Graduation is the only tough thing, the rest of the career is very easy…….
• The teachers in my college are the worst as compared to anywhere else.
• People here don’t realize my true talent; I will prove myself in practice.
• So much donkey work & no real appreciation, this college sucks…….
• When I start my work, clients will be lining up outside my door.
• I will be the star Architect of my generation.
• I make great 3 D’s, so I am going to be a hit.

And many more….

When they start working in an office or start up their own practice, the blows come in, day after day, project after project, again & again, from all directions, from all people.

And then six months into the job, or even earlier, the young architect is starts to look for another job. Most of the young fresh architects switch their jobs within a year & almost all within 2 years of their passing out. After 2 years of passing out the spring in their steps has gone down a bit, energy too is going down. Only when they meet their classmates, most of them display many kinds of heroic persona whereas they know in their hearts the real thing.

So, guys aren’t all this a well-known sequence of events. And the self-loathing starts again. The college was bad, the faculty, the peers, virtually the whole world is at fault & our ego does not allow us to see our own short comings.

The problem is big one & multifaceted. Let me jot down the major issues, only in Architecture education, due to which we land up in such situation. There are many other factors at play also but let us just see the Academic part –

Issue no. 1:

The Architecture Curriculum is not oriented towards practical work. Yes, the hard truth is that Architecture is a practical field. It is also a very wide field.  It is so wide that it is very difficult to compress all aspects in a span of 5 years, but we can to a great extent cover the most important ones.

The main culprit here is our curriculum. According to me, a lot needs to be changed here. So many irrelevant subjects & sections in the subject are taught. The focus of the curriculum is not correctly positioned on the requirements in the current practice scenario. Students are made to read the stuff, much of which is not relevant today. The things that are trending now are not in the syllabus. Architecture field is very dynamic, but the syllabus is very static. So static that English & Flemish bonds are still taught vigorously.

Issue no. 2:

The faculty is increasingly going absolutely academic. This is sure shot way to disassociate with the practice. Instead of veering into the way of practice it is leaning towards purely academic. The insistence of Ph.D. degree in qualification is a sure kill off. We need people from practical field to teach in our colleges. Please don’t force only the academic stuff down the student’s throat. There is disdain for site visits, which are shoddily planned with no real guidance on site. Most of the faculty do not have sufficient practice experience. When our field is totally practical, then this leaning, towards academic stuff is hard to fathom.

Issue no. 3:

The teaching & handling of Design assignments. Currently there is a trend of having two design assignments in one semester. This leads to one assignment taking all the time & the second assignment is just a rushed-up job. The design brief is not well formulated in most cases. Also, the faculty has relatively less experience of the design assignment at hand. Assignment related workshops or seminar sessions with practicing architects are not carried out. Only a yearly seminar with a star architect is usually done. But does that lead to better design understanding in the students, is debatable. The colleges do nothing to instill real time speed of design process in context of architectural scenario. As a result, the students have no pace when they handle projects in office in real time. Their response time is very slow, much slow than is available in practice & they get chided for being late.

The students are not knowing of the local dialect & commonly used construction practices. As a result, they get mauled when they face a local contractor on site. The students are also lacking knowledge of thumb rules for material calculations, which are frequently asked by clients & contractors on site.

So, overall, many issues are contributing to the downfall of our architectural education, of which I have discussed only a few. Most of these are known to the people who are able to change things for the better. But surprisingly, notable efforts in these directions are missing & students/fresher architects are maimed batch after batch, every year. It’s a sad state of affairs & a lot can be done with a bit of effort. But the point is……. who is going to make the change?

So, where does all this led to as far as fresher architects are concerned? They better help themselves because nobody is going to come and help them. Well, there are things to learn & unlearn -by the students and fresher architects.

 The following is the list of things to learn apart from the focus subjects at college-

1. Building construction working drawings.
2.  Building estimation and services.
3. Construction practices & working limitations.
4. Report writing.
5. Comprehension of Master plans, bylaws & NBC
6. Land revenue terminologies.
7. Punctuality, Good verbal presentation skills and Sober personal grooming.

 The following is the list of things to unlearn –

1. Late night waking up.
2. Casual social life.
3. Superiority complex about Architectural profession.

 The list may be longer, but it is enough for start. The learning part can be made very easy by working as trainee. When possible, for the maximum time you can, starting from the first year itself. It will make your transmission from academics to profession very smooth & ultimately help to flourish your career. Our profession is very tough & demanding. Sometimes I feel that God should give architects double the life than of an average human being.

But all said & done, the fact that many of our creations will stay in this world long after we have left, it wipes off all hardships we will face in our lives & bring a satisfied smile on our face. After all, very few professions give humans a shot at Immortality, and ours is one of them. So, worth taking every pain to get it.