#emerging professionals

Are You a Career Trailblazer? In the rapidly evolving professional landscape, carving out a successful career path requires more than just a degree. It demands a strategic approach, foresight, and an understanding of your unique strengths and areas for growth. As you stand on the cusp of the professional world, the question isn’t just about what you know but how you plan to apply it and blaze…

Know Your Worth: AIA launches campaign tackling the unpaid internship

(Montage by AN)

The AIA’s Center for Emerging Professionals has launched a new campaign that seeks to address the issue of unpaid internships. The campaign aims to inform “all generations of architects” of the significant contributions that Emerging Professionals bring to the field as well as the value of being paid a substantial amount for one’s work

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This year has been pretty big for NCARB, with announcements regarding significant changes to the ARE and IDP. Here I’ll recap the major announcements from the year, reviewing the major implications for people currently taking their exams and fulfilling IDP hours.

6 Month Rule

    The 6-month rule for reporting IDP hours was revoked this summer, now allowing Interns to report IDP hours for up to 5 years after they were worked. Though I’m usually a stickler for updating my IDP hours, there are many who have a tough time logging and getting hours approved within 6 months of working them so this new rule change I think will be extremely beneficial to everyone fulfilling IDP hours. I think the biggest benefit of this rule change is that it takes a big element of stress out of the IDP process.

ARE 5.0

    The new version of the ARE was announced this year, including the new exam structure, timeline for implementation, and transition from the current version. This generated a significant amount of hubbub amongst my peers when announced, but I think for those who have started or are thinking about starting their AREs, there is little to worry about. A few key dates to keep in mind:

Version 5.0 will not be offered until late 2016, more than 2 years from now.

The current version 4.0 will be offered and accepted for licensure until mid-2018, allowing plenty of time for those of us who have started our exams to finish them before the big change.

The new version will have only six exams (instead of the current seven) and will not include any graphic vignettes. If you’re feeling ambitious, it’s possible through a combination of versions 4.0 and 5.0 to complete only five exams and attain licensure!

Though this change can seem daunting, it is also a very unique moment in time where potential licensees will have the opportunity to choose their path and combination of exams. Everyone who is contemplating or has already started their exams should look at the options and decide which is best for them.

Licensure upon Graduation

    NCARB officially endorsed an academic program that would support licensure upon graduation, and its Licensure Task Force is undertaking a Request for Information and Interest from architectural programs to facilitate the development of such a program. This would obviously have a major impact for future generations of architects, but I believe NCARB should also consider the impact to the field as a whole should this change come about.

    If an influx of registered architects comes into the field straight from school, it will most certainly influence the competitiveness amongst current architects pursuing licensure along with impacting the job economy in unpredictable ways. While I do believe that this is the future of our field, there are a lot of aspects of the issue to consider before implementation.

Retake Policy

    Previously, ARE takers were required to wait six months before retaking a failed exam, but this year the rule has been changed to 60 days and up to three times per year. While passing the first time is always the goal, having the flexibility to retake exams as necessary is a huge improvement to the system.

IDP Shortening

    NCARB announced this September that by the middle of next year, the Supplemental Hours section of the IDP will be eliminated, cutting down the total number of hours for completion from 5,600 to 3,740. This is a huge change for many currently logging IDP hours, but I do believe that the main obstacle for a lot of architects to completing their hours is fulfilling the appropriate categories. To alleviate this issue, however, it was also announced that the categories for IDP will be realigned with the future version 5.0 ARE exams. It seems they are headed in the right direction with the strategy for IDP in terms of helping more architects through the process, for both people in the current ARE system and those who will follow in the next version.

Bridge is celebrating five years as the highly successful mentoring program sponsored by AIA Chicago, the College of Fellows and the Young Architects Forum.  It was created to provide Young Architects and Associate AIA members with access to local AIA Fellows (FAIA), leaders and designers from the architectural community.

This training and leadership program requires active participation in a mentorship setting.  Emerging Professionals interested in participating should have proven leadership and a willingness to learn.  The Bridge program participants can range from recent graduates to Young Architects licensed 10 years or less.

by Anjulie Rao

A panel of three architects spoke yesterday on the exceedingly tough task of finding one’s place within the architecture field. This isn’t to say that job hunting isn’t possibly the most terrible challenge any college grad has ever encountered—in architecture, however, it often seems like a plethora of major media keeps telling young people not to study architecture.

“Go to college, pick a major—not architecture,” they’ve said in the last few years.

Okay, granted during the recession a lot of architects lost their jobs. However, panel Moderator Lee M. Waldrep noted that recent studies show architecture being a major growing field, with a predicted 24% growth rate between 2010 and 2020.

Hopeful yet? The numbers sound good. But still, how do successful, happy architects make it happen?