Congratulations! You have graduated from a grueling architecture school programme and have landed yourself an internship at an architectural firm.
You quickly learn that school did the bare minimum to prepare you. Now you have to wade and tread the water with a tad more urgency. You have now entered, not just the world of architecture but the world of business. A word that paints the picture a little bit more colourfully is "corporate".
Navigating your way around your new-found environment can be a little disorienting. In the workplace, most communication, or rather expectations, are not communicated. You have to "suss out" most of what is expected of you. Your competence, as far as drawings, accounts for only half of what gets counted when management takes stock.
Your attitude, being inquisitive, and your personality or likeability will by far be the biggest determiants of how far you get and how quickly you rise up the ranks. By attitude, it is understood to refer to whether or not you give excuses for things you missed or did incorrectly, or whether you respond with solutions on how and when you will remedy said issues. It cannot be stated enough the importance of providng solutions instead of excuses and problems. In order to save you the lecture, read INTELLIGENCE ISN'T ENOUGH - a black professional's guide to thriving in the workplace, by Carice Anderson. As the title suggests, it is written with black professionals in mind but the principles explored are universal. Pick up the book and make it your bible, especially if you are just starting out.
Independence
You are now required to resolve technical and design problems in real time. You cannot go off into the night and look into the problem and return to your lecturer with the solution two days later. Now you need to whip up a solution on the spot. Here's the catch, it is unwise to ask ypur colleagues how you should solve the problem, that reflects poorly on your perception of your ability to work things out on your own(remember that unspoken rule of "sussing" things out for yourself?). It reflects better on you when you ask for help to an existing attempt to solve a problem. If you can, try to consolidate your questions and ask questions in bulk. That way you will not end up becoming a nuisance to your colleagues. If you must ask questions though, keep them centered around what your parameters are in solving the problem, i.e. time frame, cost, material choice, design ideology, etc.
Is asking questions a bad thing? Does it make you look incompetent? Yes and no. Asking questions you have not had a crack at, yourself, and asking them too frequently is unwise. The key objective is to show initiative. Asking a question means that you are taking a few minutes out of your colleague's time that they need to spend on their own work in order to make good on their deadlines. So it is best to reward your colleagues with evidence of initiative from your side. That way all parties involved get something out of it.
Your lecturer catered entirely to you, but your colleagues may not necessarily be able to do that. In a business, time spent not performing a task is money not made. Some colleagues may not be very welcoming and may guard their time more closely than others, be understanding and try to not bother them frequently as they may be very task oriented people who get derailed when distratcted and may respond in a moody way. So look for somebody who is generous with their time and is possibly on the constant lookout to have an excuse to interact with someone, lol.
Social Currency
We are told to put our heads down and work hard, but that is a sub-optimal way of getting around in the workplace. It is important to connect with your colleagues on things that interest them. Even that one colleague, or two, who is protective of their time may find themselves opening up if you connect with them about something that they care about. People generally choose to work with who they enjoy being around, and not necessarily who is most gifted at their technical work. So never skip the small talk and the odd chuckle.
Your work may speak for itself but one thing it cannot do is speak for you. Your social skills will bail you out on this one, a colleague should put your name in the hat when managemnt is sat behind closed doors.
Organization
The most useful skill to learn early on in your career is organization. Keep record of your tasks, and time. This is an indispensible skill to add to your arsenal. That includes your ability to takes notes of every little thing. Writing things down so you have recollection of them when they become relevant in future, and writing every task you need to perform - down to the minute and that includes lunch and tea breaks. Make sure to write these tasks down in order of importance and impactfulness. This way you will be less likely to miss or forget important and not-so-important tasks. It is embarrassing making rookie mistakes because they are indistinguishable from forgetfulness and incompetence. Watch any Jim Rohn or Brian Tracy Youtube video on Self Organization, it will vastly improve your productivity. Did I mention the importance of keeping a filing system?
Improve
It is not unusual to go extended periods of time without using certain computer programmes or performing certain tasks. Perhaps during your leisure time after hours, fiddle around with programs you are already familiar with. Do seek to learn other and new programs as well. This increases your competence at the firm but more importantly, it reassures managemnt of your usefulness. If furthering your studies is still an option, go forth and conquer. Even if it is self study, reading of journals, blogs, or books. Keep upskilling.
Improve your social skills along with your technical skills as well. Go out with friends and meet strangers on a consistant basis(particularly if you are not spoken for, if you know what I mean*wink wink*). Your social skills will aid you greatly in your interactions with clients and especially other consultants. I was advised that managing a project and chairing meetings are an entirely different set of skills altogether, work on your social skills!
Every so often, feelings of inadequecy may creep in. Some tasks may seem to be beyond you. All that tells you is that there is knowledge that you are not privvy to. That is when you need to seek help and ask questions. Once you are pointed in the right direction, the feelings of inferiority will subside. The other reason could be a lack of skill, whether it be in using a specific computer program or wrapping you head around the problem. Sometimes a colleague needs to weed you out by explaining to you how the computer program works. In the latter problem, a colleague needs to unpack the problem for you so you can begin to start tackling it. In both situations you need to have enough social capital with the person for them to want to pluck you out of the weeds. So never stop saying "thank you" and "please" and the odd compliment accompanied by a genuine interest in them as a person.
Through all of this, you will come to be aware of your own incompetencies, lol! you may lose any pre-existing notions of self-importance and maybe a little confidence in your abilities. Starting out as an intern or candidate is humbling, simply due to the sheer amount of depence you have. As long as you show initiative you will get through this peroid in your career relatively unscathed.
When you have given you pound of flesh doing drawings you will be eased into the other 5 stages of the architectural process, starting with the smaller tasks, which include documentation. Your career starts to feel like it is taking off, well done. But guess what? You have now entered into the world of being accountable to people outside your office, more blame can now be assigned to your, more people will be requesting information from you in order to perform their tasks. When things are going wrong, in projects you are handling and your boss inquires about it, guess where he/she will get the solution from? You!
Welcome to Architecture...
ArchiStallion
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