What has been your career plan?

It is a question I get a lot from my students a lot.

In their eyes, someone who is teaching their university design class or seeing different designations/certifications highlighting my design career (architecture licenses, LEEP AP certification etc) seems like I “planned my career” all along…

Well…the true answer to the question was that I had the plans, but those plans had to be adjusted many times over.  

My first job after architecture graduate school did not start at an architecture firm. It started at an engineering office.  

Instead of taking the usual approach to working at an architecture office, I choose to work at a small architecture department within a big engineering firm.

My classmates were horrified by my “career planning” decision. There were many negative comments about my career suicide (their words) moves:

• You are ruining your chance to become an architect.
• You are not going to get much architectural work experience from an engineering office.
• You are not getting the proper professional experience which you need for architecture licensing requirements.
• my personal favourite: You are not going to work well with engineers!

Yet, my tenure at the engineering office proved to be a revelation. Far from stifling my architectural ambitions, it laid a sturdy foundation for my career. 

Surrounded by engineers, I forged invaluable friendships and honed the art of collaboration across disciplines. Unexpectedly, the experience also brought financial rewards, with a salary surpassing that of traditional architecture roles. 

In hindsight, what seemed like a detour turned out to be a shortcut to growth and opportunity.

There have been many similar career stories since that time; you can plan your career, but you should also be flexible in adjusting those plans and more importantly the outcomes of those plans!