Architects Get No Respect

Preface: I have an editor and she is sometimes critical. She commented that the first part of this article as originally written ‘did not grab her’. So what I did was rearrange a few paragraphs to put the part she DID like to the front so that you too will be interested and keep reading, perhaps getting mostly through the slow part before you realize it. Now, this is what I mean about being creative and avoiding the real work of re-writing.

By the time I finished college, I had worked at most every blue-collar job imaginable (I got to skip fast food b/c it wasn’t invented yet) (but as a dorm dishwasher for 4 years in college, my name is now legendary and would prolly be ranked in the all time top ten washers for speed and cleanliness even today), so that I knew from personal experience that my future was in one of the ‘high’ professions listed below (except there was no soft or hard ware yet). Plus, there was the all-pervading Vietnam war atmosphere which meant no dropping out to try something different.

To explain that last sentence a little further, at age 18-19 in the Vietnam draft era, you needed to decide what your profession (major) was to be, then get accepted in college, then make it all the way through, with no repeating a year, and graduate. Then you go could into the military as an officer. If you didn’t want to serve and you thought the war was going to end in a year or two, you could ask for a deferment for graduate school. (They soon took that away) You could get married (the next year you had to be married AND have a child). At all times, avoiding being drafted into the army as a PFC was a big fat priority. So, as an 18 year old when I went to college, my future was influenced (a lot) by decisions I made related to success in college and the Vietnam war draft. (If for some reason you stumbled in college, you were immediately drafted with a good chance of serving in Vietnam)

In high school, I decided to become an architect (b/c I liked drawing house plans) and never wavered from that decision until it was made clear to me in my freshman year that I had very few of the skills needed to actually become an architect. Thank goodness, Rice University was not an elitist school and the gullible profs overlooked my poor work and gave me (barely) passing grades until, finally, I got a summer job with a REAL architect who showed me how to use what little talents I had and bluff my way through the last two years (better grades for my attractive drawings but with little true substance). Nobody caught on for the next 40 years, and now I’m retired and can admit I was NOT a talented design architect. So there! (Later, I’ve decided I was at least an OK architect. Photos here: http://bgerman.smugmug.com/Other/My-Architecture/13410495_xhu8s)

But, what I WAS was smart enough to learn about business and a way to succeed, no matter what profession I was in! So I stuck it out as an ‘architect’ (in name only), but succeeded in being a businessman. Same concept as in college, learn how to divert client and boss attention away from my shortcomings, and move ahead using my other skills. A few examples: learn how to act the part, dress like your client, look like an important professional. Find a client who likes you and get him to compliment you to the boss. Learn architects lingo – it can be impressive. Study up on how to be a salesman – this took 20+ years before I was confident. Shut up and LISTEN. Do it the boss’s way in public – disagree in private.

Also, and this is what I tried to teach the younger guys coming up: put the business first and second and the ‘being an architect’ third or fourth. Don’t worry about the design awards and recognition until you have established your skills at contract negotiations, managing your people and projects and making a profit (and being a salesman, etc).

Uh oh, how did I get off on that lecture?

My ex-partner Dale M and I were thinking back over our years as architects (at MGA in Houston), specifically the hard times when we had to let most of our employees go in the mid ’80’s. To stay in business, we reduced staff from 30+ employees down to five. We reduced our own salaries by 30%+. We reevaluated our clientele standards to take what were previously undesirable projects (small remodels, residential additions), and to work for clients we KNEW weren’t going to be able to pay, and to design buildings with unrealistic budgets (and then redesign them to make the budget, for no extra fee).

We got on this subject (maybe being an architect wasn’t so bad) while discussing the current state of our ex-company (sold to new owners back in 2008) and how we were glad to be out of the business now that hard times are here for architects again.

We concluded that, even though it is notoriously difficult for any architect to become wealthy or famous, and architecture as a profession gets very little respect from society (OK, we are ‘arty’), maybe it is one of the better ‘high’ professions, comparatively speaking. Let me explain, precisely.

First, what are the high professions? Architect, engineer, scientist, doctor, lawyer, dentist, banker, management, corporate sales, artist, writer, educator, military, politics, software/ hardware design, ad exec. (Is that all? Yes, it’s all I could think of, sorry, send me a correction and I’ll add yours.)

What Dale M and I decided, that from the choices available, perhaps being an architect for a 40 year career was maybe more rewarding and less ‘boring’ than most of the others. Can you imagine being a dentist and working in people’s mouths every day: ugly gums, worn out teeth and bad breath coming at you every morning, then 15 more mouths to see before lunch? Say aahhh. (of course, one benefit of dentistry is your clients don’t have much opportunity to bore you)

My dad was a lawyer and I don’t believe he was ever really happy, except the hour or two after he won a case. 99% of his time he spent buried (and I mean buried) in paper work and phone calls from people with big problems. Usually problems they had created from their own stupidity. In our household, there were no options discussed about not being a ‘professional’.

Being an architect means you’ll have interesting things to look forward to every day. If you are successful enough, you’ll also be privileged to have the following:

• women working in the office (oh, it’s sad when it’s all men)
• a construction ‘problem solver’ (he’ll absorb most of the bad news first, not you)
• a bookkeeper (honest) to hound late paying clients
• an astute designer who can turn your ideas into client pleasers and photo PR
• a tech nerd who’s also an architect
• a quality ‘document’ architect and ‘guru’ who knows how to draw up what you designed, feet on the ground and knows construction methods (should be mature AND open minded = oxymoron)
• somebody you can count on when you’re not there to run things (a solid No 2)
• a salesman, or marketing person, if you’re not one
• a bottom line businessman, if you’re not one
• a retirement plan and enough in it to actually live on pretty soon
• clients who become friends

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It may take you most of your career to have all these. When you get them, you may recognize that being an architect isn’t so bad after all. Even though you’ll get very little respect!

What this essay proves is that anyone can write about what they think, now that they have no responsibilities and very few inhibitions.