Personal Narrative: Shadowing A Home
In fifth grade, once every week, I would be pulled out of my regular class to participate in a gifted math class. We would solve puzzles, solve problems, and play games that would get our minds to think. I do not remember much from this class, but I do remember the week we spent drafting our dream house on paper. We had specific guidelines to follow regarding the measurements, and what needed to be contained in the house. Simple things like a restroom, two bedrooms, a kitchen. Otherwise, we were set free to do as we pleased. I remember this because I became charmed by solving the problems that come with drafting a home. Making things make sense, and fit, was frustrating, but in a way that motivated me to keep going at full speed. That is why I seeked out an architect to shadow. Before starting my research, or participating in my shadowing, I knew very little about architecture. I knew they made good money, because my parents told me so, but I did not know how much schooling it would take. I thought architecture was all on paper, and I had no idea of the requirements for buildings. I truly had no idea what I was getting myself into. I found
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my contact, the person I would be shadowing, through Kellen Peterson. I discovered his dad was an architect and I thought ‘Perfect, now I can shadow someone who has a job I actually am interested in!’ So I talked to Kellen’s dad, Bradley Peterson, and then everything set in motion. The shadowing took over the course of two days.
The first day, I met him at 8am, and the first thing we did was the interview. One of the first things I learned about was the amount of school it took to be an architect, and I was immediately turned off by the job. First, he had to get a four year undergrad. Then, a five year masters in architect. After all that schooling, he had to go through a three year internship shadowing an architect. Once he was finished, there is a test that determines whether or not you can become an architect. It is a four day exam, which contains a combination of nine paper and performance tests. The failure rate was more than seventy-five percent. All of these requirements seem too intimidating to me. That being said, I am only fifteen. Who knows how I’ll look at this field of work in a couple
years.
After the interview, he showed me some projects he worked on. The designing process is mostly on the computer, but he still draws some things out because he is ‘old school’. He let me help design a Massage Luxe, and I found it just as fun as designing my dream home in fifth grade. But, this commercial building had many requirements. Every placement was important. It made me nervous. When we finished up the rough draft, he let me put it into CAD, a computer tool that mostly all architects use. I truly felt dumb when he had to explain different aspects of the program five plus times. There was definitely a learning curve.
The second day I shadowed Mr. Peterson, we went to a house he made that was under construction. We walked through, and he explained the use of certain beams in the ceiling, and the duct work. I honestly do not remember much of it, but it was very fascinating to see the skeleton of a potential home.
After visiting the soon-to-be house, we went to Wash-U. This is the college Mr.Peterson went to for his degrees. We walked around and saw the students at work, and he explained how they basically live in their work space. The classrooms looked as if a tornado had ripped through it, as there was papers and models cluttered everywhere. But this was just how the students worked. I liked the idea of having my workspace being very homely,
When I begun my solo research, I found that Mr. Peterson covered most everything I needed to know regarding architecture. Nonetheless, I searched through web pages and found my sources.
Most of the time, architects work in a normal workplace with an office, but the job is easy to do at home as well when one is self-employed. “Architects held about 112,600 jobs in 2014, with 69 percent employed in architectural, engineering, and related services. About 1 in 5 were self-employed.” (CollegeGrad.com) “While in your office you will meet with clients, draft plans, work on cost estimates, file permit applications with municipal building departments, and help clients set up agreements with contractors.” (the balance) The previous quote applies to at-home architects4 and also ones who go to a workplace. I found the mention of CAD, regardless of a person being self-employed or employed by a company, in most every source I used. Many people do not physically sketch out their drawings. (O*Net) I also found that many people who work in the field of architecture say it is a difficult job. When policy on commercial buildings change, it can make their job much harder. (ADDA) When required measurements change, it can ruin a whole project.
The difficulty of the job is worth it to most because of the pay. Architects get paid close to a hundred thousand dollars per year. (bls) Mr. Peterson currently makes fifty dollars an hour, but when he began, he started with eighteen thousand dollars per year. That is a huge difference related to skill level.
Honestly, I do not think I am motivated enough to work in the field of architecture. There’s too much education and the process of actually drafting a building is insanely tedious. A question I have now is whether or not there is a job that would fulfill my interest in creating something within mathematical guidelines that stimulated me in the same way the dream home project did in fifth grade.
my contact, the person I would be shadowing, through Kellen Peterson. I discovered his dad was an architect and I thought ‘Perfect, now I can shadow someone who has a job I actually am interested in!’ So I talked to Kellen’s dad, Bradley Peterson, and then everything set in motion. The shadowing took over the course of two days.
The first day, I met him at 8am, and the first thing we did was the interview. One of the first things I learned about was the amount of school it took to be an architect, and I was immediately turned off by the job. First, he had to get a four year undergrad. Then, a five year masters in architect. After all that schooling, he had to go through a three year internship shadowing an architect. Once he was finished, there is a test that determines whether or not you can become an architect. It is a four day exam, which contains a combination of nine paper and performance tests. The failure rate was more than seventy-five percent. All of these requirements seem too intimidating to me. That being said, I am only fifteen. Who knows how I’ll look at this field of work in a couple
years.
After the interview, he showed me some projects he worked on. The designing process is mostly on the computer, but he still draws some things out because he is ‘old school’. He let me help design a Massage Luxe, and I found it just as fun as designing my dream home in fifth grade. But, this commercial building had many requirements. Every placement was important. It made me nervous. When we finished up the rough draft, he let me put it into CAD, a computer tool that mostly all architects use. I truly felt dumb when he had to explain different aspects of the program five plus times. There was definitely a learning curve.
The second day I shadowed Mr. Peterson, we went to a house he made that was under construction. We walked through, and he explained the use of certain beams in the ceiling, and the duct work. I honestly do not remember much of it, but it was very fascinating to see the skeleton of a potential home.
After visiting the soon-to-be house, we went to Wash-U. This is the college Mr.Peterson went to for his degrees. We walked around and saw the students at work, and he explained how they basically live in their work space. The classrooms looked as if a tornado had ripped through it, as there was papers and models cluttered everywhere. But this was just how the students worked. I liked the idea of having my workspace being very homely,
When I begun my solo research, I found that Mr. Peterson covered most everything I needed to know regarding architecture. Nonetheless, I searched through web pages and found my sources.
Most of the time, architects work in a normal workplace with an office, but the job is easy to do at home as well when one is self-employed. “Architects held about 112,600 jobs in 2014, with 69 percent employed in architectural, engineering, and related services. About 1 in 5 were self-employed.” (CollegeGrad.com) “While in your office you will meet with clients, draft plans, work on cost estimates, file permit applications with municipal building departments, and help clients set up agreements with contractors.” (the balance) The previous quote applies to at-home architects4 and also ones who go to a workplace. I found the mention of CAD, regardless of a person being self-employed or employed by a company, in most every source I used. Many people do not physically sketch out their drawings. (O*Net) I also found that many people who work in the field of architecture say it is a difficult job. When policy on commercial buildings change, it can make their job much harder. (ADDA) When required measurements change, it can ruin a whole project.
The difficulty of the job is worth it to most because of the pay. Architects get paid close to a hundred thousand dollars per year. (bls) Mr. Peterson currently makes fifty dollars an hour, but when he began, he started with eighteen thousand dollars per year. That is a huge difference related to skill level.
Honestly, I do not think I am motivated enough to work in the field of architecture. There’s too much education and the process of actually drafting a building is insanely tedious. A question I have now is whether or not there is a job that would fulfill my interest in creating something within mathematical guidelines that stimulated me in the same way the dream home project did in fifth grade.