If you firmly believe that Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Frank Gehry should be household names and your social media feeds are full of buildings rather than influencers, you probably already know that you should be an architect. However, if you’re still wondering if you’ve got what it takes or architecture is just one of several career options you’re considering, the points below may convince you that this is the right field for you.
Creating Something Concrete
Many contemporary jobs are frustratingly abstract or have a never-ending quality to them. Working with spreadsheets and databases can make you feel as though nothing that you do is especially real or consequential. Working in medicine or teaching might feel both real and consequential, but although patients heal and school years end, there are always new patients and students, and it can be hard to know if you’ve done the right thing for all of them.
When you are an architect, not only does every project have a definite end point, but you have put something out there into the world that ideally will stand long after you are gone, perhaps even for centuries. There are many jobs that may leave you wondering if anything you do really makes a difference, but when it comes to architecture, you can actually go and physically visit the results of your hard work.
Good Compensation
Money isn’t everything, but not having enough money to cover your needs can cause all-consuming stress. If you become an architect, you’ll never have to worry about making ends meet. This can also be important since the training can take longer than the typical four years for a bachelor’s degree. Taking out student loans can be an excellent way to make sure you have enough funds to cover your expenses, along with federal aid and scholarships, and on an architect’s salary, you can feel comfortable about your future ability to repay those loans.
Using Your Creativity
Most people dream of having a job that they would do even if they didn’t get paid for it. Architecture is one of those jobs, allowing you to truly express yourself and your creativity. Not only will you get to create the home of your dreams for yourself, but you’ll work on a variety of other projects that stimulate you mentally. While some jobs require you to fall in line with the rest of the group, in architecture, you’ll be encouraged to develop your own style and be innovative. Some of the top architects in the world work well past retirement age not because they need the money but because the work is so fulfilling and is an extension of who they are.
Improving the World
As an architect, you can improve the world and the lives of people around you. If you are designing affordable housing, this means that you are responsible for making something that people truly need. You can make them aesthetically pleasing as well, and this is important because people need beauty around them. Even if the buildings you create are going to be used for less practical purposes, you can still make structures that improve the world because of how they look.