Editor’s note

Betting on yourself

Career evolution looks at how young architects fabricate unique career paths, the evolution of practice, alternative career paths, and much more. In a future of vast uncertainty, embracing the unknown has become essential for professionals to adapt.

Almost a year ago to date, I made a challenging decision to leave an employee-owned private practice where I had built my career of almost eight years on. I was nothing short of restless when relinquishing the office culture, I became accustomed to and even participated in building. I had entrenched myself in various committees, specialized in project typologies, and forged some lasting and impactful relationships over those years. Venturing into an alternate career path in public service as a design manager, with limited working knowledge of the new culture and design process, was quite an adjustment. However, the nimbleness I carried proved to be an asset and quite a rewarding experience as I found myself acclimating quite quickly.

In this issue, you will read about multiple career path stories of how nimble young architects rose to become firm leaders, freelanced their talents, navigated large firms, and built their practices. Alternatively, you will see through the unique lens of architects as developers, fabrication designers, and the diverse array of career paths the 2022 Young Architect Award winners experienced. We will also learn how firm mergers impact firm culture, how to job hunt and negotiate salaries, and how mentorship builds pipelines. Throughout, contributors grapple with how to manage the unknown as they step into new phases of their career and/or practice.

I have often wondered how much betting on yourself, your career, and/or your practice requires a leap of faith. As someone who relishes high-level planning, I have come to embrace that meticulous plans and mission alignment are essential in taking the next step, however, all proceeding steps may not need to be clearly defined. Rather, that clarity is an evolving design process itself. If you’re considering exploring a new opportunity, I encourage you to embrace not knowing where it may lead you. You may find the thrill in the journey more so than the destination.

Editorial committee call

Q3 2022: Call for submissions on the topic of equity, diversity, and inclusion (E.D.I.) Connection’s editorial comittee welcomes the submission of articles, projects, photography, and other design content. Submitted content is subject to editorial review and selected for publication in e-magazine format based on relevance to the theme of a particular issue.

2022 Editorial Committee: Call for volunteers, contributing writers, interviewers and design critics. Connection’s editorial comittee is currently seeking architects interested in building their writing portfolio by working with our editorial team to pursue targeted article topics and interviews that will be shared amongst Connection’s largely circulated e-magazine format. Responsibilities include contributing one or more articles per publication cycles (3–4 per year).

If you are interested in building your resume and contributing to Connection please contact the editor in chief at: aia.beresford.pratt@gmail.com