Career StagesEducator/Practicing Network

In preparation for the 1999 Internship Summit, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) each conducted national surveys of internship. However, since 1999, no follow-up surveys have been conducted to help identify and measure changes in trends. Accordingly, ArchVoices and the AIA National Associates Committee (NAC) developed the 2003 Internship & Career Survey as a tool for improving the profession's understanding of this important period in the lifelong development of architects.

The 2003 Internship & Career Survey was administered between March 24 and April 7, 2003, and successfully delivered by e-mail to 19,912 interns and young architects who are either ArchVoices newsletter subscribers or members of the AIA. From this group, 4,816 young professionals took the time to respond to the survey-more than have ever responded to any previous survey on internship. From the usable responses, which were at least 90% complete, a random sample of 1,000 was selected for processing and tabulation. Finally, in addition to the raw data, the survey elicited 986 open-ended comments. A complete copy of the report may be obtained at www.aia.org/nac and www.archvoices.org.

"Now don't tell me some of you are still drawing by hand?"

This seemingly simple question echoed in my mind for a few moments, as I was held speechless by the deliveryman's questioning of the oversized, plastic triangle I held in my hand outside of my office. Of course we have all known for quite a while that fewer and fewer architects and interns draw by hand, but for an outsider to the profession to be surprised that any of us actually still do was for me very unexpected. Does this man's view of architects reflect the reality of the profession today? Does your view reflect the reality? Furthermore, can we affect it?

The truth is we all have our theories about the different nuances of the profession. We have heard about the financial lure of the alternative career, a need for diversity, and the passionate reasons why people don't take the ARE. In the absence of scientific data or analysis, we have had to rely on this conjecture as something we just intuitively knew to be true for all, especially since it was seemingly true for us. Were we right? Sometimes, yes.

The 2003 Internship & Career Survey, developed by the AIA National Associates Committee and ArchVoices, makes it possible to test many of those theories and gain insight into just who the interns and newly licensed architects are and what they are about. Just skimming the surface of this information, we know that 9 out of 10 of you plan on pursuing registration-including those in alternative careers; on the other hand, only half of you who have taken the exam feel that either your education or your four-plus-year internship prepares you adequately for the exam. For those of you who are eligible but are not taking the exam, you're frustrated about the paperwork hassles, and your time to prepare is limited. The biggest reason any of you take the exam at all is not because your firm pays for it, but for your own professional goals and fulfillment. Not too surprisingly, nearly all of you who take the ARE have an NAAB-accredited degree and believe that you should have be able to take the exam, or portions of it, upon graduation. Once more, this belief held true for those already registered.

More than a third of you plan to return to school (even though almost all of you already have more than one degree), 20% of you have had a previous career, and over half of you reading this once belonged to AIAS-with a third of you being active in it. And while we have heard that young professionals frequently change jobs early in their careers, over a third of you are still in your first professional job. Regardless of your degree or whether you went through IDP, your satisfaction with your role, duties, and hours at work is similar to those sitting next to you, and you are all equally frustrated at your compensation. Generally more disturbing is that a third of you who are paid hourly reported no compensation for overtime hours worked.

The encouraging news is that more of you are taking the exam, half of you gained valuable work experience in school, and almost all of you are interested in mentoring as long as it is localized or within the firm. When asked how a firm could demonstrate its commitment to its young professionals, the most common answer was pay raises, including payment of registration, IDP, and continuing education fees.

So regardless of your background, reviewing the survey will expand your reality and test your beliefs about the architecture profession. You will find validation for some of your thoughts and, perhaps, disbelief in other findings. While the survey asked a great many questions, the truth is that this report gives rise to many others. So we offer this as a starting point for further discussion, refined debate, and, we hope, for deliberate action based on quantifiable data not previously documented. On behalf of the committee of dedicated individuals who authored this report, interns and young architects like you, we welcome your thoughts and comments at feedback-nacq@aia.lyris.net.

We all come to architecture for myriad reasons. For me, it was my love of art and, specifically, drawing by hand-and now I was faced with the reality that I don't get to do as much of that as I would like. While I eventually replied to the deliveryman that yes, some of us do still in fact draw by hand, I must confess that on this particular day the only reason I even had the triangle is because I needed a cutting edge. Perhaps it is oversimplification, but this experience highlights for me the power that simple but pointed questions can have on the "reality" around us-and thus the role of the ArchVoices and NAC 2003 Internship & Career Survey to do just that. So I ask, what is your reality?

Shannon Kraus is an Associate with the Dallas office of HKS, is a healthcare architect with a specialized focus on planning, programming and design. With a background and education in both architecture and business, he teams with clients and users to identify and synthesize operational, technological, and strategic market variables into integrated and implementable design solutions.

Currently, Shannon is the Associate Representative to the AIA Board of Directors, and the Board Representative to the PIA Executive Committee. Some of his previous professional activities have included serving as the Chair of the National Associates Committee, the Regional Associate Director for the Texas Society of Architects, and as the AIAS National Vice President. Additionally, he has served on the IDP Coordinating Committee, was a participant at the 2002 Internship Summit, and has been a NAAB Team School Accreditation Member. Shannon earned his MArch and MBA as a fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his Bachelors of Science from Southern Illinois University.