Comments (10)

By kilax, February 5, 2009 5:37 pm

It felt good today, to meet a friend in a similar profession for lunch, and tell her exactly what I do in my new job, and how much I like it. I told her passionately, without hesitation – something I haven’t been doing much of lately.

A lot of people have preconceived thoughts in their head about what it means to work for the federal government. A lot of people also have preconceived thoughts in their head about what I should be doing with my architecture degree.

Please stop judging me. Please let me be. I think I will figure this out on my own.

I hate that I feel afraid to talk about my job, because of other people’s judgment. I’m sorry I’m not being more specific – I think that would be inappropriate. Let me just say, I thank you all for the support you’ve given me.

Comments (19)

By kilax, January 21, 2009 5:57 pm

Last November, when I was offered a new job, I decided to ask my boss out for “coffee” (I don’t drink coffee) to discuss the situation. I wanted to give him a heads up of what was going on, as well as ask his opinion on what I should do. I felt like he was a mentor, as well as a boss, and his opinion was (still is) highly important to me.

Of course… he thought I shouldn’t take it, that I would hate it, and it would ruin my career. Oh well. You’ll have that.

Anyway, we started to discuss my performance in the office. He had a lot of very nice things to say about me, but did mention one thing that bothered him – that I didn’t seem to be doing much research on my own about our profession outside of the office. That I wasn’t reading the trade magazines or coming up to him saying, “Did you read about that project at such and such location? What did you think about the glazing system they used? Blah blah blah.”

He was/is right. I’ve received an issue of Architectural Record every month since I’ve graduated. I never finish reading an issue. Sometimes, I don’t even open it! And I feel kind of guilty. And I feel kind of… not guilty.

I was so burned out at that job that I didn’t feel like devoting any extra time to personal, self-enriching career-related research. I often worked through my lunch break so that I would only have to work an 9-hour day. The last thing I wanted to do was spend what little free time I had thinking about work-related topics.

I kind of asked him when he expected me to be doing this research… because if he wanted me to sit around at work looking at trade magazines and websites, I would be more than happy to. But that wasn’t the case. I explained to him that I got home around 7:30 each night, ate dinner, exercised then went to bed. And yes, I do spend almost 3 hours on the train, but a lot of the time I am sleeping, because I only get 6 hours of sleep a night. So… wah. Wah wah wah.

I didn’t say it to him, but the thing is, I don’t want my career to define who I am. I want it to be a part of me, and I want to discuss it with people, and I want to love what I do (which I DO), but I don’t want to be… THAT architect. The one who lives for architecture. The one who devotes ALL OF THEIR TIME to being an architect. That’s just not me. I have too many other interests in my life that I want to devote my time to: travel, running, bowling, volunteering, restoring the Datsun (are you reading, Steven?), spending time with family and friends… you get the idea.

The funny thing is, now that I have a new job, and don’t feel so overwhelmed all the time, I think I COULD find time to read those trade magazines. And maybe I will.

Comments (17)

By kilax, October 17, 2008 8:36 am

Does your profession have a clothing stereotype?

Mine does – lots of gray, black and muted colors. I think I wore the gray/black combo three times this week! To the left is one of my typical “uniforms.”

I have a confession – Steven helps me pick out most of my outfits when I have meetings with clients, interviews, etc. The other day, he advised I take this top, because it is “designer-y.” He told me I looked “architect-y” when I wore the outfit on the left yesterday.

I told Steven he should be on that show, What Not to Wear. As a host, not as a “walking fashion disaster” (that’s what their website says!).