Switching from Architecture to Tech - I Quit My Dream Job
I just quit my dream job.
It took a lot of courage to make this decision - but I’m leaving my architect job at Gensler and joining Monograph as their Senior Content Strategist.
This is a big leap in my career path.
Being at Gensler had always been my dream job out of school. So this decision came as a shock to me as much as everyone around me.
It took me months to make this decision and have it sit right with me.
Then it took me weeks to work up the courage to sign that paper and announce it to the world.
Once I did announce my transition on social media, I got outpouring support from everyone in the community. For that, I just want to say thank you. Your support has been overwhelming.
Leaving Your Dream Job
I also started getting a lot of questions about how I decided to leave my dream job.
Apparently, a lot of you are struggling with the same thing.
You have a comfortable job but there is just something that’s causing you to feel like you need to quit.
You’re tired of getting paid so little to work so hard.
Or you want to work from home and escape the office environment.
Or the only growth that you see is at the expense of your own personal time working 60 hours a week.
I get it. I so get it.
I’m not here to encourage everyone to quit their job - every architecture firm in the world will probably hate me if I do that.
And I would really love to see more women architects in our profession.
But if you’re feeling unhappy, if you want to quit your job and may be transition into alternative careers...
I’m here to give you 3 questions you can ask yourself before you make a decision to quit your dream job.
But first I want to tell you why I decided to take this big leap
Reason #1: The Right Time to Take Risk
After 6 years at Gensler, it just felt like the right time in my career to go out and try something new.
Over the past 6 years, I grew a lot professionally as an architect. Seriously, I went from a little potato drafting restroom layout to becoming a leader that runs my own project from design to construction. I lead teams. I mentor new staff members. I’m recognized by the leadership often.
I really really love the people that I have met at Gensler. I have made lifelong friends and gained supportive mentors and tremendous knowledge as an architect.
Everything has been great. That’s why I called this my dream job.
Because it really is. It’s what I’ve always wanted since I graduated from architecture school.
It’s stable. It’s hard work but it’s comfortable cause I have built great relationships with people there. It’s a relatively well-paid job given that it’s in architecture.
But what I realized was I’ve also been working on the same project type. I’ve been doing the same design process. I’ve been in the same studio working with the same people.
I’ve been so comfortable that I don’t feel like I was challenged anymore.
See that’s always the main reason why I left every job that I’ve ever had.
I’m the kind of person that always wants a challenge. Whenever I stop feeling challenged in a position, I feel stuck.
I know that I can always be an architect, but my life, later on, might not allow me to take a risk like this. This just feels like the right time to be uncomfortable leaving a very comfortable job.
Well...it’s actually not the right time. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, an economic recession... a lot of architecture firms laid off half of their employees.
So I know that if I leave my job now and want to come back in a month - that probably won’t happen.
It’s really not a good time to leave a stable job, but it just feels like the right time for me personally to venture out and explore new things.
Reason #2: I Trust My Instinct
For a long time, I knew I was going to do something different, but I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t want to just get another architecture job. I didn’t want to just do the same thing in a different firm. So I waited.
I didn’t know what I was waiting for. But I just had this feeling that it was gonna come.
One day I randomly landed on the Monograph website and I was like, “I need to work with these people.”
I really do believe in the product that Monograph is providing to architects - they’re a startup that develops project management software for architects.
I believe that the software that they’re making will modernize our industry and move us out of the dinosaur age of working - which is one of the biggest frustrations I had in the architecture industry.
I was so sure that this is going to be the next project for me as soon as I saw their website.
I just knew it to my gut instinct that this will be the next company I join. And that was over 6 months ago.
Sometimes you just gotta trust your own instinct.
It’s hard - growing up I never listened to my instinct. I used to listen to my parents, my relatives, my friends…I would listen to everyone other than myself.
A good example is personal branding - I knew when I first got into branding that this is what I love to do and I’m good at it.
But instead of trusting my instinct - I listened to my friends.
My friends told me branding is overrated.
They told me it’s too competitive - it’s not worth it.
So I listened - I didn’t go into branding because I believed in them instead of believing in myself.
But now I know better. I listened to my own instinct and started building my brand around personal branding. Next thing you know - my brand grew exponentially, and I started getting coaching clients.
From then on, I decided to always trust my instinct.
And my instinct told me this startup Monograph is where I should go next. So I did.
Reason #3: I’m More Than an Architect
I’m meant to be more than sitting at my computer drafting all day.
Don’t get me wrong - I love drafting and designing.
But our career paths aren’t linear and it’s totally okay to want more than architecture.
For the longest time, I associated myself with the identity that I’m an architect at Gensler
I tied my worth to only being an architect and to the firm I was at - Gensler.
I was actually afraid to go out of the architecture bubble. Sometimes I feel like if you dare to leave this bubble, you’re looked down upon by other architects.
Some people would tell you that you can’t come back to architecture after you leave for a while. Some will tell you that you are giving up on years of your life that you spent on building your architecture career.
But what I realized is I’m more than my job and my firm. I’m more than just an architect.
And once I figured out my bigger mission to help make a change in our industry, I wanted more time to help. I wanted to do more than buildings.
What I realized is it takes not being an architect for me to help more architects.
Not working in a traditional role gives me more time and freedom to support the community, create more content and host more events in the future.
It all comes down to this - leaving a comfortable job is really uncomfortable. But I had a mission and I wasn’t going to let that stop me from reaching that.
Trust me, it took me months to think and analyze if I should make the switch.
It takes putting myself outside of my comfort zone to make an impact that's bigger than me.
3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Quitting
After I announced my career transition, I got a lot of people that asked me about it.
I even got on calls to talk to some young architects that are in the boat I was, thinking about quitting their jobs or making a transition so I started asking them questions to help guide them through this process.
Here are the 3 questions you can ask yourself before making a career transition:
1 - Are you frustrated with your job or architecture?
There is a big difference between hating your job and hating architecture itself.
It’s easy if you’re simply not liking your job or the firm that you’re at - you can totally get a new job at a firm that aligns with your values.
But if you don’t like the architecture profession, then it’s a totally different story.
You have to ask yourself:
What is it about architecture that you don’t like?
Do you not like performing regular architecture tasks, like drafting, designing, or coordinating with consultants? Is there something that you like the most? Have you asked your boss if you can perform those tasks more?
Do you not like the crazy workload? Can you ask for more help to reduce your workload?
Do you not like the low pay? Have you done the market research and asked for a raise?
Before you come to the conclusion that you need to leave architecture altogether, you need to figure out what you don’t like about the profession and see if you can fix it first. Talk to your boss, your mentors, and your friends at work. Figure out a game plan that will address your issues.
Because the same problems you don’t like about architecture could happen in another profession. So identify those problems first and see if you can solve them.
If you’ve tried everything and you finally realized you just don’t like this profession, then, by all means, explore new alternative career paths outside of architecture.
2 - Are you able to take risks?
This move to me is a really big risk. And before I made the decision, I listed out every risk there is with this new job.
Competition Risk
I’m transitioning to a position as a Content Strategist. What does that mean in terms of risk? Content marketing isn’t really a skill that you need a license to perform.
So there is a lot more competition out there in the marketplace - there are other people that actually went to school for this and have years of experience.
But I’m self-taught. I learned all my branding and marketing skills by myself over the years.
Now I think of myself as a pretty good marketer - but going into an industry that I haven’t formally worked on before is scary.
Financial Risk
Another risk I had to consider is financial risk. I’m joining a startup that’s still pretty new so that means a lot more risk than my stable job at Gensler. So I thought a lot about my financial situation. Am I able to take on this risk financially?
I’m also making this big change in the middle of the pandemic, which of course is another big risk that I had to take into consideration.
3 - What’s important to you? What are your priorities?
The last question and also the most important question to me when I was making the decision is - What’s important to you? What are your priorities?
Take out a piece of paper and list all the things that are important to you. My list is definitely gonna be different from yours, and it has changed over time.
2 years ago my list ranked like this:
Career
Family
Health
In my 20s, I would put my career over everything.
But now a few years later in my 30s, my priorities have changed.
Now my list goes like this:
Health
Family
Career
It’s important to figure out what your priority is in life - at this particular stage of your life.
Do the Right Thing at the Right Time
One of my most memorable teachers in high school - although probably not my favorite teacher - always told us to do the right thing at the right time.
Every time we have a school-wide announcement meeting, he would always tell us to do the right thing at the right time.
And that always stuck with me.
It's easy to focus on the past or the future, but it's really hard to plan for the present.
When I was trying to decide if I should quit my architect job, I kept thinking...
Am I wasting the past 15 years of my life pursuing architecture if I give up now?
What if I want to come back to practice later? Am I still gonna be able to find a job?
These are all valid questions, but I was focusing so much on the past or the future that I forgot to ask myself what about right now?
What do I want right now? What feels right? What is the right thing to do at this right time?
For me, it is the right time to take on this new job.
For you, it might be different, but only you know what's right for you right now.
What about you?
So after all these questions that I had for myself...I left my job in traditional architecture job and joined the tech startup world - and honestly, I'm loving every single minute of it.
If you’ve been thinking about alternative careers within architecture, but you're too afraid or unsure about making a change…
I hope this article helps you to make an informed decision about your career.
