If you do a search on any job listing website, you’ll find thousands of jobs for information architect, java script architect, database architect, and so on. The news media likes to refer to terrorists as “the architect behind last weeks bombings” or to politicians as “the architect of the so-and-so bill.” However, every state in the US has a Board of Architects which legally restricts the use of the term “Architect” to a licensed professional in that state. Here’s how you go about earning that title that people throw around so haphazardly.
Step one – Go to college (and graduate). Sounds simple enough, right? Think again. Not only is any design-based curriculum a never ending string of all-nighters in an attempt to appeal to the varying subjective tastes of varying critics and reviewers, architecture school adds on top of that courses in structural engineering, contracts, business practices, architectural history, design theory, material and energy conservation, green design, and then there are the electives. It’s no easy feat. On top of that, to become licensed in most states, your B.Arch or M.Arch has to be from an accredited school. Accreditation comes from the NAAB and is renewed every 5 (or so) years. Most accredited schools don’t allow design course credits to transfer, so those first 2 years at community college aren’t going to get you out of much.
Step two – Work for an architect for at least 3 years as an intern. It’s not a high paying position, so live the college lifestyle of having roommates, eating ramen, and taking public transit as long as you can! At that job you must complete the requirements of the IDP as established by NCARB which are to make sure you gain experience in all the various tasks of being an architect while simultaneously keeping your employer from pigeon holing you into a single menial task like drawing bathroom layouts or building models. When you complete the IDP, or after 3 years, whichever is longer, you can move to step three:
Step three – Take the registration exams, all seven of them (used to be nine!). NCARB issues a series of exams which you are required to pass in order to be licensed (in most states) called the ARE. These exams test if you remember all the things you learned in college as well as to test your knowledge of life-safety building codes. The real goal is to establish that you are capable of designing buildings with the public’s safety and welfare in mind. The high fee of $210 per exam ($1470 total) is a way to make sure you really “want” to be an architect. It also helps keep the passing rate high. Who doesn’t study when it costs so much to take the tests?
Step four – Now that you’ve gone to school for five years, interned for at least three years, taken and passed seven exams, you are eligible for a license. Register with the state by filling out a ton of papers and sending them money and they will send you your license. To keep that license, you will need to take continuing education courses and pay a renewal fee every 3 years. Now you are a Registered Architect (RA). Any other letters you want behind your name as an architect are a matter of money, tests, or both (i.e. NCARB, AIA, LEED AP)
That’s a whole lot of work to earn the title “architect” – so don’t go around assigning it to just anyone.
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