“ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?”

When the topic of experience is raised, and it is often in job application situations, I am reminded of Jimi Hendrix’s moody atmospheric instrumentals and cryptic lyrics surrounding his question: “are you experienced?”

I have applied for many jobs over the years and there has been a crescendo recently around experience. Offices in design require Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) or Building Information Modelling (BIM) experience. I have also applied for planning jobs and they want experience in similar software at urban scale known as Geographical Information System (GIS).

I have realized there are all kinds of experiences, positive and negative and I have been very lucky with mine that they have been generally positive. I have had a lot of applications shelved due to an artificial but convenient dichotomy between academic theoretical experiences in contrast with practical professional experiences.

Softwares like CAD, BIM, or GIS —and I would apply this to any technology for that matter— move quickly and are known for change and flux. Experience changing and adapting to new applications seems to me to be the most valuable, than investment of time in any one of the softwares. None of these have been in existence for long enough to generate considerable collective experience. They are learned and wielded quickly and adaptation moves swiftly.

The first CAD and BIM design software that I was exposed to, is called Form-Z. We used it with photoshop to make what we called “renderings”.

My first CAD drawings I ever made (and I have made many) are pictured above. More importantly these are my first floor plans, first sections, first elevations, first perspectives that I ever made. These were made in “stick-studio” at the University of Washington in Seattle, under the guidance of professor and author Francis Ching and a great faculty team with other students doing amazing work.

After Form-Z I began using Rhino and Autodesk products. The licenses are quite pricey, and with student licenses, I was fortunate to make deep dives from these platforms to explore their potentials.

What I need now is more time spent doing CAD or BIM work for supervising architects working for their clients, to contribute to their real life buildings. I am taking my license exams and need licensed architects to hire and train me to complete the process. If you can help, let me know.