EP 6: First Experience In Full-Time Work
Hello and welcome to this episode. In the episode where I shared about how I picked up different jobs to help me make some allowance to fund my education. Right after I graduated from my degree, there was no escaping work in an architecture firm. In order to be qualified to sit for the professional exam in the future, if I choose to be one, I would need to complete an internship of a minimum duration of ten months. Of course to prevent people from job-hopping, the criteria set out for us then was that we had to spend a minimum tenure of five months in a firm as an intern in order to count towards our internship experience. And only upon satisfying the ten-month long internship then we meet the requisition to take up postgraduate architecture course.
There are so many architecture firms big and small in Singapore. Where do I start from? I was feeling a little lost. But I had a good friend who was always very in touch with the local architecture scene. So he shared that he would go for a medium size firm that was up and coming, showed me some photos featuring their work in a magazine. The rationale was simple: if the firm is too small, the projects may likely be limited in scale and variety. Resources will be tighter and we may not see very much beyond the handful of small projects. We may also be expected to do a lot of hands-on work ourselves than we can bargain for as interns. If the firm is too large, we may only get to see or work on a very small part of a huge project and end up missing the big picture. The medium size firm will have some sort of structure and organisation of a firm while still seeing some reasonable scale and variety of project types.
For lack of a better idea, I joined my friend in writing to apply for work as an intern for the medium size firm he introduced. We brought our school projects portfolio to the interview. It was very different from my previous little meet-ups with recruiters for my holiday temporary jobs, where I never knew who I would be working for or what company I was hired to work in until I turned up for work that day. This was really my first time at a formal interview speaking directly to my potential new boss and going through what I could do by showing my school project works, sharing whether I preferred to do design work or perhaps oversee site construction progress and for them to consider if I could be a good fit for the company.
To my surprise, the architecture firm accepted both my friend and myself. So we started work.
Through this experience, I learned it is important to identify the type of company you want to work in or switch to. I asked myself if I wanted to learn to do things hands-on and be intimately familiar with the trades of the industry. Or do I want to start with a broader perspective of how things are put together. It is important to be clear and begin with the end in mind as one considers prospective employers to work for.
Because of our different zone of genius, my friend and I were placed in two different teams. My friend has a greater flair for design and creating aesthetically appealing graphics and was thus placed in a team that had more design work, pitching for projects for resorts in far-flung destinations like Maldives, dreaming up how holiday-makers would experience cuisine, immerse themselves in different experiences. Even the thought of being given a chance to work on an overseas resort as an intern sounded so sexy, in destinations at that point in time of our life we can only dream of. On the other hand, I was more of a person who could collaborate with people to get work done. I was able to try to connect to different personalities and people from different background, so I was tasked with overseeing construction of houses at site, in-charge of keeping an eye to create a place where people can call home. I liked going to sites, solving details to make them work when things on a two-dimensional drawing simply cannot inform the tradesmen on how to make it work in reality. We would detail out through discussions and move things along. I had to figure out between all the drawings that do not tally what was the real intention of the look that the design wanted to achieve. Sometimes I may have to go back ot office to consult the original designer what was it they want to achieve in terms of look and I do my best to preserve and stay faithful to the design. There was a sense of accomplishment to see things on paper leap into a space that a person can walk through.
On occasions, I do get pulled in to pull some overnighters to chip in for job pitches. It was tiring because in the daytime I would be out and about under the sun and walking around the site to look at work progress, to brainstorm and solve issues. Coming back in the later afternoon I had to do the paperworks for the contract administrative part of my work. So when job pitches come in, all hands on deck are busy and paperwork has to still carry on. This is when I would really get myself lost in the weeds and have to learn how to prioritise my work. It is not an easy skill because you need to discern for yourself and even today, I am still learning how to prioritise and focus on tasks that truly matter.
There were also other moments where I had to carry out odd requests as an intern. One incident stood out. I recalled there was an important client coming by to the office for a meeting that morning. The Head of Department called me over and passed me some cash with the request to go to the Spinelli’s coffee joint at the next block to buy a ice-blended coffee and a bagel or muffin for this important client. It certainly didn’t go down too well for me who was receiving this request. I was very mindful I am a graduate, working in a professional firm but yet I was told to go and buy coffee and bagel. Wasn’t this something more appropriate for the administrative assistants? I thought I could better utilise my limited time in the office to finish some drawings on hand. At that point in time, I felt what it was meant by the intern being the lowest lifeform in the office. I wasn’t too happy with the request but the Head of Department did ask nicely, so I still did what I was requested to without wasting too much time and then returned to do my work.
Besides, it was common knowledge that architecture firms make students and interns work late especially during crunch times. Students were asked to stay late or pulled overnighters to rush out job pitches, presentations and competition entries but paid peanuts only for the fixed office hours. Tensions rise when printers refuse to cooperate. We see bosses getting ready to leave for the airport to make it to the last boarding call while staff would be running to them with the last printouts. It was commonplace that extra after-office hours went unpaid and sleep was sacrificed. Students and interns were forced to accept such arrangements. We were always told it is common practice everywhere. At best, we could claim cab fare home, but only because there was no other public mode of transport home. When I recently read the local news of brain drain in this professional industry, it came as no surprise to me. Decade after decade there are market forces at work where organisations at the top tier of the food chain made the most amount of money. Only a handful of us remained in the industry still working as designers or architects. Many of us have moved on to pursue other alternative careers.
I have learned it is important to pick up the skillset that comes along with the job. Learn these skills, train your mind to be willing to learn and pick up knowledge. These are not knowledge taught in textbooks. For example, how do you handle a person in the team that does not seem cooperative. I urge you who is listening in to be aware of the soft skills that are needed to enable your work. In particular, pick up good values that align with your professional goals and that can help to make you a better person. Bring these soft skills along in your life and continue to hone them. Learn to harness these skills and you will find that you can better manage others, for instance, your team, your vendors, etc.
