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Architecture Career

The route to becoming an architect, from CSEC, CAPE or A-level subjects and an admissions portfolio to an accredited degree, logged experience, the licensing exam, registration and running projects or a practice.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Architecture Career, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

206

Starter tasks

🧰 Professions & Trades

Architecture Career

Becoming an architect: the degree, practical experience, registration, design software, building a portfolio and running projects.

  1. Testing whether architecture suits you
  2. Subject choices for architecture at CSEC, CAPE and A-level
  3. Comparing architecture routes and accreditation
  4. Admissions portfolio for architecture school
  5. Funding the long route through architecture school
  6. Architecture school applications and interviews
  7. Work experience week in an architecture practice
  8. Drawing kit, laptop and student software setup
  9. Reading the buildings of your own island or city
  10. Daily sketchbook habit
  11. Studio workflow and crit preparation
  12. Practical experience log for registration
  13. Continuing professional development record for architects
  14. Precedent library of buildings and details
  15. Building code and planning rules watch
  16. Professional portfolio and CV refresh
  17. Quarterly reviews with an architecture mentor
  18. Registration, insurance and membership renewal calendar
  19. Annual career review as an architect
  20. Hand drafting, orthographic projection and perspective
  21. Physical model making for design development
  22. BIM and CAD skills for architectural production
  23. Architectural visualisation for presentations
  24. Climate-responsive design for hot, humid and hurricane-prone places
  25. Construction technology and detailing
  26. Accessibility, fire escape and life safety in design
  27. Working with engineers and consultants on a design team
  28. Presenting designs at crits and to clients
  29. Year-out placement search and applications
  30. Choosing a master's or professional degree programme
  31. Choosing the type of practice to work in
  32. Salary benchmarking and pay conversations in architecture
  33. Side commissions for house plans
  34. Choosing a sector to specialise in
  35. Final-year thesis project and degree show
  36. Professional practice and licensing exam sitting
  37. Applying for registration as an architect
  38. First 90 days as an architectural assistant
  39. Entering an architecture design competition
  40. First project on site as job architect
  41. Supporting a teenager who wants to be an architect
  42. Architectural technologist or technician route
  43. Career change into architecture as a mature student
  44. Working abroad as an architect
  45. Returning home to practise in the Caribbean
  46. Returning to architecture after a career break
  47. Leading a project from brief to handover
  48. Heritage and conservation of historic buildings
  49. Setting up your own architecture practice
  50. Mentoring graduates and teaching studio

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Testing whether architecture suits you

Architecture looks like sketching beautiful buildings, but most working weeks go on drawings for planning and building approval, coordinating engineers, answering contractors and revising details after a client changes their mind.

First tasks

  • Write down in 15 minutes what you think an architect does all week
  • Ask a teacher or relative to introduce you to a practising architect
  • Photograph and note ten buildings near home or school that interest you
  • Record your decision and the reasons behind it

Subject choices for architecture at CSEC, CAPE and A-level

Schools of architecture differ: some ask for Mathematics and Physics, some want an art or design subject, and most want evidence that you can draw and think in three dimensions.

First tasks

  • List four architecture programmes you might apply to
  • Copy each programme's subject and grade requirements into one table
  • Ask your guidance counsellor whether your subject plan meets every requirement
  • Register for the advanced subjects your strictest programme asks for

Comparing architecture routes and accreditation

The title architect is protected by law in many countries, and the route to it varies: three parts ending in a practice exam in the UK, an accredited professional degree plus logged experience and a licensing exam in the US, a certified degree, internship and exam in Canada, and national registration boards across the Caribbean.

First tasks

  • Find the body that registers architects in your country and save its website
  • List the stages of the route in two countries you might work in
  • Check each target programme against the registration body's accredited list
  • Write down your chosen route and one fallback route

Make it yours.

Install Architecture Career, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.