That’s right. It’s back. Let’s get this Architecture Real Talk thing started again. Today’s topic is one that is near and dear to my heart. One word. Four syllables. Com-pen-sa-tion. Getting paid. The first second reason we do this. The first reason is for the gratification of working with others to see something that you or a group of people have designed come into realization right? Right. But why is it that everyone tries to UNDERcompensate me and my fellow professionals.
I was reading an article today that touched upon the subject. There was apparently New York Craigslist ad that wanted a junior/intermediate architect with at least two years of experience. What was the compensation? $10 an hour in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
I want to start my Real Talk off by saying that the following comments are mine and mine alone. I speak for no one else but me and my feelings. Now, before I can comment on the craigslist ad, I have a confession to make. My name is AB and I have been undercompensated. My undercompensation lasted for a short time [only a month] but I realized a lot of things. I, too, found this “job” on craigslist and was initially just excited to have some work to do, somewhere to go in the morning, and to be making some much needed money. But my rose-colored glasses got ripped off and the flesh colors of life slapped me dead in the face. The whole ordeal was my own fault and I should not have dealt with people who thought so little of someone who worked really hard to get the education he had gotten. In my opinion, what someone offers to pay you initially says a lot about what they think of you. Too low means they don’t think you know what you are doing or are a complete nincompoop who cannot negotiate. Too high means they are going to expect a lot from you and you better produce what they want, when they want, how they wanted. And you better do it with a smile. But the latter was not the case here, the former was.
I’ll be candid with you all. They offered to pay me 25K salary, full time, no benefits, no overtime, no vacation. First of all, this is a slap in the face to want someone to work full time with no benefits or vacation. Secondly, I didn’t accept this offer. My counter offer was $14 hourly, part-time and after a month or two, if they liked my work we could re-negotiate. I did this so I could make some money but still look for another position. This was the smartest thing I’ve done in my young career. I won’t go into the gory details about what happened but what I will do is give you the bullet points of what I learned and a few choice stories to supplement said lessons.
1. Know Your Value
This place must be out of their ever-loving mind to offer me 25K. I know people who make more than that who haven’t gone to college for five to six years to get a degree in making our built environment better. Know how much you are worth. I’m not saying google a salary estimator, even though that’s a good idea. What I’m saying is honestly assess your skills and know what they are worth. In this field, if you’re doing CAD, Rhino, SketchUp, VRay, the latest Adobe Suite, know your way around a LaserCAMM, CNC router, and are apart of your church’s community service board you are worth more than 25K. Granted in my situation, I was ultimately being paid less than 25K, I took that hit to make some short term money while I looked for my long[er] term money.
2. Do what you can and go home
My best friend at that god awful job was an elderly man named Gus. He was a licensed electrician and did work for the company I was working for as well. He told me this on one of my first days. He said, “Kendal, you’re working too hard. Do what you can and then go home. Me, I’m in here at 7:30a and gone by 4p.” At first, I was working long hours trying to get work done in the 8 hours that should usually take 24. But Gus was right in the end, do what you can and do no more. If they want you to do more, they got to pay you! [and ME!]
3. Find out how the other employees feel
Another way I found out how terrible the company/office treated employees was by talking to some of the employees. Granted, it wasn’t after I started working, I found this out, I still found out in less than a week. Apparently, though I was being undercompensated, there were others who were being shortchanged even more than I, which makes me both sad and angry. Sad because these people weren’t able to get better wages and angry because the company offered them this chicken scratch.
4. Trust your instincts
That one is pretty straight forward. Had I trusted my instincts earlier in the employment at that place, I would have been gone by week 2 instead of week 6.
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Now in regards to the New York Detroit New York
It’s a shame. Period. A low down dirty shame.
Now that’s some Real Talk.
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