Mentoring-Laying the foundations of your Architecture career

The Architectural education system relies heavily on the unwritten code of the current generation of Architects bringing up the new however not all students are so lucky to receive a balanced experience with many used as fodder for menial work. In a time of remote working and increasing apprenticeships, it is imperative that the existing strong ethos is not lost and can adapt to the changing work environment.

It has long been discussed about the failure of Universities not preparing students for the real world of Architecture with the years out of uni being seen as a shock to the system with the harsh realities of budgets and building regulations. A passionate mentor can transform a student's experience and attitude during such a seminal time of their career. I fondly remember my experience as adding to my time at university providing a more rounded understanding and approach that could feed back into my later studies.?

In the traditional system, Part 1 and 2 students must spend at least 24 months recording their experience in practice under the tutelage of a mentor. The PEDR system sits at the heart of this trying to guide and manage a student's experience with the mentors suggested following the ‘RIBA PEDR Employment Mentor Guide’. The PEDR system is meant to work as a back and forth between the Office Mentor, the Student, and the Professional Studies Advisors (PSA). However, once the student has left the 3rd year of university it isn’t that clear how the PSA service is managed or paid for and the PEDR system is outdated.?

The system relies on students filling out their PEDRs in a timely fashion to be able to facilitate this dialogue, however having spoken to many students this is very much not seen as a priority. Similar to this I know many skilled and experience Part 2 Architectural Assistants that are waiting for that perfect Case Study project and appropriate experience before completing their Part 3. This means they are waiting much longer to complete that final hurdle equating to much more than the traditional 7 years to become an Architect and even longer before they can earn a reasonable salary.?

The key to the mentoring process is a practice's commitment when employing a Part 1 or Part 2. These are reciprocal relationships where both parties should benefit, everyone should agree to the outcomes of the placement. Difficulties arise when mentoring students in practice comes down to time, resources, and the attitude of the practice or staff.?

A practice needs to promote their senior staff to mentor and this requires time away from direct fee-paying project work. The ability of students will grow through their mentorship and job seekers should not be penalised for lack of experience or knowledge of specific software packages. There is a balancing act that is continuously judged as practitioners can only do so much in terms of providing a balanced experience for the student. All students want and need to get a varied experience across all stages but in many practices particularly those larger companies this is impossible in the short term.?

It also takes effort and willingness to mentor students effectively. Overstretched associates or project Architects may have difficulties always being able to pause and explain the context of a task rather than just delivering it. They may not always have the spare resource to enable the student to attend site or client meetings. Some do not incline to perform the role and just use a student to delegate to.

When we are still speaking about underpaid interns and exploited young Architects it is difficult to imagine all practitioners are suitably mentoring their staff. It is such an important phase in your Architectural career and a poor experience with an uninterested mentor can have a negative effect and lead to loss of talent from the profession. There is a long queue of burnt-out Architectural Assistants looking at better-paid jobs in surrounding fields.?

The mentoring relationship should be reciprocal with the mentor gaining leadership and management skills but also an insight into the upcoming themes and interests of young professionals. For the mentee it is easy to get focused on the task at hand rather than look at the bigger picture, a mentor can flesh out the context of the task, the business, and planning case or lessons learned. In essence, the relationship is about communication, patience, accountability, and sharing of knowledge.?

Many Architects go above and beyond to provide mentorship not only within practice but outside of their job roles. Extra-curricular mentoring in Architecture can be an incredibly rewarding process with Architects reaching out to schools and colleges or charity organisations for underrepresented students in the profession. During my career, I have been able to mentor students through the London School of Architecture and Blueprint for All which have been rewarding.

With the increasing uptake in Apprenticeships, the mentoring question is even more important. Within these courses, the student is typically working 4 days a week and at university for 1 day. The educational model means younger and less experienced students are entering the workplace sooner and require more support and mentoring. The apprenticeships also last for much longer typically 4 years for Level 6 and another 4 years for Level 7 with contracts guaranteeing their place at the practice for that long.?

With apprenticeships and effective mentoring bring a return on investment for the practice. The system allows for the crafting of someone’s experience and knowledge specific to a company ethos. Apprenticeships formalise the roles and responsibilities through a Triparty agreement linking the Employer, Educator, and Apprentice. This agreement protects the student and can be seen as a standard to judge one's experience and mentorship by. It begs the question if Part 1 and 2 contracts should more clearly cement the type of experience and mentoring that will be provided, this at least would give students more power when practices are failing.

The continued acceptance of the cyclical nature of the Architectural profession is key to professional development. Good mentors create good Architects and future mentors. My Architectural journey so far has been full of many passionate and knowledgable mentors from who I have learned an array of different skills. Your career is built on the shoulders of kind, patient and passionate mentors, you take a piece of each mentor at different periods of your life adding up to your whole.

If you would like to learn more about the mentoring on offer from Architects Instruction please visit our website or contact me on [email protected]