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hey guys how's it going welcome back to
the channel
if you're new here my name is dami i'm a
licensed architect in vancouver bc
in this video we're going to talk about
how long it takes to become a licensed
architect in north america
we're going to talk about all the steps
that you need to take and what it
actually means to be
a licensed architect
[Music]
i am not going to sugarcoat it guys it
takes a friggin
long ass time i just got registered
and it has been my 10th year in
architecture
and i'm one of the people who got
registered
very very early so it's
something to keep in mind okay so what
are the steps
so first you need to go to architecture
school
and then you need to finish your
internships and then
you need to take your licensing exams
first and foremost
you go to architecture school you need
to make sure that it is
a naab or cacb
accredited university if it's not an
accredited university you could spend
four years going to school and it still
won't count towards your licensure so
you actually
can't use that to become a licensed
architect some schools
have a accredited bachelor's program
and some schools have an accredited
master's program
so what that means is that if you go to
a bachelor's program
that is accredited which is usually five
years
then that means that you can start your
internship process
even without going to a master's program
so
that's to keep in mind but i have also
heard of people
just going in and doing their masters
anyways
in fact one of the guests on my channel
evelyn i'll leave the link up here
she decided to go in and do her master's
anyways because she wanted
more of that theoretical knowledge if
you decide to do
a bachelor's and a masters
bachelor's will be typically four years
and then a master's will be typically
anywhere
between two to four years if you did
go to a bachelor of architecture
then typically you can do a shorter
master's degree
if you did a non-architectural
bachelors then your masters will be
well it'll take a little bit longer so i
did a bachelor's of architecture
and then a master's of architecture so
i did a total of six years of school and
i took
a one-year break in between to work at
an architecture office
so that was seven years before i started
my internship
so as soon as you graduate from school
you can register for
the internship program and you can start
collecting hours
so the internship program is basically
3720
hours of work under the supervision
of a licensed architect where you
basically
learn all the things that you need to
learn that they don't really teach you
in school
on how to become a fully functioning
architect
so the hours are broken up into these
categories
programming site analysis schematic
design engineering systems coordination
building cost analysis code research
design development
construction documents specifications
and material research
document checking and coordination
bidding and contract negotiation
construction phase office construction
phase site project management
office management depending on what kind
of firm you're in
you might have a kind of hard time
collecting hours
in some of these categories for example
a fresh grad at a school will probably
get put
into the design development phase which
is
doing the design renderings doing the
diagrams
because that's the type of skill that
you're really good at
just right out of school and you might
have a hard time collecting
for example bidding and negotiation
hours or site hours
so you really have to make sure that you
are taking responsibility
over your own hours because nobody's
gonna do that for you
um it's not profitable for a
company to put someone
in a contract negotiation phase
when they've never done that before so
you really have to be your own champion
and go and ask your boss to put you in
those phases
so that you can collect those hours for
me i had a hard time collecting the
bidding and negotiation hours so my
company
basically put me on another project that
was going through
bidding and negotiations and
i was able to collect hours that way i
have
also met people who had to move firms
and so you really have to make that
judgment call like if you don't think
you can wait around for a company to
bring a project to that phase
then you have to be creative and see how
else you can collect those hours
this is why when you're having your
interviews it's also important to ask
these questions
on like how they accommodate the
internship process
i know that when you just come out of
school it's very tempting to take
the first offer that comes at you
but i feel like this will be better for
the long run if you just
ask them how they work with interns how
do they make sure that the interns get
hours as fast as possible and you know
if they don't have those processes in
place then maybe
it's not the best place for you one last
thing to say about that
is as soon as you apply for the
internship program
just make sure that you're categorizing
all your hours
and um just creating a system
where you can collect those hours easily
on an excel sheet
or whatever program you want to use
because you don't want any of those
hours to go to waste
i started my internship pretty much
right after i finished my master's
and it took me three years to finish my
internship
but this really depends on what type of
firm you're at
and it can take anywhere between three
to however long
you decide to take it to i've seen
people
not get licensed for decades and then
there's the examination process
so there's the nationwide exams and then
there's the
requirements of your local jurisdiction
in the states they're called the ares
and in canada
they're called the exact canadian
architects have the option to take
the ares instead if they want to
you need to meet certain requirements
for you to be able to write these exams
and it varies by jurisdiction but here
in bc
you need to have completed 2 800 hours
for you to be eligible to write the
exams so these exams
in a nutshell test you on your ability
to design safe and healthy buildings
and they also test you on your ability
to manage projects
and to coordinate your consultants they
cover
all of these topics if you want me to
talk about any of these topics more in
depth
i just leave a comment below and
i'd be happy to do that the main
difference between
the ares and the exacts is that
the ares are broken up into five
different
exams one exam per topic
and the exacts are all the topics are
combined
um into tests that are taken
over a period of two days so with the
ares
if you fail in one of the categories you
have the option to
take it again because the tests run
at multiple times of the year at
different
testing facilities but the exacts
it only happens once a year in november
so if you fail one of the categories
you will have to wait one more year to
take that
again so this will have an impact on
your study schedule
i decided to do the exacts because
i just wanted to study all together and
just get it over with
and yeah i ended up sacrificing my
entire summer and my birthday
because of it but i think it was worth
it
all in all i think it's best for you to
just go and take these exams and get it
over with
just do it as soon as you can and just
rip
off the band-aid because the longer you
wait you're going to get older you're
going to have more commitments
and it's going to be harder for you to
commit like months and months to
studying
so my advice would be to do them
as fast as possible so in the end the
fastest you can get your license
is in nine years nine years is
a big chunk out of your life so that is
something that you should take into
consideration if you
are thinking of becoming an architect
so what does it mean to be a licensed
architect being a licensed architect
isn't really about your ability to
draw well or design well although that
supplements your skill the main
difference between a licensed architect
versus an intern architect or a project
manager
is the legal responsibility so when you
sign and seal the drawings you're
basically providing your
professional assurance which is legally
bound
and you're saying yes this design
meets all the standards in terms of life
safety and accessibility
i have gone and reviewed the code and
all the
standards of the jurisdiction to make
sure of that
and that's why when you put in a permit
to the city you have the
engineer stamps and you have the
architect stamps
and that's basically providing your
legally
binding professional assurance saying
that yes
we have checked all of these drawings
and reviewed them to the best of our
abilities because someone at the city
isn't going to have the expertise to
check all of the numbers and make sure
that everything is correct
so the liability is not on them
if something goes wrong with the
building another responsibility
of the architect is to coordinate all
the engineers on the project on
a typical project you will have a
structural engineer
you'll have a electrical engineer you'll
have a mechanical engineer
and so your role as the it's called a
crp
a coordinating registered professional
is
to make sure that the mechanical system
doesn't collide with the electrical
system
and that they work well together and
that they work
along with the design intent of the
project
and so when you stamp those drawings
you're giving your written promise to
the city
and to the public saying that yes
i have reviewed all of the standards and
i have coordinated these other
professionals and so
what all of that means is that you can
get
sued and of course i'm not saying this
to deter you guys
but i mean this is something that i've
had drilled into my head
when i was going through the process so
i just think it's good for you to know
earlier than later if the window starts
leaking
you could get snowed if the roof falls
apart
you could get snowed if the structural
engineer makes a mistake on one of his
calculations
if a drunk frat boy opens the balcony
window and falls
off the balcony you could get sued but
there are a lot of systems
in place to protect us like the
liability insurance
so um you don't have to worry too much
you can also get licensed
and if you don't want to take the
responsibility of stamping the drawings
you don't have to you can work for a
firm where they have
architects who stamp the drawings it's
not at all that
you have to start stamping drawings and
start taking all of this
legal responsibility as soon as you get
licensed and so all of this here
is why the term architect is very
protected if you call yourself an
architect and you haven't fully gone
through the process
then you get into a lot of trouble i
have a friend
who is a registered architect in the
czech republic
but she is an intern architect here and
she had
on her couchsurfing profile that she was
an
architect and the aibc which is the
governing body of architects here in bc
they basically contacted her and they
gave her a red flag
i know that a lot of other places in the
world the term architect is used very
loosely
so um whenever
somebody calls themselves an architect
you just want to make sure to check
where they got registered where they're
from
check their credentials because it could
really
mean a lot of different things based on
where you are and where you come from
if you found this video helpful or if
you have any questions
just leave it in the comments below and
i'll try to
get back to you as soon as possible if
you found this video helpful
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