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Joined: Wed, Jul 28, 2004
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If anyone is open enough to share I would really like to hear.
I am a 24 year old student who just completed an associates in CAD. I have been at a firm for over a year now as an "intern". I have been in charge of construction documents in autocad and general office work. I have also been learning to use revit over the past year and a half and am the only one in the office that knows how to use it. We have used Revit a lot and I think this is my one real strong point as to my value to the firm. This is a small firm, 5 architects, and I really love it here. I only make $10.00 an hour which is barely enough to pay for gas and my car and still live at home. I work 40 hours a week. I went to monster.com and the other websites and it looks like I should be expecting $36,000 a year... is that right? I live near Cincinnati, Ohio if that helps to determine anything. I haven't asked my boss for a raise yet, but I am going to have to do something soon.
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Joined: Sun, Aug 15, 2004
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Why not do some freelance work to prove you are worth more than
$10 per hour. You could email andy@imageintellect.net if you want are interested in some extra work
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Joined: Wed, Jul 28, 2004
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email sent.
I was curious as to what other students with limited knowledge like myself are making per hour, or year. Since it is such a small firm I don't expect to make a large amount of money, just wanted an idea from what companies are paying.
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I was in the same boat as yourself about 2 years ago. Currently it sounds like you are being paid at your award rate. I probably wouldn't ask for a pay rise at this stage. You mention your firm is big on revit, i'd show them your true worth in revit. Setup some kick-curse libraries, take the extra steps to learn the full inner workings of the program, and when you start being the contact for everyone in the office when they have a revit issue and you can answer without any problems that's when you've now made yourself indespensible.
Knuckle down and give yourself another 6 months, you'd be amazed...
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Joined: Wed, Aug 3, 2005
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I'd say considering your experience and position, you're probably being fairly compensated at this time. I am also 24 years old without a degree in architecture. I have been with my firm (a very well respected four architect historic preservation/restoration/adaptive reuse firm) for four years, with an aditional year of experience at another firm. I began as a draftsman, but I am now acting as primary designer, contact, and project manager on small and medium sized projects, and as a central part of the design team for our larger projects; as well as being our principle Revit "expert" and Revit instructor for new hires. I'm at 40hrs a week, but I generally work 5-10hrs unpaid overtime.
Essentially, I had an opportunity to prove myself capable of a broad range of responsibilities, from the grunt work of bathroom details and office organisation, to extensive design and client/contractor interaction. I'd say bide your time, work hard, and at a small firm, it's likely if you have the aptitude it will be put to good use.
Out of curiosity, what job description/title did you use in determining what your salary "should" be? As someone doing more work and playing a more integral role than any of our "intern architects" (people with MArch and a couple years experience at large, corporate-style firms) I've been uncertain whether my title inevitably remains "draftsman" without the piece of paper.
For your reference, cost of living here is slightly lower than in Cincinnati, but not drastically. I'm currently at base $26k/year plus benefits---which isn't much more than $10/hr. You must have to drive an awful lot and pay Brooklyn-style rent to expend all your pay through them. In any case, after one year as a draftsman/CAD tech, $36k is certainly an unreasonably high expectation.
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Joined: Wed, Jul 28, 2004
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Click this link If you click on the hyperlink that says cad drafter in the upper part of this screen it explains what they are calling a "cad drafter", it sounds like an intern to me.. Thats all I was really going on... I haven't talked to many people in my field, thats why I posted this message. I recognize that websites like this one are sometimes really off base on what people in the field are really making. So thats what prompted my orginal post.
Edited on: Fri, Dec 14, 2007 at 9:24:55 PM
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Joined: Tue, Aug 16, 2005
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I'm going thru college right now for architectural drafting and estimating. there are some of my friends ( here from school) who are making much more then 10 dollars an hour doing drafting. I live in Minnesota. I've done some drafting on the side and I charge about 15 an hour for my time. I'm only 20 years old and have one year to go with school. 100% of the people coming from here are making on average 16 an hour.
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Joined: Wed, Aug 17, 2005
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I am 24 yr old Student in Auckland, New Zealand, and have been trying to tidy up the end of my architecture degree for a few yrs now, as have been working fulltime, in architecture firms for the last 4 yrs, although in $NZ a graduate architect makes on avg $NZ 33,000 with the lowest from my starting yr being paid $NZ 28,000, personally i am being paid $NZ 50,000 which is huge jump u, but marketed myself on 3d AutoCAD and now just started with ReVit. The advice given in the responses is sound, make your self indespensible, with Revit, and if they dont value that in 6 months time, (depending on if you're competent etc) then move to somewhere were they will recognise your skill. But i'd personally ride it out for a bit, i started on $NZ10 an hr too!
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Joined: Tue, Jan 13, 2004
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I changed occupations to an Architectural Drafter 3 years ago, self taught myself Revit (4.5) and was earning similar $$. I'm now working for a large firm, implementing Revit and earning $$$$$$.
As Mr Spot says, hang in there, make yourself indispensible and reap the rewards.
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Joined: Thu, Jul 14, 2005
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Just as a reference I graduated making 40k a year plus overtime which was another 6-8k. I don't know what pay rates are like out in Cinicinnati but I can't imagine they would be that much lower than out here. Of course San Francisco is horrendously expensive. As an intern prior to graduation I was making 16 bucks an hour and my side work was paying me 25 bucks an hour.
Revit experience is extremely valuable but persistence, initiative, and knowledge of your own value is worth a great deal more! Keep it up and push for what is right. They will only pay you what you are willing to accept!
Good luck!
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Joined: Sat, Sep 3, 2005
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Jr.
Without a Professional Architecure degree, you may be limited. People who have graduated with a BArch, and have been licenced are often not making $36,000/ year.
Ultimately your ability will determine your salery rate, but withot that professional degree, you will be hostage.
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H. Edward Goldberg AIA, NCARB
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Hi all,
I'm an inter architect w/a small build design firm about 30 miles west of Boston, MA. I'm a lot older than most of the floks that replied, and I went back to school (evenings @ the BAC) to get my degree in architecture. My fist job was $20 an hour for 40 hrs and I had to put in at least 40, my second was $15 per hr for anything from 35 to 40 and he did'nt seem to mind if I did'nt make 40, and my current position is 4min from my house and still $15 per hr but for 37.5 hrs which I can easly get in and still get to school in the evenings. I have 2 years exp in architecture and many many more in CAD, buisness etc. I'll remain here till I know all I can and then move on. I guess 2.5 years if all goes well. I'll be happy if I get cost of living + a few % for my annual raises in the mean time. As interns we can't expect to make the big bucks, but we don't have to work for free either. As others have indicated.....hang in there and it will get better. Get more experience in the business and Revit and then go sell yourself elsewhere if you don't get the responce you want at your current job. Before I took this job I had three job offers to choose from and all were $15 per hr. So I believe I'm getting a fair wage.
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Joined: Thu, Aug 11, 2005
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If anyone is still interested, AUGI (Autodesk Users Group International) posted their annual CAD Salary Report this past January. It is very comprehensive, covering several CAD industries as well as different regions. Just copy and paste the address into your browser.
http://www.augi.com/publications/augiworld/JanFeb2006.lowres.pdf
Remember, this day & age, employers don't take care of their employees in the same way that it used to be in the "good ol days". Most employers are only willing to pay you what they think is the MINIMUM they can get away with before you are willing to quit. With that said, don't hesitate to begin looking for more options, if you realize that a different firm is willing to pay more, you now have a bargaining chip to negotiate with your current employer. In many cases your current employer will realize you are worth more than s/he is giving you. If not it is THEIR LOSS. It is unfortunate that in todays market your odds of making more money greatly increase by leaving one job for another, trading up if you will. Too bad that (in general) current employers don't grow their employees salaries by what they are worth to other companies.
Hope this helps you win the battle for more $$.
Jon
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I was in the same boat as yourself about 2 years ago. Currently it sounds like you are being paid at your award rate. I probably wouldn't ask for a pay rise at this stage. You mention your firm is big on revit, i'd show them your true worth in revit. Setup some kick-curse libraries, take the extra steps to learn the full inner workings of the program, and when you start being the contact for everyone in the office when they have a revit issue and you can answer without any problems that's when you've now made yourself indespensible.
Knuckle down and give yourself another 6 months, you'd be amazed...
I remember  lol
though, if I remember, they still had problems paying you the right amount! i do agree, you do need to get better and better in Revit. the only way for you to get better pay is find work elsewhere.
if you really like it and think that this firm got lots to offer you, than bite the bullet and stay on, if not, move on...
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Dude
"Interning" just blows, simply put, but they didn't even used to freakin' pay interns in the old days. Even if you did "hang in there", how much do you really think they will offer....and will this make a difference in your life. It won;t unless you start your IDP soon...and you won't really learn Revit until you are faced with the challenge of doing a complete project on your own. You may have bigger problems than this one day, if outsourcing becomes more popular...as for your bosses,...most people that have the word architect after their name, just organize materials and copy trends, they really are just construction scientists trying to pay their loans off....
I too promote independent sidework......I have an AAS and was sick of the issues immediately upon entering the design and construction world. So I put an ad in the paper targeting builders. I soon met enough builders to keep a steady flow of work coming in. I did my own structural drawings and found an engineer to let me do the drafting ( which is rare, as engineers are so picky) I bought a graphic standards, and used the computers at school at first. then borrowed someones office for my personal projects. One day i decided to just do a project completely in revit ...structurals and everyting. Now I pay someone else to do AutoCAD detailing if necessary..(and it is more than f**ing 10$)..and I just manage and render in Revit. Now I have a wide range of client types, and my contract states that the builder or engineer take the liability..I have learned the hard way about things like non-billable hours management, but I don;t have a boss.... so i say,... network, take risks, learn mulitple platforms, open source softwarez, hedge your skills, empower yourself...
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