Helpful Vocational Comparisons using SIGI3 - What's the difference between an Architect and an Architectural Engineer?

Stuck between one or more things you think you might be interested in doing for your vocational career?

One of the powerful features of the online Education and Career planning tool SIGI3 (see "What is SIGI3?" post earlier in Nov 2011 for overview of this program) is the feature that compares the information of up to 8 vocations simultaneously.

People often ask me what the difference is between what I do as an Architectural Engineer vs what an Architect does.  After 32 years in the business I know exactly what the difference is.  It has been a very demanding but rewarding profession and know I love what I do...

....but when I was in high school making the decision of whether to be a Phys Ed teacher (what I thought I really wanted to do) and an Architectural Engineer (what my Scout Master suggested I do), I had no clue how to figure out what I was to do.  I ended up trusting my Scout Master's counsel and the rest is history.

Looking back, I of course had a vague picture in my mind what a Phys Ed teacher did because I had been in hundreds of phys ed classes from middle school on.  But as to what an Architectural Engineer did,  I had no idea other than my Scout Master told me they/he did a lot of math and made building drawings.

SIGI3 takes a little of the mystery or guesswork out of the decision making process of determining which major might be best for you.  For example, below are a couple of the comparison charts form SIGI3 answering the question that I cited above that has been asked to me many times, "What is the difference between an Architect and an Architectural Engineer".  Some of the key similarities and differences are below that have ended up being key for me in my career development which has always been subject to my goals to honor God in what I do and to be the sole provider for a family, Lord willing.

Similarites:
Both are involved in  design and construction of buildings

Both require a lot of contact with people (talking with clients)

Both require excellent commuicaiton and writing skills to be successful

Both tend to have long work hours (not just 9 to 5, 40 hours per week - typically in the 50 to 55 hours per week but can be as high as 75 to 80 when a submission deadline on a major project is due)

Both are schedule driven so someone working in the vocations needs to be able to work under pressure

Differences:
A degree in  Architectural Engineering is more technically/engineering /calculation-oriented than a degree in architecture

A degree in Architecture is more artistic.

It is typically easier to get jobs as an Architectural Engineer rather than an Architect.

Architectural Engineers starting salaries out of college are typically 45% higher ($68,000 ave per year) than Architects ($40,000 ave per year).


Unless you are a really good architect...and I mean really good based on peers I know who are architects, Architectural Engineers long term salaries are typically  57% higher ($104,000 ave per year) than Architects ($65,000 ave per year)

Above is just a sampling of the comparative information SIGI3 provides which is excellent to inform college direction decision making.  SIGI3 presents the information in charts like the below and you can compare up to 8 vocations at a time.

Architect	Engineering Managers - Architectural
Income Beginning: About $40,000/yr. for interns and new graduates with professional degree; $48,000/yr. for newly licensed architects. Positions in federal government start about $32,000-$39,000/yr. Average: About-$65,000/yr. Top: Department heads, chief architects and project managers can earn about $85,000/yr. Principals and partners can earn $100,000/yr. or more. How Earnings Vary: Vary widely with size of firm, geographic location, function, experience and specialty.	Income Beginning: The beginning annual salary is about $68,000. Average: The median annual salary is about $104,000. Top: The top annual salary is more than $150,000. How Earnings Vary: Earnings for engineering managers vary by specialty and by level of responsibility. The middle 50 percent earn between about $78,800 and $121,100.

Architect

Engineering Managers  - Architectural

Work Activities    securing bids providing post-completion services keeping current with profession observing construction preparing drawings and specifications of projects developing designs for projects discussing facility planning and projects with clients

Work Activities    Getting Information Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People Processing Information Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards Analyzing Data or Information Making Decisions and Solving Problems Thinking Creatively Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge Developing Objectives and Strategies Scheduling Work and Activities Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates Communicating with Persons Outside Organization Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others Developing and Building Teams Training and Teaching Others Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates Coaching and Developing Others Provide Consultation and Advice to Others Performing Administrative Activities Monitoring and Controlling Resources.

Sample Resume - High School and Early College

It is never to early to begin writing your resume.  Many internships and part time jobs require filling out an application, writing essays and/or submitting a resume.   Writing a good resume is hard work.  The resume below is for a sophomore in college.  It's sharp-looking, easy to read, bulleted-format took over 6 hours of initial writing and fine tuning /  editing to get to the state that it is now.  It is written totally by the teen but with significant input from both parents. The good news in once you put in the initial effort, it becomes very easy to update thereafter.

Also notice the effort that was taken to concisely quantify the extent of the achievement and what was actually done.  For example, instead of saying:

• Worked at a solar panel design company for the summer

....a more eye-catching description was crafted:

• Worked independently producing (5) 3D Computer Aided Design renderings (using Sketch-it modeling program) of clients’ buildings showing different solar panel configurations on the roofs of existing structures for presentations  

      You want to try your best to show how you take initiative, are responsible, can be trusted, are faithful, can be counted on, excel at what you do, are willing to learn, work hard, etc.   These are all qualities that employers are looking for in young workers and are the foundational building blocks for anyone's vocational career.

If you don't have a resume, I suggest you begin writing one in the format of the one shown below.  Once you get a resume template set up, it is easy to update with your current academic, internship and work experiences / achievements.  This avoids the pressure having to throw a resume together last minute if needed for an internship or job application.  It is proven that a well done resume sets a high school age youth apart from other applicants and increases your chances of getting what you are applying for.

Note, the Blog posting format throws off the actual format presentation of the resume that follows.  It should give you an idea how "white space" and bullets creates a very easy to read format.   It is better presented in its actual electronic format in WORD.  If you want the WORD format electronic file, just email me at aeshenk@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

Sophomore N.  College

833  Student Drive,  Gaithersburg, MD 20877

snc@gmail.com | 301.609.9316

Education          Montgomery College         2010-2012

3.80 GPA, Electrical Engineering                                                                                                

Relevant Coursework: Calc1, Calc2, Calc3, Differential Equations, Physics1, Physics2, Physics 3, Chemistry1, Chemistry2,Statics, Dynamics, Circuit Analysis, Digital Logic Design

Honors

·         Montgomery College Board of Trustees scholarship

·        Winner of the engineering competition at MC for building the strongest bridge (set a new record)

·         Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society

·        Dean's list Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011 

Covenant Life High School

3.9 GPA


Honors

·        Magna Cum Laude each quarter for junior and senior year of high school.

·         Three science awards, two math awards, two English awards, and one Bible award in high school.

·         Winner of the annual Junior-Senior Debate

Work Experience

                                Siva Corrosion Services | Engineering firm | Summer Internship    2011

·         Derived a mathematical formula to process and standardize thousands of different data points    
from a ground penetrating radar (GPR)dragged across a 1/2 mile bridge.  This formula saved
 the company much time and money in analysis. 

·         Assisted in bridge analysis field work using GPR, ultrasonic testing, and thermal imaging
cameras. Extracted chloride samples to determine the level of deterioration of the bridge.

·         Used an ohmmeter to measure resistance across the cores imbedded in the concrete to
determine the bridge's interior corrosion.                        

                               

                                JPJ Services | Solar panel contracting    2010-2011

·      Worked independently producing (16) 3D Computer Aided Design renderings (using Sketch-it computer modeling program) of clients’ buildings showing different solar panel configurations on the roofs of existing structures for presentations.   

·         Critiqued business owner's current CADD drawing approach providing new ideas to help increase productivity and efficiency

K&N Lawns | Landscaping company

Vice president     2008 - 2010                    

·         Maintained 26 lawns senior year of high school

·         Helped maintain 10-50 lawns sophomore and junior year of high school working with older brother

Montgomery County Public Library   2007-2010

·         Worked part time all year  round as a library page  through all four years of high school (10-20 hours a week)

Activities

·         Member of administration  team for a summer youth camp (250 participants) - 2010

·         Member of administration  team for youth activities (300 teens) - 2010-present

·         Volunteered twice a month setting up /taking down Sunday school classrooms - 2000-present

·         Performed in school play for an audience of 3000  -  2009

·         Participated on soccer, cross country, and wrestling teams - 2007-2010

·         Captain and MVP of high school soccer team - 2007

·         Business manager for year book and officer of student council - 2009

·         Business manager for yearbook - 2010

·         Interned at Blue Sand Securities (hedge fund company) - 2009

·         Interned at ONExia (engineering firm)  - 2010

·         Participated on construction crew building an ophan's  home in Juarez, Mexico - 2009

·         Member of chapel school band - 2009-2010

·         Lead actor in drama performances for summer church camp (audience 700) - 2008-2010

·         Performing monthly on an improv drama team (audience 400 children ) - 2010-present

Do you set goals?

Have you made any personal goals lately? If not, I’d stongly encourage you to do so! Goals are the reasons why corporations and certain individuals are successful. Without them it is very easy to float through life without purpose.


Click on the following link for more on goal setting by By: Desiree Hack in a post entitled, "

Make Goalsetting a Trending Topic".

http://studentbranding.com/make-goalsetting-a-trending-topic/

Make Goalsetting a Trending Topic

• By: Desiree Hack on July 29th, 2011 at 6:52 am
• In Career Development, College, Grad School, High School | No Comment

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Have you made any personal goals lately? If not, I’d stongly encourage you to do so! Goals are the reasons why corporations and certain individuals are successful. Without them it is very easy to float through life without purpose.

They can be as personal as lose 15lbs before Labor Day, or read one book a month; or more complex like apply to grad school or enroll in the study abroad program.

Effective goals must be specific, measurable, and action-oriented. For example saying you’d like to read more isn’t specific or measurable. However, reading one book a month satisfies all three.

Most goals have small steps that need to be done before you can cross-out your goal as complete. With the book example you may need to first find interesting books therefore your action may be to research good books (asking friends, reviewing online bookclubs, or browsing your Barnes & Noble favorite sections). Keep in mind you may have several action steps that are necessary to complete your goal.

Take some time and reflect on a few things: Where do you see yourself in five years, what are your areas of opportunity, what do you want to achieve? If you cringe at the thought of these questions you probably haven’t given them much thought in a while (I used to cringe also!) Don’t worry; it’s never too late. Identify your top three areas of opportunity, write them down and put them somewhere that you can see your list daily. This is very important, it’s very easy to forget goals that are not written down. Then write down the action steps needed to complete each goal.

Not too hard right?? Good! Please feel free to post some of your goals in the comments section.

Author

Desiree is a University Recruiter at T-Mobile USA. She is currently responsible for developing and implementing effective recruiting and branding strategies related to short and long term needs. She does this by partnering with business line leaders to build relationships and establishing realistic expectations. A big part of being a recruiter at T-Mobile is striving to position T-Mobile as an “employer of choice” and facilitate a world class recruiting experience for candidates. Desiree is also responsible for training managers and recruiters on the University and Internship Program. Desiree spends her free time spending time with family and friends, traveling, and volunteering with various groups. She also loves to read and trying anything that is new and fun.

What do I do with the rest of my life after high school?

High school graduation brought on the obvious, ominous question – What do I do with the rest of my life?   I knew I was headed to college, but what lay ahead for me was still a mystery. Still, I stepped forward in time to earn the most expensive piece of paper I ever paid for...my college degree. For that reason, I wanted to take college seriously.


For insightful tips on how you can prepare for college including:

• Discovering your passion

• Finding what you do like by finding what you don’t like

• You can do a lot more with your major than you think

...click on the following link for an article entitled "Choosing Your Major is About Passion"  by By: Michele Posehn,  a Senior Recruiter for Sodexo, a world leader in quality of daily life solutions that contribute to the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations.


http://studentbranding.com/choosing-your-major-is-about-passion/

Choosing Your Major is About Passion

• By: Michele Posehn on August 27th, 2011 at 9:00 am
• In Uncategorized | 6 Comments

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High school graduation brought on the obvious, ominous question – What do I do with the rest of my life?I knew I was headed to college, but what lay ahead for me was still a mystery. Still, I stepped forward in time to earn the most expensive piece of paper I ever paid for – rather, that my parents ever paid for- my college degree. For that reason, I wanted to take college seriously.

I had already decided on the school – the beautiful University of Maryland College Park. It was a drastic change from the small town in New Jersey where I had lived my whole life. Now, I would be one of over 20,000 on a campus with broad courses of study such as animal science, engineering and astronomy.

During the eight-hour round-trip drive to freshman orientation, my father did what he does best – impart advice, covering many topics about college and being away from home for the very first time. And because I was a prisoner in that four-door cell, there was no choice but to listen to “The Importance of Social Activities,” “Intro to Balancing a Checkbook,” and “Calls to Your Mother and How Not to Worry Her.” But the most important lesson taught during that drive would provide me with the direction I needed to choose my major.

Discovering your passion

I had taken an economics class in my senior year of high school and fell in love with it. My teacher made watching the Dow Jones Industrial Average an exciting part of the day (a far cry from the depression I feel now as an adult with a 401K at stake). I found the study of supply and demand fascinating, focusing on how human behavior can drive the financial stability of the market. It was a combination of analytical skills and hard facts and this, I thought, was what I wanted to do.

My father told me that I should utilize my freshman year as a time to explore, to get my footing in school and discover where my passion was. Take the core classes, he said, and see if anything else sparks an interest. Don’t corner yourself into something you may not like two years in, he said. Rather, treat it like a buffet – have a little taste of everything and go back for seconds of the dishes most enjoyed. So, instead of declaring a major in Economics right away, I decided to go in as undeclared.

Finding what you do like by finding what you don’t like

I found myself sitting in an Economics 101 lecture hall on my second day of school. I was one of 300 students about to embark upon the lessons of micro versus macro. The professor walked in, flipped on the overhead projector and began immediately. Within 20 minutes, I looked down at my textbook with bleary eyes and realized that my father was the most brilliant man I had ever known – I HATED economics. Was it that I changed since high school or was it that I truly didn’t realize what the field was about and only got a small taste of it back in New Jersey? Either way, I couldn’t wait for that semester to be over and done with.

But out of the discovery of what I didn’t like came the realization of what I do like – writing. That spark first came in my freshman writing class and followed in a creative writing class which focused on creating short stories. I further discovered this passion in classes outside of the English department – in an intro to journalism and a history class focusing on the Vietnam War and the literature that was born out of it. No longer did I see a future for myself in a strictly analytical profession, but rather, a more creative profession. And after two years of school, I finally declared my major and concentration – English Creative Writing.

I was one of the lucky ones who graduated in four years, never having to attend summer school or make up credit because I changed my major. I had a clearly defined path towards that degree. And sure, some of the classes were snoozers- like my Medieval Lit class- but they challenged me to think, to debate with classmates, and yes, there were times when I still had to analyze.

You can do a lot more with your major than you think

So, you’re probably thinking, and I’m sure my parents did too, what do you do with an English major? I know it’s not as clearly defined as being an architect or a zoologist, but that’s what I love about it. All that writing, all that reading, forced me to learn how to organize thoughts both on paper and when I speak. Through words, I could convince people of an argument or create an image in their mind, talents that could be applicable to so many career paths.

I never went to school to be a recruiter. I don’t think I know anyone who did. And while your first thought may be, “How much writing could a recruiter do?” Well, you are reading my blog, aren’t you?  If you had an opportunity to meet my co-workers, you would learn we come from all different backgrounds that lend themselves to what we do for Sodexo. It could be that college, for you, may be about discovering not what course of study you have a passion for, but rather what intangible interests you have a passion for – serving others or making an impact on the environment. Just ask our employees and listen to what they say about turning their passion into a Sodexo career.

So to you freshmen out there, and even to those of you well into your college career, my advice to you is this:  find your passion. Don’t be afraid to take a class and fail (Physics of Sound was my fiasco). Don’t hesitate to take a class about a topic you don’t know a lot about (like, astronomy).  Don’t miss out on a class that makes you wonder, “How could I ever use that?” (like, entomology – but to this day, I can still explain to my daughter how a lightning bug lights up). It could be that the class you don’t take is the most important class you should have taken.

And while I didn’t choose Economics as my course of study, it still follows me to this day – I married an Econ major.

Author

Michele is a Senior Recruiter for Sodexo, a world leader in quality of daily life solutions that contribute to the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Michele began her recruitment career in 1999, joining Sodexo in 2008 where she recruits for a range of food, facilities and environmental services positions. Michele holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland College Park (go Terps), is a charter member of a Baltimore area Toastmasters chapter, and a Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR) and Certified Diversity Recruiter (CDR). Join her on LinkedIn or just Network with Us at Sodexo.