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Not really.
Gilday architect Dan Morales has successfully completed the 9th and final session in a series of architectural licensing exams. He is now officially licensed by AIA, the American Institute of Architects. Congrats, Dan. It's been a haul.
Typically, a young architect will spend their entire first year out of school completing all of the tests to get them out of the way. Dan did two. Then he got busy working, designing, getting married, becoming a father, buying a house--and renovating that house. So, last year in his "spare time," he studied hard and aced the remaining seven.
During that year Dan was rising at 3:00am most days to study before the kids (two of them now) woke up at 5:30. Then to the office by 8. Dan thinks it was easier to succeed at the tests at this point in his life because he's learned so much working as an architectural designer. The hard part was getting up at 3am every day and working full time and supporting a family with young children. How does one do that? It's all math, he says, you to to bed at 8:30 every night.
The process of taking the exams has been valuable for his professional development. "There are real practical things in the exams that, without being forced to study them, would take a lifetime to get acquainted with". "Being licensed doesn't mean you are talented but it does mean you have command of a body of knowledge and that you are disciplined and professional enough to acquaint yourself with all aspects of the profession."
True enough, a license or certification or degree is no guarantee of talent and creativity. One either has it or not. Dan has it. He has contributed very fine work to the firm portfolio since he joined us. Click here to see the Home & Design Magazine article that features one his projects.
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