Any autistic or aspergers architects?

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Was wondering if anyone is an architect on here?

That is what I would like to be however, much in the book "Look me in the eyes"

I feel like I am a fraud if I attempt to go for this career though I am as capable as anyone else going for it probably. How do you address this? Do you have this thought process at all? I am not at the point where I overcome like he does in the book but I am working on it and going back to school at the end of december. I am far from this goal but it is my goal, so with that said how have those with similar thought positions coped/overcame?

Also everyone says this is a bad economic climate for architecture but i don't care- it's bad for most careers.....

First, don't worry about the economic climate, like any other form of climate it is subject to change and you have several years before that even becomes an issue for you.

Second, by all means shoot for what interests you. If a career in architecture is what you really want, don't let anyone deter you. Better to barely scrape by in a career you love than make more than you need doing something you hate day in and day out. You don't have to be the best architect that ever lived, as long as people like your work and you're happy doing it.

Third, take it one step at a time. Don't get overwhelmed by things that aren't important yet. Start at the beginning and work forward from there and eventually you'll find yourself at the end of the journey. If you start from day one worrying about details that won't even matter until year after next, you'll get bogged down and frozen by anxiety.

Good luck and happy motoring!

I'm an interior architect. Been in the industry for 8 years ...now in sales

Want to be an architect?

Be prepared to be forced to love China, India, and various middle-eastern counties. Architects are pretty much jobless in the States and Europe.

Things down here in Africa are not too bad for us designers/ architects....although, the practices are flooded with foreign staff lately, taking away all our jobs.

I'm not an architect, but I have a job where I interact with architects and have met a lot with AS traits.

I'm a recent graduate of Master of Architecture from Melbourne University. Only at 30 did I finally heed the calls of my prior last two girlfriends (one being my ex-fiance, huh) and people calling me weird all the time, etc etc did I finally do some tests and read 'The Complete Guide to Aspergers' by Attwood did I find out the truth about my condition. It's interesting for me in hindsight looking back at what I've managed to accomplish.

I scored 92 for my design thesis, which at The University of Melbourne is hard to do because of the competitive environment and high calibre course and students you're surrounded with. An attention to detail, an ability to tackle problems such as theoretical formulations for creating meaningful designs that go beyond practicality, and the ability to work alone in a dimly lit room throughout the middle of the night enabled me to get though the course as late nights are part of the lifestyle of architecture students.

I've worked in two architecture practices and the first was after undergrad and went for a year. I found it particularly hard - the office environment - because of the fact that people in such an office might want to be like a family and I didn't like Friday night drinks or hanging out with them. I found it hard to fit in. In the end, I let my computer skills and ability with computer modelling programs, my speed at getting work out, particularly plan drawings requiring detail and sophisticated meticulousness do the the talking. For that, they excused my odd behaviour and not fitting in so much and making faux pas which came up as problems people had complained about prior to reviews of my work. However, I felt after that experience and being so keen to just 'get out' once I had made 1 year that I was supremely scared about doing it again in an office like that once I would complete my Masters Degree.

However, the good news is that with Masters came more training, more ability, and more confidence and the next job was great. Loved it. There were people like me, the lighting in the space was more dim and natural, I was more lost in 85 people than in 'focus' with 30 people prior and felt more anonomous, which I liked. It was a relief that some workplaces will suit me and don't be afraid for those of you who might think about architecture. If you are like me and are fascinated with the arrangement of objects, did things like move your room around into perfect arrangements that created something more than the sum of its parts, find the theory interesting, then you may well find a suitable live in architecture. I'll never do anything else, I decided that long ago. Also, you work almost exclusively with computer software so it's well suited to aspies.

Hope this helps someone.

Update: I was diagnosed with HFA and anxiety a month after posting this. I was told by the neuropsychologist that due to my particular abilities I would be an asset to an architecture practice. Apparently, it's important to be able to express that one needs to be able to express to project leaders what you are good at (being left alone at a computer terminal to do site analysis, detailed plan drawings, 3D modelling and photorealistic imaging of 3D models) and not so good at (brainstorming sessions can equal a challenging socio-political environment that can overwhelm my brain, also because I don't quite think and solve problems on the fly like the architects around me do).

I just want to address the economic climate aspect, for I have the most experience in that.

My whole family has been in either construction, development or property management for at least three generations, and it's an extremely cyclical industry. The busts are much bigger than other sectors, but so are the booms. This is especially true at a regional level.

Furthermore, what is happening today is not unprecedented. California had a housing bust in 1991 that was even worse than the current one in many ways. While that was isolateld, that sent lots of construction professionals elsewhere looking for work. That was the biggest property bust before 2007, but there were small ones everywhere for a long time. Our current slump is the first worldwide property bust, but they used to be quite common. The Great Depression was obviously very bad, but they have happened in 1907, 1893, and many times beforehand. This was just the first time one has happened in a few generations, but it won't be the last.

I'm not discouraging you by any means. To the contrary, I'm investing in an urban plannning masters degree, which is an allied profession that may be worse off than architecture right now. That said, the boom times will return, followed by another bust. The trick is judicious planning.

If I were you, I would consider geographic positioning based on risk and reward tolerance. Architects in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida made buckets of money in the early 2000s, but are now likely out of work, and have since moved on. Our Chinese colleagues will find the same thing eventually. Low growth regions tend not to have these dramatic cycle, so while income growth will never be strong there, you also won't lose as much money.

So don't get discouraged by the boom and bust cycle. Instead, use it as an opportunity. Lawyers thought the good times would last forever, and are now confused now that they ended. Doctors may suffer the same fate one day. Architects always have good times and bad, so just embrace change, and PLEASE save for rainy days. It will rain, but it will shine as well.

Good luck!

Here.
Some people will be extremely rude to you. It seems that customers will dislike you if you aren't the outgoing confident type, but given time will grow to like you......unless they are sociopaths.
Try not to let people at work know what you are. A large number will think you are ret*d.