Architecture Firms Don't Usually Recruit from Community Colleges. We Just Did.

Eduardo starts with us this week.

He's a student in the Fresno City Architecture Program — fifteen minutes from our office — and he walked into our interview more prepared than candidates we've seen with five-year degrees from four-year schools.

Here's What He's Not Going to Do

He's not going to sit in a corner renaming files.

He's going to be in client meetings. He's going to run building code and accessibility research on live projects. He's going to watch a set of construction documents get built from nothing — then stand on the jobsite when those drawings meet dirt and find out which lines were wrong.

Why We Recruit Differently

Both Fred and I learned the same way: handed real work before we'd earned it, and left to figure it out. Nobody in this profession gets good any other way.

Architecture firms — especially in the Valley — tend to fish from the same small pond. Four-year programs, specific schools, specific networks. We think that's a mistake. The Fresno City Architecture Program is producing students who are hungry, local, and prepared. That combination is rare anywhere.

A Message to Students in the Valley

If you're a student in the Central Valley reading this — apply to the small firms. You'll get more real experience in six months than you will in two years somewhere large.

We're looking for people who want to do the work, not watch it get done.

Thank you to the Fresno City Architecture Program for sending us someone this ready. Welcome, Eduardo. Ask a lot of questions.

‍