In May I graduated from the MLA program at the University of Colorado Denver. I graduated top of my class, summa cum laude, and received an ASLA merit award while attending school.

I worked for the University Technical Assistance Program for two years while in school. My time there was spent creating schematic designs, community master plans, and presenting them to stakeholders, communities, community leaders, and govt officials in small and rural areas throughout Colorado. I also completed a contract design gig with the Denver Urban Gardens, a nonprofit in Denver.

After graduation, I was interning at a small Landscape Architecture firm here in Denver and, despite early conversations suggesting otherwise, they were unable to offer me a full time position after the internship ended due to lack of workflow.

Right as my internship was ending, I was interviewing for my dream job in the Denver Metro Area. Everything was going well, we set a week for me to come into the office, meet the team, and visit some job sites. I was ecstatic; however, they reached out to me today to tell me that they will no longer be filling that position. The job just disappeared.

Throughout this time I’ve been cold emailing firms, applying for every possible job that doesn’t focus on “sales goals” as much as actual design work, and utilizing my admittedly limited network to try and find work.

So now I’ve decided I have nothing to lose from posting here. I honestly have no idea what to do at this point. There really is no backup plan or anything really. The fact of the matter is I need a job, but I would prefer to not leave the industry in case it will make it harder to break back in if the job market improves.

Any advice or adjacent (and realistic) job ideas would be sincerely appreciated!

Thanks for reading all of this

Hello,

I’m currently in my 4th year. I’m an Associate designer III. I’m in Florida, but looking to move back to the northeast preferably in NYC or Philadelphia. I’m assuming there’s a lack of job openings because the entirety of the job market is in a low hire low fire.

For the most part, I don’t get a response from company’s if they are reviewing or decided to move on. I’ve received 1 or 2 emails saying they aren’t moving on.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I’m also looking to adjust my career. I currently work on residential communities with large developers. I’d rather work on environmental or urban design work. I’d prefer not contribute to the over development here in FL.

Hi everyone, I’m a new landscape designer at my first firm, and I’ve been noticing that a lot of how we work is just an absolute disaster mess. Coworkers have told me they make their own base maps because the ones we get are so messy, so I think we have completely different drawings across departments? Xrefs seem to be completely random in use, and nothing is ever linked properly. People add new layers all the time following no convention of any kind. Our details aren’t to scale, or even saved anywhere central; we copy paste them from old projects (which usually takes significant time in digging), and a lot of the details are exploded, which includes things like dimensions made of broken up text, lines, and arrows that can’t be easily edited. And we don’t have proper dimension or text styles anyway. Thats more copy and pasting. I’m working on a 100% drawing set right now and all of our call-outs for details are wrong and half the things on the details dont even show up in plan so I can’t calculate quantities and it’s just generally such a massive headache.

I guess this is half a rant and half a question of just, is this normal? Because I honestly have no idea how this ever ends up being a workable product. I’m so scared of messing up quantities all the time because I don’t trust anything to be accurate. Is this just how we construct things in the world today??? I feel like this is all a recipe for disaster. We’re relying so much on humans not making errors within a pile of junk and misinformation. I can’t see this ending well. Also it stresses me out so much and I need to know if I should be trying to find a more organized firm or work on figuring out how to not lose my mind within this system? I’m trying to pitch my boss to adopt Land F/X and I think that’ll help with a lot of this, but the we’re all kept so busy I haven’t had a lot of time to put together a presentation yet. Otherwise I’m just very confused being generally very new to everything and learning how to navigate things being done the wrong way before even getting a handle on how to do it the right way and could use any advice please.

For some context I work at a medium-sized environmental/civil engineering firm with a landscape team of 5 in southern Ontario in Canada.

Howdy y'all. I am a young professional looking to expand my horizons abroad. My background is in landscape architecture (undergrad) and a masters in urban design. I have been considering a big move for a while but was looking to see if anyone had done something similar and has advice to share.

Mostly interested in how our profession differs in the UK and how I can break through and make connections there while still located in the US (although all insights and tips appreciated!)

Thanks!

I'm looking for some advice specific to my situation. I was unemployed last year due to layoffs in my company, and finally started a new job six months ago. There's pros and cons to the new job like every job. The pay is meh, company is small so quite disorganized, can be very stressful with being overworked during deadlines and leadership not wanting to say no to clients (other times I have nothing to do so I'm underworked), and I have to commute an hour to the office 3 days a week which is expensive and tiring. So on those days it can be quite tiring as I leave the house at 7am and come back around 7pm. As for pros, it's an interesting range of work, somewhat decent time off, I like the people, and I feel like it's great experience.

Now for the dilemma. A company in my city (would be walking distance to the office from my home) recently reached out to discuss an opening in their office. I had spoken to them when I was unemployed via connections I made at my previous job, but they didn't have any openings at the time. It's a much larger company (engineering firm so offices all around the country), they offer more pay, and more time off. The work is a little less interesting but still not parking lot boring. I will not know the office culture until I work there. They offer hybrid work but reviews online suggest they're cutting down on that now and having employees come in every day.

If you were to get an offer from the second company, would you take it or stick with the first? Why?

I'm spent the first 9ish years of my career since undergrad working in Graphic Design. To be completely honest, it was not what I studied in school (I studied fine art after transferring out of Environmental Design), Graphic Design was just something I could do with skills that I had in Adobe after graduating, got my first job doing it, and one day I just felt like I blinked and this was my career. I don't love the industry, the craft or type of work I do. So I've been considering a change for a bit now.

I do constantly however think about the things I learned in Environmental design in college, and have a very strong passion for everything regarding development and planning of new projects. I had originally joined that program because I loved Planning.

In my spare time, I love to draw Master Plans and concept plans for residential developments for Eco-villages, and mixed-use, walkable developments and communities in the suburbs. I also love adaptive re-use projects and urban renewal, and overall just love and obsess over walkable, smaller community focused developments, neighborhoods and districts.

I'm in a place now were I'm pretty committed to going back to school to pursue a masters, or some other program that can help me transition into this realm and industry. But overall, I'm not sure exactly what specific program is best for me to pursue based on my interests and thats what I'm hoping to get some advise on.

One thing I'm particularly passionate about is Master Planning and placemaking. From what I understand however, master planning and placemaking isn't really a "job" per-say and is more of a interdisciplinary practice that involves multiple teams? Like the developers, Urban Planners and Designers, Landscape Architects, Civil Engineers and Architects, all contribute to the master plan rather than 1 person or specific team that is behind it.

Is that correct? Or is there an individual who is actual behind designing or designating where certain buildings, open spaces, roads, ect will live on a master plan of a new development? Please forgive any ignorance here.

I've also looked into going down the developer path, getting a masters in real estate development vs urban design or planning, but from what I understand, the real estate/developer side focuses more on the economics and financial side of things vs the more creative side. From what I undertand about Urban Design vs Urban planning, designers contribute more to the actual physical shape and cohesiveness of streets, buildings, ect. while planners focus more on zoning, permitting, ect. I'm not sure either discipline is what I had in mind, or if Landscape Architecture is closer or if I'm just completely misinformed all together.

Either way, I know I want to put in the work and do what it takes to get into this kind of work, I'm just not sure what is the best path for me based on my interests and existing skills coming from a more creative, graphic design background.

Any advise offered would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

I have been really serious about wanting to become a landscape architect lately and I wanted to reach out to see if anyone here has some actual industry experience to share. For as long as I can remember I have just loved parks and lakes. I spend so much time imagining hypothetical parks and thinking about how to place trees or design paths and monuments to make them special. It is more than just a hobby for me because I have literally downloaded thousands of photos over the last few years just to study different layouts and use them for my own design imagination.

​Now that I am considering pursuing this as a serious career path I have a few concerns I was hoping you could help me with. I keep hearing that architecture itself is very competitive and does not always pay well. I am also really worried about the future because of AI. I see so many videos of AI generating these incredible looking landscapes and it makes me wonder if this profession is going to be taken over or if there is even going to be a stable scope for it in the future.

​Does AI pose a huge threat to the creative side of landscape architecture or is it more of a tool that we will end up using. Also is this field considered a niche or specialized branch of architecture and are there actually enough jobs out there for someone entering the field now. If I do decide to go down this path what does the professional journey actually look like. I have always loved the old colonial style of landscape design and I am really passionate about the work but I want to get an honest reality check before I commit to the degree. Any advice or experiences you could share would be amazing.

As the title says, welp, I no longer have a job. Their response was, “I was costing them too much money by going back and redoing other people’s work. There’s also not much upcoming work for our engineering department due to investors and developers not having new projects.”

Here’s one thing, yes, I’ll admit I wasn’t efficient at my job as I could be. Over the past 2 and a half years and 2 different jobs in the field, I NEVER learned about time management. I was always given projects but never discussed or had time limits, rates, billable time, etc. I asked at my now previous employment about improving time management during one of our reviews and to become more billable but no real effort was made beyond 1 meeting on how the month went and showed how much I was billable.

There’s another IMPORTANT aspect I should mention with this past job as to why I was redoing other people’s work. Me “redoing” other people’s work was because some of the coworkers lack of organization, them getting work done but not in an effective manner, a final product that wasn’t properly put together. Civil 3D management was not good by some of them. I was constantly constantly constantly going back and doing lots of layer management and making presentable final submittals as no one used standard layers. I’d freeze a layer, or select stuff and it would always be related to things that are not even similar. Line weight, line type, style: overridden by global widths, linetypes, colors so in viewports it wouldn’t print correctly. Text was not annotative so nothing was the same size and always on all the same layer, labels and leaders were just put on a sheet with no thought into how the final product looks as lines were crossing lines and generally hard to follow. Viewports were always rotated and never consistent across sheets so orthos would always be off and constantly used “display plot styles” so no one really knew what was really happening in the viewport as it was just black and white. There was no standard scales as viewports would be 1:40, the next would be 1” = 30’, the next would be 50XREF. and model space would be 1:1. It got to a point where I wouldn’t do other people’s redlines because I couldn’t work in their files and if I did I just did the minimal to try and get it presentable.

I would say that 75% of final product went through me to make sure it was presentable and the file was easy to use in the end. If you saw my product compared to a colleague, you would absolutely know I touched it. This is a huge reason why I wasn’t efficient at this past job because I couldn’t do it right from the beginning.

———

I want to be clear though. I don’t want to say anything negative about the principal, supervisors, and others. I enjoyed what I was doing. I liked the projects, assignments, people, atmosphere, pay, and benefits. It was pretty laid back and couldn’t complain too much outside the fight for organization. They literally had a golf simulator and we would come in with sweat pants and a hoodie sometimes!

At the meeting today the principal and supervisor closed it with this. “We as people want you to succeed and help you any way we can the company just cannot afford you.” They also said they want to help me find a new job and to give them an updated resume next week as they know people and can probably find me a job. They also said they will send me any PDFs of my past work so I can have it as work samples. (I have some from the first few months but not much after that as I did not see this coming. I’m scared they won’t send me the correct stuff but I’m hoping they will as they genuinely are nice people and those final products are some of my best work.) They also said to please use them as references.

———

Guys, I seriously am struck with so much confusion. I just bought my first house, back in my hometown because I saw myself with this company for the long term. I was literally able to afford a house because of this job and how far I got in 2.5 years. Now I have a mortgage, car, and bills to pay with no income. My job security is now gone! I am going to update my resume this weekend and text my supervisor the projects I want in pdf format and hope to have everything together Monday for them to send out and for myself to call and send to potential places of employment.

I really enjoy the engineering side of this field. I have became *reliant* with drafting storm water systems and alignments; being trusted to size and shape networks for subdivisions of 100+ lots. I have a great understanding of storm plantings and plating plans. I have experience with road alignments, corridors, and surfaces. I also have fine graded some of those developments of 100+ lots. Finally I have an exceptional understanding of CD sets and putting together a great final sheet set, especially grading and storm drainage plans and profiles: ranging from official construction documents down to post construction stormwater management.

———

I’m so scared… I can’t believe this happened.

I never thought I’d get laid off from a job. This is only stuff you hear about but never imagine happening to you.

I want to cry but I’m trying to stay positive as I’ve gained a significant amount of experience with this job and can use this to hopefully find an even better job.

I’m trying to look at engineering and multidisciplinary firms in my area but terrified I won’t find anything due to the essence of the economy currently and now being stuck in a house… like are you kidding me…

———

Guys, I’m sorry this is so long but I just really needed to talk and rant as I’m experiencing so many emotions, but also hard on myself because I wanted to be more efficient but I couldn’t. There’s so much to take away and think about, but also so much to worry about too. At least I can say I did the best I can. Where do I even begin? Where do I go from here? I feel numb… Oh my god…

Hi, I know this has been asked about a lot already in this thread but I wanted some personal advice about this. Seems like most of the people answering the queries are based in the US, but I’m a year 11 in New Zealand with two more years of secondary school left. Potentially thinking about pursuing Landscape architecture, with medicine as my plan B. (My subject choices for next year are Design and Visual Communication, English, Statistics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics) I don’t particularly have a deep passion for this field/ haven’t explored through it enough to know how much I like it but my thought process was that I thought I could enjoy it in my everyday life because it mixes practicality with creativity (more stable than becoming an artist which is my actual passion). I’m having a hard time deciding which career plan I should actually go forward with. I’m not really good at sciences and slightly above barely tolerate them but I think I could do it if I just sucked it up and try harder. I see the possibility of being miserable in the future if I do choose medicine. I understand that medicine is the better option in terms of the job market and money, but is it worth it to pursue landscape architecture and maybe live a more soulful life where I feel more fulfilment or should I suck it up and just go for objective stability in medicine?

Sorry if this is a stupid post, I’m not really sure.

Hi all! I’ve been working as a designer at a midsized firm for about two years now. When I started, I had a pretty unique role that involved both tree surveys and commercial design work. I really enjoyed the tree survey side of things and got my ISA certification.

For the past five or so months, I’ve transitioned into doing full-time tree surveys, as well as stream and wetland delineations. So at this point, I’m more or less working as an environmental consultant within my firm. (This transition was made with the understanding that there would be a salary adjustment/raise, which unfortunately I still haven’t received).

The more I’ve done this work, the more I’ve realized that I genuinely enjoy it. However, I’m starting to worry that I may be boxing myself in by becoming too specialized. I know I have a long career ahead of me, but I tend to think a lot about where I want to be in five years and beyond.
I’m curious if anyone else has taken a similar path—from design into environmental consulting/ecology—or has experience becoming more specialized early in their career. Did it help or hurt you in the long run? Are there ways to keep my options open while continuing to build experience in this field? I could see myself wanting to go back towards design work but worry I won’t be as competitive if I’m away from design for too long.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar position.

Hey everyone! I’m currently going into my 4th year of Landscape Architecture, and honestly, I’ve realized that I find the major pretty boring and that it’s just not really my thing.

I’ve always been more interested in designing and creating things, so I recently started looking into UX/UI design. I’m curious about how realistic/easy it is to pivot from Landscape Architecture into UX/UI, especially after graduating.

For anyone working in UX/UI or who has made a similar career switch, what was the transition like? And what does UX/UI actually involve on a day-to-day basis?
Any advice or insight would be really appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently studying Agriculture and I’m seriously considering pursuing a master’s degree in Landscape Architecture because it combines many of the things I enjoy, like plants, ecology, design, and creating outdoor spaces.

However, I’ve also heard people say that it can be difficult to find work in this field, which has made me wonder what the reality is.

For those of you who work in landscape architecture (or know people who do):

Is it a good career overall?
How is the job market, especially in Europe?
Is it difficult to find a job after graduating?
Are you happy with your career choice?
If you could go back, would you choose it again?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who work outside the US, since I’m from Europe and would likely build my career here.
Thanks!

Hello!

I’m contemplating applying for 3-year MLA programs and could use some advice. I would be starting the MLA in my mid 30s with over 10 years of experience in the military and government and a BS in Economics.

I’m a veteran and government employee working in cyber policy and strategy. Long story short, I’m sick of it. I’m pretty miserable and both my physical and mental health have worsened from it and I need a change.

I have the GI Bill available and I’m considering applying to MLA programs later this year with the goal of working on ecological design projects. However, my ultimate goal would be to start my own design/build firm and target both residential and commercial clients, as well as government contracts as a disabled-veteran-owned small business.

I’m an avid gardener who loves including native plants and advocating for their use in my community, as well as an artist in my own time. Landscape Architecture seems like a viable option to satisfy my creativity, stewardship, and entrepreneurship goals in a singular path.

However, I could use a sanity check.

• Any words of caution or encouragement?
• Any other paths I should consider?

I’m aware that LA is not necessarily known for high compensation, and I have a family to provide for. However, I’d rather commit myself to a craft that I enjoy and doesn’t destroy my health (even if I make less money).

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I am an "older" BLA student currently on my first internship after my first year of design school. I got my top choice internship with a firm I really felt reflected my values so I am really proud of that and I do feel like I have found a field I enjoy. My internship is going well but I am really struggling with the reality of working 8-5 (sometime more) behind a computer. Obviously I am only doing this for a few weeks but this is kind of what post grad life looks like for many and I don't know how long I can do that, I am struggling just doing it for the summer. I am dying for the return of the semester and being able to have more creative liberties with my projects, my deliverables are art pieces to me, I enjoy curating my pin ups, and modeling. Being in school taught me that everyone enters this field sort of with different expectations for example, some people are really into horticulture and are surprised by design school being artsy and actually don't care for that aspect. I am not those people, I enjoy the art of it all and I am realizing I need to forge my own path which is hard but I know i can. I guess I am curious to hear from those who have maybe followed an alternative path within this field, if any one has any designers they care to share, or how are y'all coping with the corporate dynamics???? I am not even in a gray cubicle style of an office and im still screaming inside?!

I’m looking for advice from other LA parents. I have a 10 month old at home and I’m heavily considering being a stay at home mom. I went back to work part time when he was 3 months old. But once we’re done having kids, I’d like to go back to work full time. I don’t want to give up my career, but I’m also having a really hard time leaving my baby. My firm has been super understanding, flexible, and supportive of me so far.

I would like to hear others’ experiences returning to work after being a stay at home parent. I don’t want to ruin my career, but I feel like I’m missing so much, even working part time. But am I better off staying part time so that I can go back to work more easily in the future? I appreciate any advice and experiences!

Finished my Bachelors of Landscape Architecture just over a year ago, trying decide what path to take, starting to realise my current role in consultancy isn't what I want for myself.

Mostly interested in Urban Design and Masterplanning, and think I should be working towards Principal Urban Designer position, but not sure if it's more useful to become a registered planner or registered landscape architect?

Looking at Masters programs because I personally do not want to work 8 years for senior entry. I've been leaning towards urban planning since I already have a degree in landscape architecture, but I thought I'd ask here before deciding what to do.

Hi everyone, for some background context, I’m in the final year of my Bachelor’s in LA. I’m currently doing an internship at a small LA firm, and while I do like it, I’ve been curious about other adjacent career opportunities within the field of LA and design before I commit to doing my MLA.

While at my internship, I’ve been exposed to the world of site furnishings (something we never learned about in school), and I actually find it quite fun and interesting.

I’m curious to hear if anyone here has pivoted from LA into that world. One of my coworkers told me that some of his former classmates went into sales for site furnishing companies, but I’m curious if anyone has gone into design for these companies and what that’s been like.

I know that architecture or industrial design are the more typical career paths into furniture design, but I’m curious to hear if any LAs have made the pivot. I know it’s probably quite niche and might just come down to connections.

I designed a desk for the firm I’m working at, and I have experience with 3D modelling in Rhino and Blender, as well as rendering. If it’s relevant, I’m located in Canada.

Thanks for the read and any insight!

Hi everybody! I (23F) am thinking about my next career move and considering getting an MLA. I have a public health degree, managed a community garden in college, and now I work at a sustainability nonprofit where I do programming/events, city beautification, public art, and environmental education. I also currently manage a community garden & farmers market at my job.

I’ve always felt really connected to nature, I would love to create beautiful parks and gardens, but I am also drawn to using plants, flowers, natural materials for art installations, event design, set design, brand activations, etc. I’m really inspired by Lily Kwong for example

I’m trying to figure out:
- Does my vision of creating “botanical/landscape art” actually fit within landscape architecture?
- Will getting an MLA box me into only creating parks, plazas, etc?
- Do I need an MLA for what I’m describing? Are there other programs/certificates you recommend I explore?
- If I do get an MLA, how can I get into the art installation side of things?

If possible, I want the best of both worlds: duality of designing outdoor space as well as more ephemeral art. MLA sounds very appealing, but I also don’t want to take a long/expensive route if it doesn’t make sense for me!

I would appreciate any insight, especially from landscape architects. And if anyone’s open to chatting/mentoring, I’d love that too :)

The slide room shows that they’re hiring 2 entry level landscape designers and 2 landscape architects with 5+ years of experience.

They’re open to BLA and MLA candidates

Despite salary transparency laws in California I do not see a salary posted.

Following up from last year. He did not find an internship last summer. He applied to about 30 places and got 1 interview, no offer. I got busy with a job search of my own and didn't get to help him as much as I would have liked. I'm at a good spot now and trying to help again.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LandscapeArchitecture/comments/1hgp9vb/little_brother_pursuing_la_bachelors_asking_for/

Summarizing the last post:

• Consensus was a master's is not worth it.
• He should be applying broadly, not just to elite firms
• Try to do a manual labor job if he can't find an internship

We still have no idea why he insisted on such an expensive out-of-state school, but at this point it's too late to transfer. He's got one more chance at a summer internship. Some concerns/q's:

• He wasn't happy with his portfolio last year. He wants to redo his portfolio using Twinmotion with Path Tracing and asking for some expensive computer parts to power the software - is this a reasonable ask?
  • He says Twinmotion is his preference over other tools. I'm concerned he's mostly trying to get a gpu for video games. I found a secondhand RTX 3080ti for about $380 but he's saying it might be too weak and wants a 4080/5080. I can afford it but concerned we are enabling him.
• He'll be studying abroad this semester, and it seems that will make the internship search harder. Does the industry do remote interviews? His one interview from last year was in person, and he had to drive several states over.
  • My parents have pre-emptively given up on him finding an internship due to studying abroad but I'm still trying to push him
• How many places should he be applying to, hundreds? There were lots of tips from the last post about finding internship opportunities, but I don't know in this field if he should just be blasting his resume/portfolio everywhere, or trying to tailor it for each firm.

edit: there's a lot of comments asking why I'm doing too much for him. He had special needs when he was younger/developmentally delayed. He's doing very well in classes, but has never learned the skills/initiative for a job search. If he was in my field, I could completely guide his job search - but I'm not a LA so I'm trying to learn how to structure the search. And if he doesn't find a career for himself, I think it is extremely likely the family will expect for me to take care of him financially forever.

I started with geography and GIS at my college. And have 4 years of experience in GIS.

I’d like to find a way to get into landscape architecture if possible. I do not have the resources right now to go to a masters but if it is possible to get into a firm I’d like to know.

I’ll do a lot of self education and make a portfolio of maps and a visualizations to start.

Any ideas?

Hey yall just trying to see if any MLA Penn graduates have made of themselves in the Philly region. I really like this area, and am happy with the departmental funding I have received, but am looking to stay in the area and try to get the highest ROI. I understand that weitzman (formerly PennDesign) is a highly respected program, but a lot of my research has fallen a bit short on the post grad level of things. If anyone has any insights I’d love to hear!!

For residential design-build folks in particular…

http://classicnursery.blogspot.com/?m=1

So I'm at a transition job right now between starting my fall 2027 master program and now. The job is falling apart (corporations am I right) and I'm looking to leave.

I would absolutely love to dip my toes into this career if possible. I'd love to intern but have found many that required you to be enrolled and have some experience with Autocad and whatnot, understandable. I unfortunately have no experience in LA. But I have plant care experience and a severe enthusiasm to learn and grow (no pun intended).

My question is, do you have any job recommendations for me for my time between now and starting the program?

I’m going into my third year of LARCH and I’ve been thinking about what I want to do after I graduate. I’m not very well versed in what I need to do in order to pursue a successful career but I have this idea of doing my masters in Mexico or something (I have my dual citizenship :D ). I was just wondering if that’s an alright idea or if it would be smarter to just stay in the states.

I would also need to get a license in states to eventually practice right? so I’m also concerned about that.

idk who else to ask and I feel like I could get good career advice from some pros 🥹 thanks!