Hey everyone welcome back to the channel my name is Ashley and i'm an architect officially
an architect i'm super excited to share it with you guys it's been 15 years in the
making and i'm officially here 2021 officially licensed it's been a few days actually i think
over a week now that i'm licensed and i'm super happy to share it with you guys
it's quite a moment and i hope that this is an inspiration to anyone in the journey it's
a long journey it is a marathon so i'm hoping to give you guys some inspiration and perhaps
you're interested in becoming licensed so this will give you some insight on that journey
i've already shared snips and pieces throughout a few of the videos on the channel but i decided to
make one video that condenses that experience and celebrates the moment because it is a bit surreal
um after 15 years you finally get license and now what so i'm going to be sharing with you guys my
next steps that i'm planning to do in my journey so if you guys are interested let's get started
so in Canada to become a licensed architect you need three components you need education
experience and examinations now in this video we're not going to be talking about
how to become a licensed architect in Canada i have a video on that so if you do want to
see that you can check it out above or check down below for a link to that particular video
in this video i'm going to be sharing with you guys my journey to this point and i'm
going to be sharing some stories about that journey to this point now it has been 15 years
it took me 15 years to get here it was quite a journey and of course it's important to note that
that journey varies from individual to individual i have colleagues that are at the 15-year mark
and they're still collecting their hours and some colleagues and friends in the field that already
have their license two three years ago and they finished a lot quicker than me so this varies from
individual to individual and there's nothing wrong if it takes a bit longer for you if you are if you
do get through it a little bit faster nothing wrong with it everyone has their own journey and
their own story and you should always look within yourself and see what fits and works for you
i'm always curious myself and i love to hear other people's stories so i thought that this
video might be a good opportunity for you guys to hear my story and perhaps it will inspire you
on the way as well so i'm gonna start way back to 2005 when i started my journey with my education
so i started my undergrad in 2006 at Ryerson university here in Toronto there are some good
memories that i still have today from my undergrad and it wasn't easy definitely not it wasn't easy
doing doing your undergrad and especially for me when i did when i went into architecture i knew
nothing about it i went into it because i had a love for art and i wanted something creative
and i thought about architecture because it included both science and art and it also involved
buildings putting together buildings and designing and that was one of the things
that i was very passionate about so i just went for it i did i barely did any research uh
which is not recommended i would do some research but at the same time the fact that i didn't know
how difficult or what was ahead for me in a way was good because i wasn't really afraid going in i
was very open minded about going into architecture and i didn't have any fear necessarily because i
really didn't know much of anything so ignorance i guess was bliss in that respect but um i didn't
know much i don't recommend it i do recommend doing a bit of research but i and at that time
i didn't even think of youtube to look up youtube videos i don't think there was much out there at
that time but i went into it and i still to this day remember the first day at architecture school
my first class and one of the professors he made us look around in the classroom and they said
look around and then about i can't remember the percentages that they were giving but
a percentage of everyone in this classroom will make it through the first year and then another
percentage will make it through the second and so about 50 will graduate and then another
30 will get their masters now don't quote me on the percentages but they were very low it was a
bit scary when i heard those percentages but i was just having so much fun at the time and i enjoyed
just architecture in general and the adventure of it so i wasn't too afraid of those percentages but
looking back at it now those are pretty accurate because out of the people that i graduated from
undergrad not everyone got licensed not everyone went out to do their masters
and so on and of course some went out to do other things and there's nothing wrong with that either
it's just what it is and then uh maybe 10 percent will actually get licensed
and so i still remember that till this day my first day at architecture school and it was
it was a lot of fun so even though it was very difficult there were a lot of all-nighters
it was it wasn't easy and there were times that yes i wanted to give up but i didn't give up
you have to keep going and don't let that discourage you that it might be a little bit
difficult because honestly the things that are difficult are the ones that are worth fighting
for so that's something to keep in mind so after i graduated the four-year program i took a year
break and i it wasn't necessarily a break because i was working in the field and i got a job at
a practice and that gave me the opportunity to really see the real world of architecture
and i remember the first day of the job on the job and i was terrified that time i was
actually quite scared and that's when it all hit me that oh my gosh i'm gonna be designing
buildings and people are to live in them and just seeing all the technical drawings around me
it was a bit overwhelming coming from your own coming from just graduating from the undergrad and
just feeling overwhelmed at all the things that i had to learn and just really feeling overwhelmed
but now looking back if you are starting your first job don't feel overwhelmed it will come with
time and you know what you never till now even with the 15/16 years of experience that i have
i don't know everything either and i'm sure even when i talk with my mentors they feel the same way
you're always learning so after that one year of experience i applied to go and do my master's and
the first year of masters i went to Carleton but i didn't quite like the program so then i switched
out to UBC in Vancouver which was amazing i thoroughly enjoyed the master's program at
UBC and i highly recommend it a few months after graduating then i became an intern architect and
i started collecting my hours and collecting my hours has been a journey i have you need
3,720 hours that's the requirement to becoming a licensed architect and of course i went above and
beyond in the end i collected 8,000 hours slightly over 8,000 and the challenging part of those hours
is collecting them in those particular categories and sometimes depending on the projects you get
it can be a little bit difficult to get those hours and so you never really get them done in
the two and a half three year mark it's very rare you can really get all those hours in a
three year period it does take time it could take more realistically i think i would say
four or five years and for me it actually took me six years now i did get a little bit i would say
discouraged in the process so i think the last few years i was getting a little lazy to log and
to keep track because i felt like oh this is such a big mountain to climb so there were times that i
decided to watch a Netflix video and submit later and it's important not to submit your hours late
because then you will be charged late fees and of course for those people for the committee that's
reviewing your hours it's difficult for them to review a large amount of hours all at once so it's
important to submit them every 900 to a thousand hours but it can at times be a bit discouraging to
log and to fill out you know the form and to submit i understand but you know it's important
to keep in mind to stay encouraged and to submit those hours on time because slowly you will get
there and of course it's important to know and i wish i knew that when i was doing my hours that
getting it into three years two and a half years is actually very difficult and it does take time
and you may end up doing it in five years and perhaps in my case six years and that's okay as
well and there are people that are even going beyond six years and that's okay too because
it really comes down to the individual and the projects you're working on and so on and there's
no rush again this is not a race the whole journey of becoming a licensed architect takes time
because i'm in Ontario there were some additional requirements that i needed to do as well as part
of my license journey and one of them was taking the admission course so i did take the admission
course through the OAA and that was great so of course i just want to preface this that depending
on the jurisdiction that you are that you reside in work you may have additional requirements or
other requirements as well so it's important to check with your local jurisdiction so while i
was collecting my experience i was also taking um the examinations so i didn't wait to have my 307
my 3,720 hours to write the exam i once i got the 2,800 hours i went ahead and i
started the examination process so it's a four section exam and you have two days to write it
and that was also a process to prepare for it and so on it's important to note that you may
not pass at the first time it may take you a few tries to pass the exam or you may pass it
out the first time but it's important to note that you have three chances to rewrite the exam
and that it's important to prepare even if you have experience so in total it took me
about 15 years to complete the journey my education collecting that experience
and the examination it took me about 15 years now it is quite a bit of a journey
but it's a journey that takes time to craft your art and and so on and some people take even longer
and remember that's okay as well so wherever you are at with your journey just be patient
and with time and hard work you will get there i'd love to hear where you're at in your journey are
you right now writing exams are you taking your undergrad or you're planning to do your masters
or you're in your masters or perhaps you're collecting your experience i'd love to hear
down below where you're at in your journey so now that i'm licensed the big question is what's next
becoming a licensed architect is still a bit surreal to me and it's still sinking in
but i did have some plans prior to this of things that i wanted to do after i'm licensed
which i wanted to stay first focus on getting licensed and then jumping into other things
so one of the things that i wanted to do is to become a lead professional so what i'm planning
to do is becoming a lead green associate first and then i would do the lead building and construction
so if you guys are interested on how i'm preparing for the green associate and for lead let me know
if you guys would be interested in that kind of content down below in the comments and it'd be
great to know if you guys are interested in that once you're licensed you need to maintain your
license so that's the other thing to keep in mind about becoming an architect is you got to maintain
that license and depending on the jurisdiction you're in there's different requirements of how
to maintain that license but in Ontario you got to do continuing education program so you have to
collect a certain amount of hours of structured learning and unstructured learning and if you
guys are interested on how that works let me know down in the comments and i'll share with you guys
the requirements for continuing education and how to maintain that license so becoming a licensed
architect is a marathon it's not a race there's no short way or fast way to become licensed and
that's one of the things that i've learned in the 15 years it does take time and it's
important to always look within yourself and don't compare yourself this is my journey but
your journey might be different so it's important to note that but you may gain some insight in
me sharing this with you guys when you're on this journey there's going to be times that you're
going to want to give up it there's going to be times that are very challenging and they're gonna
challenge you and it's important to not give up and you may have a hard day but the next day is a
new day and you can start fresh again so if you're in the middle of your journey just be patient
one day you're gonna be here like me officially licensed and celebrating so it's important to
be patient don't give up don't give up if you truly love what you do don't give up you