Excuse me, but why didn't I think of this? Oy.

[twfarlan]

In response to this blog post, well, let's just say that a couple of people feel that this person isn't quite in touch with the reality under which the majority of people live in this country. Consider this my annotated response to her list of suggestions for architects who have received the "gift" of a pink slip.

Comments

[bzarcher]

I've noticed a lot of these "advice for the unemployed" blogs out there lately seem to assume that you had some kind of a 6 figure income and massive nest egg banked up, because there's no fucking way that most of the stuff they're talking about will actually work in real life otherwise.

[twfarlan]

I suspect that part of why these blogs are taking that approach is that, for the first time in a long time, people who had been receiving six figure salaries are finding themselves "at loose ends." Not knowing what to do with themselves, they feel that they can improve the world by sharing their opinions with the masses, people they assume to be in the same straits.

The irony of me saying this in a blog wherein I irregularly attempt to share my own experiences isn't lost on me, by the way. I know I'm a pretentious sod, being the major difference. ;)

[bronxelf_ag001]

The truth is though that most Architects I know have houses,families, student loans, etc. So that salary, even if managed well, was usually the vast bulk of the income that was coming in. I dont care how much money you WERE making- unless youre really close to retirement, the prospect of going from six figures to nothing, when 40% of your profession is IN THE SAME BOAT, so the chances of finding anything for at least a year are near zero... You're *going* to blow through that cash unless you radically alter your lifestyle, which the author really ignores as a matter of course, since she assumes *someone else* is standing right there to take up the slack.

[twfarlan]

I don't believe that she comes from a single-income household, or indeed has ever even lived in one. Based on her writing, you've nailed it: she expects that there's another source of income available, that resources might be tighter but never totally unavailable.

I actually don't have any faith in her as an architect or urban planner based on her writing. I don't think her capable of performing an accurate usability study based on the assumptions implied in her article of what constitutes an average person's experience in the modern cityscape.

[bronxelf_ag001]

I love how she says she's been there. Has she ever been unemployed? I am sure that's true. But even she admits this is the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. No matter when she was out of work, 40% of the profession *was not* out of work *at the same time*.

(also I agree- if she's even been the only income it was so long ago she can't accurately recall what it's like.)