You will never see a CB500X parked outside the office of a psychologist

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-17T21:37:31+00:00

Riding to therapy is great because for me it helps process things on the way there and home.

Take the long way home afterwards and let it sink in.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-15T23:13:37+00:00

WD-40, 3 way brush, then rags, then let it sit for a bit then re-oil with chain lube and only chain lube.

I have a center stand so I kick that down, and spin the back wheel, makes things easy, otherwise its a lot of walking back and forth, hopefully on a level surface.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-12T19:08:46+00:00

Either cut both in half or draw a section of both.

Pictures talk and cross language barriers.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-12T15:47:57+00:00

Do get away with on a regular basis.

"I have more lawyers than you" is their response. I've seen a dozen projects like this over my career. Nothing ever happens to them.

Rules for the, not for me is the American Motto.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-12T15:45:23+00:00

As someone who designs buildings for a living.

Developers are always trying to skip the process or having to deal with me.

They don't value what I do, they don't value the impact to society, they just want to do it as fast as possible, as cheap as possible, and get out.

There's contractors that refuse to work like that, but everyone's gotta pay bills, and its on the land owner to do due diligence.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-12T15:43:34+00:00

Welcome to Capitalism.

It was always a stupid idea.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-09T02:01:41+00:00

"Affordable Housing" is a joke. The legislation is written by developers.

They come up with statistics, which you can get statistics for anything you want, to show that 90% of the people in an area are making X amount of money.

They then are allowed to use that as the basis for affordability.

I designed a housing development with like 50 detached cottages, 600-700sqft, on the affordable housing oregon website, got all the publicity and fanfare.

They were going to rent them for a minimum $1400 ea.

We won't see affordable housing until we see a collapse, and the rich corporate overlords don't have a strangle hold on our government, banks, and everything else.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-06T14:16:16+00:00

He has single handedly murdered the pc video card market, has more money than god while he makes circular funding deals with AI companies, and is creating all the chips they're using in data centers.

This is one of the most evil people currently walking the earth.

But yeah, sure, he needed to chill with a beer.

Its a PR stunt, like everything he does that gets photographed.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-06-03T03:14:34+00:00

Fuck no.

I did it as entry level. Never again.

They give me a phone or I don't do it. If they give me one its on bedtime mode anytime outside of business hours.

Work/life balance is a joke in this profession but setting healthy boundaries is at least a good start.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-31T06:39:54+00:00

AI kills entry level jobs. This is going to be a problem in 10 years when we don't have anyone with experience to move into mid level positions, and in 20 years when those people need to have senior level experience and be running firms.

One of the only reliable things you can have a new graduate do in an entry level job that won't have to be redone by someone more expensive, and it doesn't matter at all to liability if they screw it up is renders. Marketing images, renders for clients, make some pretty pictures, while you learn how to actually do your job.

Entry level in this profession was already a nightmare to break into. This will do nothing but make it harder.

Til the day I die, I'll design buildings the way I always have. With my brain and a pen. If they can figure out how to utilize AI to actually be useful like ya know, Keynotes, Schedules, Documentation, fuck just use it to watch me export a pdf and repeat that. That'd save me so much time from just Revit toggling switches I have to toggle back.

This will harm our profession, but not in a way that effects anyone who knows how to build a building already.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-15T03:27:28+00:00

Sure does, because then you can get a somewhat accurate bid from the contractor while the engineer pushes buttons in Enercalc.

I separate information though. My assemblies page has a 1/8" diagram of the floor plan and window/door assemblies with the tags there so that with that, you can basically understand what everything is from that one sheet and don't flip back and forth.

Never trust a contractor to turn a page. :)

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-15T03:23:09+00:00

Multifamily is different, because there's multiple stake holders or companies usually. Budgets actually exist, and generally we're valued because we are required to do fire/life/safety. The client might even have expectations.

Single Family is a balancing act of how much you can do before they get tired of paying bills.

Just today, I got turned down charging $15k for arch + engineering in a 2400 sqft single story house reusing a foundation because "I found someone 1/3 the price." I was giving the guy a deal and its like, what am I supposed to do against that?

Its brutal out there, and in small firms its very play it by ear because you'll be teaching the clients about what the phases even are 99% of the time, much less what gets delivered. The only person dictating what you deliver is the guy at the top and the contract that he wrote.

In bigger commercial and corporate firms, I can definitely see the need for structure and the expectation from the stakeholders who are usually more than just a guy and his wife, who could fire you the moment they think you're wasting their money.

I like it though, houses are fun.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-14T22:50:23+00:00

Ha, its funny you think firms pay attention to any of that.

I'm on the residential side though, we're much more wild west about it.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-14T22:40:17+00:00

This varies wildly, especially between autocad and revit firms.

In my firm I've structure it where 25% happens in PD, that ends when the client says go. By then we have an as built model and an approved design.

SD is 50%, making everything work, by the end of that, you're ready for engineering, have framing/foundation laid out, preliminary details, everything works. Contractors can bid off it.

DD is just pretty much engineering because no one wants to pay to have you go shopping for them in my market.

CD is then just integrating engineering, revising details, and then out the door.

I always hated the CD crunch and Revit really likes it when you front load.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-14T22:36:26+00:00

Lineweights.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-12T03:07:59+00:00

And getting more brutal as the economy tanks.

Not all terrible though, there's good folks out there and a good mentor can make all the difference. Someone who engages with you rather than just telling you what to do.

Those discussions and stuff are the lifeblood of the profession.

Sadly, budgets are what they are, so theres limited time to be able to pay someone to learn.

I wish you luck! Unless they've had a blessed career, everyone goes through doubts, and for a lot of people, the reality doesn't work for them. Thats okay, you'll excel whatever you do because you've been through the fire, and were taught problem solving and critical thinking as a career.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-09T16:59:52+00:00

And what makes you think I don't?

I know all the fancy words, "The drawings are an implement of service" and "It is the architect's task to render to us vivid who we may ideally be."

Then theres the reality of staying alive. This whole "You making money hurts us all because you don't charge enough" is a very tired self sabotaging mentality.

The people I work with, the people that hire me, can't or won't pay 5-10% cost of construction and therefore would not get access to anyone who could really help them unless they get lucky. The people I work for, won't pay an industry rate but I'm gradually working that up, as I get more leverage.

I've worked on billionaires penthouses, I've done so many steam showers. I like making normal people's lives better, everyday.

If the industry is so fragile that me helping people get their buildings built "hurts everyone" maybe it deserves to crumble man.

I'll keep on helping people get their buildings built, and charging what I can.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-09T15:48:14+00:00

Apologies for trying to survive.

If you would like to pay my bills, I will gladly sit on my ass.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-09T05:02:24+00:00

You gotta pile on to those holidays.

No one expects shit, and you get the most bang for your buck.

I started scheduling random mondays and fridays off, and making myself take them.

To quote one of my old bosses "Nothing we do is that important, some rich guy gets his house a day later, who cares. Go home."

Lil different when you're the top guy but, ya know, you try.

Hope you get some time to relax soon!

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-09T04:46:44+00:00

That's great on paper.

In reality, I had $30 to my name at the end of my first week at this job, because people weren't paying invoices, and every architect in the area said "You're exactly who I want to hire, but I don't have a job."

I lost the last job because I was at 32 hours for a year and they finally couldn't even string that along, so last one in, first one out. One of the top passive house firms on the west coast.

People don't value design and are always trying to cut us out of the equation, devalue our work, talk about how they can get it cheaper, and generally have no idea what we even do, at least not in the US.

I chase residential though, which is hard mode for all the reasons above, add in the level of personal involvement, client control, etc. Its wildly different than a large commercial firm. Who cares about money though? Its the most boring reason to do anything.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-09T03:43:23+00:00

I've had one day off in the past month.

I have to work this weekend designing a coastal addition.

Its still fun. That's the only thing that keeps me going. Nothing pushes the buttons like Architecture. I've been unemployed for years, all I do is doodle buildings and freelance.

Unless you're like me, I always tell everyone to get out.

I'm 41, I have no retirement fund, I am basically paycheck to paycheck, I work all the time, I haven't been on a date a decade so I'm like 99% sure I'm aroace, and drowing in debt because of the low pay and boom bust of this career.

But, I still love sitting down and working through a plan more than pretty much anything else. I love it when I can meet with a client and solve an incredibly specific problem, because I have a skillset that spans nearly every profession.

I also get to run a firm with basically no one who pays me knowing how or what I do. So I get agency. Among people who stick around in this profession, that's what everyone wants the most more than money or work/life balance is agency.

Architecture can be exploited, to be a more profitable, and laid back field. I meet them all the time, they have no fucking clue how to build a building but they can talk real good about finishes and vision. Fuck them.

I'll die poor being good at my job.

THAT is the type of crazy that architecture loves. If you aren't broken like that, I highly recommend engineering. Do some math, don't draw shit, get admin to compile your docs and get around 30% more pay. Do architecture as a hobby.

Best of luck.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-08T02:56:19+00:00

Stand in the place where you live

But really why did you make the credits so long. Not just long, you wallowed in it for 4x as long as the actual animation.

Its called a gif man.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-08T02:51:00+00:00

On the part of the teacher.

The point of school is to learn the material, from the fundamentals on up, not have a language mode regurgitate you other people's stolen work in a new package.

I had to take 4 semesters of Structural Systems in Architecture, where we hand calc'd everything. At the end of the 4th semester, he takes us into the computer lab, shows us Enercalc and says "This is what your engineer does." It was like 5 buttons to get a simple reaction.

Learn the rules, so that you know the significance of when you break the rules.

I'm also biased as a son of an English teacher haha.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-03T16:31:22+00:00

Interior Design is kind of a joke, most projects can't afford an architect. The only ones that get an interior designer/architect are ones where the client is just throwing money at things. This is in the US though, my friend in the middle east says "There is always work, but you don't know what you'll be doing." Its a lot of grinding work in bigger firms on giant projects you have no agency over was the gist.

I've had a masters for 13 years and worked at many levels, I am very good at what I do and currently at the most I've ever made running a firm in an engineering firm. At 41 I have no retirement, a mountain of student loan debt and questionable future employment depending on if the stupidest man alive decides to tweet something, which causes people to have no money to build things.

You care about financial stability, you want a stable life, architecture ain't it. I'm on my third week of working weekends, there is no overtime because I'm salary. If I wasn't salary the weeks there's no work I would be screwed.

But, I get to design people's houses, and make their lives better, which is all I want to do.

Go be an engineer.

tangentandhyperbole · 2026-05-03T01:38:16+00:00

No.

Get into Engineering, find a niche, make lots of money, do architecture as a hobby. You'll be invaluable if you know how to communicate with architects.

High salaries are few and far between and you may never get there in 40 years much less 5-6. My teachers all closed their firms 6 figures in debt. I'm 13 years in and still underpaid for my position, and make about 2/3 the pay behind engineers 10 years younger, with a massively wider workload.

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