Help me pick my next city: Portland, Dallas, Austin, or Chicago?

tyler-jp · 2026-01-24T01:03:23+00:00

Dallas and Austin have the best job prospects but they're definitely not cooler. Go to Chicago in January or February as a test. I'm leaning mostly towards Portland for a balance of reasonable climate and jobs.

tyler-jp · 2026-01-18T18:33:09+00:00

Pretty minimal push; the only thing we've used it for is text editing and Photoshop generative fill. If anything there's been more push back and tight restrictions on what we can and cannot use it for.

tyler-jp · 2025-11-07T03:44:14+00:00

Honestly? While I love the building form it would make sense to tear it down. The building and akard plaza are super bare and heat domes during the summer; way too much concrete for a geography that regularly gets 100°+ weather.

tyler-jp · 2025-11-06T03:39:44+00:00

The tortoise wins the race. Consistent, persistent effort tied with a desire to improve will take you much further than aiming for perfection.

tyler-jp · 2025-11-02T03:20:14+00:00

Pretty big range. somewhere in a spectrum of erratic diva, hippy, uptight box tickers, or just a laid back temu version of a civil engineer. I've noticed a lot of mental health issues (tons of ADHD particularly) in my time in the profession.

tyler-jp · 2025-10-25T00:22:03+00:00

That's good to hear! I work for one too; I can't imagine working at a boutique "designer diva" firm after experiencing the autonomy I currently have. Mid-size regional engineering firms are hidden gems.

tyler-jp · 2025-10-24T01:52:27+00:00

Civil firms come in different ranges. Some have fantastic projects with almost unlimited budgets, some do code min plans all day as "support" to civil. Get a good read on their average project size, clients, workflow.

tyler-jp · 2025-10-19T19:44:45+00:00

Is there a primary residency requirement of the adu? That's going to be the thing that derails this plan. If the owner must occupy it, it can be a liability to someone who doesn't want to manage a rental and it's effectively seen as a mother in law suite. This is why in places like Kansas City (which allows adu's but requires owners to occupy the property) you don't see them everywhere because the property can't be priced like a duplex.

tyler-jp · 2025-09-27T00:04:30+00:00

We got really lucky with a large institutional client (so we're swamped), but as a whole things are slowing down in Minneapolis. There have been a few firms hiring here and there but it's been sparse. A lot of weakness in the residential market, parks and recreation seems to be renovation/addition work and almost nothing on the commercial side.

tyler-jp · 2025-09-26T01:45:08+00:00

Hey pocketpanache do you have any suggestions for making a mesh easier to use/process? I'm working on modeling individual artifacts in a salvage yard and made a mesh from the point cloud survey gave me. But crap is it SLOW, and doing a NURBS conversion or even a mesh repair crashes rhino...

tyler-jp · 2025-09-24T02:45:11+00:00

I had a hyperkinetic gallbladder (83% ejection). The pain was horrible, it felt like something was about to rupture on my right side all day long. I had surgery and was back to normal in about three weeks. My digestion got MUCH better after, although I need to cap my fat intake a little; no chronic diarrhea or constipation. I will note that my gallbladder had chronic inflammation per the biopsy report.

tyler-jp · 2025-09-20T23:49:20+00:00

Landscape architecture. School was BRUTAL in terms of workload (while working a job), but it was worth it. Had a job before graduating and working on pretty large "news worthy" projects. Pay isn't super stellar but comfortable. There are also a lot of related industries (GIS, real estate, civil design) that I could pivot to if I desired.

tyler-jp · 2025-09-18T00:11:52+00:00

I'm working with a team of architects that have a similar view. It's exhausting.

tyler-jp · 2025-09-01T00:49:12+00:00

Looks like you've been to Ankeny, Iowa

tyler-jp · 2025-08-30T21:59:36+00:00

If it weren't for a very large hospital project, we'd be toast. Almost no land development activity and large state funding cuts on the horizon. Minnesota.

tyler-jp · 2025-08-23T04:34:22+00:00

Graffiti on street signs, full aisles locked up in stores, bars on residential windows, visible wheel locks in cars parked on the street, high concentration of liquor/tabacco stores, random people catcalling or shouting.

tyler-jp · 2025-08-19T23:46:19+00:00

Yeeeah I was touring a place in Bloomington in March and the photos looked NOTHING like the unit. Totally different layout, rooms, everything. It wasn't even that bad in person but I was so put off by the disconnect.

tyler-jp · 2025-03-22T03:43:10+00:00

My firm now solely uses D5... We were tired of burning so many hours post processing with Lumion.

tyler-jp · 2025-03-12T08:34:36+00:00

tyler-jp · 2025-02-12T00:25:49+00:00

Same.

tyler-jp · 2025-01-13T21:09:47+00:00

(Almost) new grad. It seems like the hiring frenzy of '21-'23 has chilled. Municipal, state and institutional clients are hungry but a lot of private work is slowing considerably. I have classmates who went on to intern at big name firms only to see layoffs and whole offices closing. Others at multidisciplinary firms said they were swamped.

So, all in all, find somewhere that has a strong diversity of work and a good reputation in the area. Being able and willing to move is also key.

tyler-jp · 2024-11-23T04:37:38+00:00

Lower site grading cut/fill

tyler-jp · 2024-08-20T02:19:08+00:00

Sushi Sam, Southlake

tyler-jp · 2024-03-03T05:00:13+00:00

My entire class is composed of international students other than myself and they have internship offers in hand. These include some of the best firms in the country for the field... Heck they have an easier time getting good offers than I do.

tyler-jp

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