The purpose of this essay is to convey my opinions and ideas of what an architectural internship should be.

Let me begin by saying that I am extremely pissed off about the lack of mentoring throughout the architectural community! There seems to be an attitude among licensed architects suggesting something to the effect of, "hey young buck, I went through it alone, so you'll just have to suck it up and learn things on your own!" What the hell? Isn't good architectural practice based around "team work"? I think the old days of "Loan Ranger" Architects have created a lot of competition between us all. So much so that we are subconsciously selfish with what we know. This is wrong!

Our profession is eroding from beneath our feet and poor internships have a lot to do with that. I would like to write about what an architectural internship shouldn't be before I offer my opinions as to what one should be.

An architectural internship should not be someone pigeon holed into mindlessly cranking out stair detail, after door detail, after window detail. I'm sure a lot of professionals think this sort of relentless inundation should at some point pound working knowledge into your head. I've always thought it was what one tells themselves to avoid the guilt of not taking the time to really teach an intern something.
An architectural internship should not be someone working at a huge firm where everything has been departmentalized and not having a chance to discover their true calling within architecture. I've always hated the notion of "well rounded". I think it's wasting a lot of time doing things another "team-member" can do better and faster. Not being able to find your individual talent is tragic! It also creates boredom and frustration. My idea of a well-rounded intern is someone with a basic understanding, not working knowledge, of what the other team member's responsibilities are.

An architectural internship should not be someone going from studying day-in and day-out while in school, to simply "working" for three years or more, usually way more, and then be expected to pass a 9 part exam! That's just plain retarded! With no one teaching you, keeping you sharp, and interested, it will simply come down to the memorization of materials you will definitely loose because you won't use.

What an architectural internship should be is a fun, exciting, and somewhat scary learning experience. There should be weekly workshops made available for interns. They should be demonstrated by the licensed, experienced Architects within the office. I can see, in the near future, the AIA providing an accreditation of sorts to the Architectural Firms who participate. This would provide an incentive for architectural firms to be involved in hopes of attracting the best talent.

The bond between Architects and interns when true mentoring takes place creates a sense of community, trust, honor, gratitude, and respect for our entire carrier field.