Pennsylvanians....need some help from you

[salf]

Hi everybody.

 

Well, heres the thing, as you can tell by my avatar info Im from Venezuela, now my wife got offered a job position in Pennsylvania, and we took it, that measn we're gonna move up there for 3 to 5 years, for now, who knows, maybe we stay forever!:...

 

Its a good opportunity for both of us, we're young (on our 30's) it will be a good experience, hope to learn a lot, have fun, grow up, etc, but at the same time its kinda scary, we could say its the same culture, not the same, but at the end we're both in that "western culture" type of, we're not from asia, middle east, etc, which are a totally different culture, and could make things harder, to adapt I mean.

 

Now, Im an architect, my main goals would be in the following order:

 

- Pulish my english (not that good spoken)

- Get a Masters Degree in Arch. (postgraduate)

- Hopefully find a job in my area

 

Now, I would really like some input from whoever could help, regarding those last 2 things, postgraduate architectural studies and jobs, last one isnt an urgent issue, but I better start looking into it, so if any of you are in the area need an architect, a cadmonkey, a 3dmax user, etc, who speaks spanish, im your man...hehehe

 

Seems Im gonna be moving to MOntgomery county, near North wales, dont know yet for sure, so far regarding studies Ive found 2 universities, 1 public 1 private, Upenn and Pennsaylvania State University, but Im just starting searching on the net.

 

What Im asking is any help you guys could give me, tips, info, etc.

 

THanks people, much appreciated.

[AJLynn]

That's a decent area to be in. Montgomery County is a bit out there, in terms of distance from the city - you'll be maybe 30 miles from downtown Philly. (I think the commuter rail goes there. Google "SEPTA".) So if you can find a job closer that would be good, but if you're willing to commute, and you can get a visa, I would think you could do well. Do you have a professional degree or Venezuelan architect credentials?

 

Now, as for grad school. I think Penn State does have a program, and I know Penn does. (Penn State is the state-run university in Pennsylvania. It's a good school, but I don't know anything about their architecture program. It's located in State College, PA, which is quite far from Philly. Penn, AKA University of Pennsylvania, is an Ivy League school - it's Philadelphia's Harvard, and it's very difficult to get into.) In the US it's not unusual to go to grad school quite far from your home town - there aren't really that many grad programs and they all have different strengths and specialties, so keep in mind that if you limit yourself to the Philadelphia area you might not end up in the program that best suits what you're looking for.

[Ray]

This might help w/ number 3:

 

http://www.aiapa.org/

 

I didn't see a link from their home page, but our local aia website has an employment page.

[salf]

Yep, I do have a professional degree, Im a graduated architect and practice as so, member of both Venezuelan Engineer School, and Venezuelan Architects School ( "school" as in "association" , you need to be in both in order to practice legally), as any other profession I couldnt practice abroad without doing leveling studies requiered by any given country, that means I couldnt "sign" plans or layouts for constructions, or be responsible for that type of thing, however I could work as a drafter, for instance.

[AJLynn]

Sounds like you'd be in good shape - it's pretty normal for firms to hire people with non-US credentials or other people who are qualified as architects but not registered, give them job titles like "Architectural Designer" and give them most of the responsibilities of an architect, but have the project manager or partner in charge of the project stamp the drawings. You might have language difficulties that could be a problem for you, but from a professional/experience point of view there's no reason you should have to be a drafter and not a designer (you'd need to learn Pennsylvania codes etc. before you could do much as a technical guy) and, especially in a large city, you should be able to find opportunities.

[salf]

thanks for the input guys.