From Site Design to Website Design — The Landscape Architecture to Tech Pivot

Making the career switch from architecture to tech can be daunting, but it’s worth discussing all the benefits and drawbacks to the change.

Last year, I chronicled my journey from the field of landscape architecture through a coding bootcamp in the midst of the pandemic. At the time, my main focus was showcasing an excellent government program that helps anyone hone new skills to enter stronger markets. If you missed that and are curious about the details, feel free to take a look below!

Free Coding Bootcamps: A Practice in Patience

Some peers from my architecture/engineering network have reached out to hear more about this career move, so it’s high time to talk about how it may work for you! We’re seeing massive shifts as the Great Resignation chugs along; many folks are reassessing their chosen fields, the ways they’ve been treated during the pandemic, and how to secure more stable work with a better work-life balance.

After completing the career switch and started work with a client, I have a better grasp on the parallels, significant benefits, and occasional downsides of doing so. While we won’t discuss every facet, I aim to provide some insights for my friends in the broader field of architecture considering the move.

Note: I’ll jump between talking about architecture as a broader field where applicable, and landscape architecture when those points are more specific to my experience in that subsection of the industry.

Lil’ Recap

We’ll run through my backstory for context (and so you can avoid reading the previous article); I was laid off from my work in landscape architecture right as the pandemic was kicking off last year. After seeing my partner successfully switch from a career in the arts to tech, I’d been mulling over the change and decided to go all-in during the lockdown, putting an end to 5 years in my field.

I registered for a coding bootcamp and self-studied through the fall. As winter began, I entered an internship with Cognizant, learning so much over the course of the season that they’ve since hired me on as a full stack engineer. Now, let’s get back to comparing fields!

Industry Parallels

• Problem Solving

I bet this will come as a shock to very few folks, but one of the strongest connections between tech and architecture is the ability to solve unconventional, untested, and unique problems. Every day brings along a host of new challenges and curveballs in both fields, so being able to think on your feet and create strong solutions quickly is invaluable.

• Design Thinking

Whether you’re brainstorming ideas for a building, an urban design for a campus, or ways to restructure an application for new use cases, a well-honed focus on design is key. Applications have a complicated architecture all their own that can frequently change and evolve along with client needs. Being able to visualize these interconnected systems is another key space where your skills come into play.

I’ve always enjoyed connecting design systems while creating new landscape designs; creating harmonious balances between the uses of pedestrians, vehicles, the flow of water, local wildlife, and so much more is such a gratifying challenge. This feeling comes through in tech as well, where you’re focusing on the interplay between end users, the logic built on the back-end to make their experiences function, and the databases/authorizations that store and secure the data making our world spin; a strong contender for my favorite area of overlap.

• Presentations

I’d argue the art of presentation is crucial in any profession; you may not be hobnobbing with clients directly in either role, but you’re still putting this skill to use every day. Defending your design decisions for a planting palette with your team, discussing the strengths of different database structures with tech leads, or drafting up emails to project managers about potential roadblocks all require the knack for conveying your ideas clearly and persuasively.

• Technical Prowess

Though odds are slim you’re working with code in your current role, there is plenty of use for your technical skills in the tech industry! Learning how to calculate effective grading for site designs, digging into details to build safe retaining walls, or drafting up construction documents and 3D models have all built up your abilities to create effective digital documents.

Bailing Has Perks!

Even with so many transferable skills, switching careers is no small feat; the stars need to align with a layoff/unemployment benefits and government bootcamps/scholarships, or perhaps putting in the hours after an unreasonably long day of work to teach yourself incrementally. It’s a sizable step to take any way you approach it, so here are a few of the strongest advantages of this switch that I’ve enjoyed:

• Salary

An obvious one up top, and a strong motivator for many, the starting salary difference is mind-boggling. My starting salary as a full stack engineer was double what I started out with in landscape architecture. Even after 5 years in that field, with modest pay raises each year, the junior developer pay rate has significantly improved my financial situation, putting it above even senior designers in my old field. I’m pointing all of this out, not as a flex, but to let you know that the change is met with a financial payoff!

• Work/Life Balance

I entered the architecture field thinking that working overtime constantly, jumping through hoops for project leads, and giving up my time on the weekends to projects was just the name of the game in the corporate world. Surprisingly, though, a great deal of companies for software development are invested in a healthy balance for their employees instead of burning them out.

Developers are in high demand and incredibly tough to replace, so I’ve heard many anecdotes of managers actively discouraging their devs from working outside of agreed upon schedules. (There are also plenty of companies with imbalances in tech, to be fair, but it’s much less prevalent than architecture.) This has been one of the largest quality of life improvements for me, freeing up so much time to explore my hobbies, see family and friends, and simply take good long rests to stay refreshed.

• Job Security

This will vary region to region, but holds out as a constant anywhere you live; go on to your industry-agnostic job board of choice (Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster(are they still around?) and look up available roles for landscape architects/designers and web developers in your area.

Last I checked, Chicago had around a dozen roles at any given time in landscape architecture, while the number rockets into the thousands for devs. You’d think the discrepancy would be less severe in America’s third largest city, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that you’ll always have plenty of opportunities wherever you live. There are thousands of roles going unfilled in tech every day, and you’ll have dozens of recruiters reaching out constantly with competitive offers.

• Benefits

Another point that could change depending upon your employer, but I’ve seen a significant boost in the quality of benefits offered in the tech sector; better healthcare plans with competitive rates, more generous 401(k) matching, stock options/discounts from your company, and a whole host of wellness options are available.

Tech companies are all competing to bring in talent with quality of life improvements, a tactic that is nonexistent in architecture at large. A firm I worked at did pretend to put serious effort into enhancing benefits, creating multiple meetings, surveys, and committees to see what we’d all like. Months later, with many employees said they’d want better healthcare, more parental leave, and other perks, the final result was “nothing will fundamentally change, but thanks for your input :)”. That’s just my anecdote, of course, but not uncommon to hear about in that field.

A Few Drawbacks, In Fairness

As much as I’ve felt fortunate to switch careers, with most everything being an upgrade, there are a few elements missing from tech that I’d be remiss to leave out. They can certainly carry quite a bit of weight when making such a big change:

• Ephemeral Projects

A sizable, obvious difference here; when designing landscapes, buildings, or anything like that, you’re putting in so much work for a project that will (hopefully) be constructed within a few years. After all the design meetings, construction documents, chaotic deadlines, and compromises made through value engineering, being able to see what you’ve drafted made real by skilled folks on the construction site is incredible.

Building applications and getting them into the hands of customers over a matter of weeks or months is also thrilling, but doesn’t have the same force or longevity.

• Design Tools

Both fields deal with design thinking, but architecture (especially in the early stages) happens with sketches, models, and rough drafts done by hand. It’s not a perfect switch over to tech, where you can be roughly building out flowcharts of how your applications will come together.

• The Plants!

My favorite part of the profession (that always ended up being about 5% of the work, sadly enough) was getting to create planting designs for the landscape itself; researching native, drought-tolerant, habitat-boosting plants for different regions all over the world is incredibly rewarding, rooting the profession in unique climates around the world.

The ecosystems you’ll get in tech revolve around how your applications will work with Apple’s or Google’s products.

Conclusions

Ultimately, it’s a tough choice to figure out whether you’ll pivot at any point in your career. I certainly didn’t come to the conclusion overnight; it took quite a bit of exposure to tech, and people working in it, to realize that I’d be able to thrive. The industry always seemed inaccessible, built for digital wizards and computer science folks far more tech savvy than I could ever be! My hope is to show how you can apply skills, strengths, and thought processes from your industry to tech, creating a new career path full of incredible perks and engaging projects.

While I wrote this to address questions specific to my friends in landscape/architecture at large, I’m more than happy to discuss the career move with anyone considering tech.

There’s a place for everyone here and I’m always down to talk through logistics, finer details, or simply to be a hype-man!