Locating Jobs

[Anonymous]

Is there anywhere someone can look to see the firms that use ArchiCAD so you can apply or submit resumes to the correct people? I live in Nashville TN and if I just blindly put out resumes to every firm or construction firm or any potential AC client that would be over 400 resumes. At .42 for postage thats a hefty price to get your name out there.

I know the market is slow and not a lot are hiring but I would still like to get my name out there so when it does pick up I know exactly who to send my resume/portfolio to. I know the resellers have a list of clients but they have their own businesses to run and probably don't want to give out a list of names to people. (Which I don't blame them)

Just trying to figure out how to get my info to the right people.

[TomWaltz]

Dude, take off the infoil hat. You'll feel better.

There is a huge difference between a company employee with company security software on their machine allowing them to directly access files on the company server and outsourcing that work to another outside entity, that no company in its right mind would give direct access to its servers.

Aside from the security issue, there is a major difference between LAN and WAN speeds that can be achieved between offices pf multi-floor and multi-office companies and the speeds of what a single person company will get from their local ISP. That's a problem for someone working from home as well as working as an independent contractor. Try sending and receiving a 200 MB PLP file over the fastest home internet service and it locks out the whole team for over an hour.

In our case, the people who work from home are flat-out forbidden to send/receive from home. They have to send the PLC back and have someone here do it.

With 40 offices, I can speak pretty deeply on multi-office workflows, and there a huge difference between that and outsourcing. There's a reason that companies are starting to pull away from outsourcing. They're learning something that most people told them years ago: there's a difference between something having a lower cost and having a low value as well.

[Steve Jepson]

TomWaltz wrote:
Dude, take off the infoil hat....

With 40 offices, I can speak pretty deeply on multi-office workflows, and there a huge difference between that and outsourcing. There's a reason that companies are starting to pull away from outsourcing. They're learning something that most people told them years ago: there's a difference between something having a lower cost and having a low value as well.

Your points are all well taken, but they all have rather obvious and simple solutions.

Your working with 40 multi-office workflows! Is this not an example of how succesfully people can work from a remote location?

Being able to work remotely can give an office access to some of the best talent on planet. This will boost the value of what many firms are able to produce using their local work force.

This is especially true for ArchiCAD firms. Sometimes there just are not any qualified ArchiCAD users in your area that will go to work for you as an employee.

Finding someone who can work from a remote location is a good and reasonable solution. And it has many advantages.

[Anonymous]

We hired someone to work on a residential project that we were too busy to work on. It was a nightmare. The person was only 30 min. away, so that saved us a lot of headache, but it still it was no good. In an office, you have standard ways of doing projects, and someone outside the office cannot learn those standards without working in the office for some time. I ended up "fixing" the project, which took a few days of my time on what should have been a completed project. I cannot imagine what would happen on a larger teamworked file.

Also, I myself ask questions to the lead architect multiple times a day about how they want something detailed, etc. The person outside of the office is really working in a bubble if they cannot speak directly to someone a few times a day to ask questions. They will probably just chug ahead and detail something one way, only to have it changed by the lead architect, and then have to redo it later, cutting efficiency.

[Anonymous]

Steven wrote:
The person outside of the office is really working in a bubble if they cannot speak directly to someone a few times a day to ask questions.

And talking on the phone doesn't count. You need someone to explain (by sketching or some other media) in person. I guess you could "redline" the drawings, then scan and send it to them via email, but that also cuts efficiency...

[Chazz]

TomWaltz wrote:
..... Aside from the security issue, there is a major difference between LAN and WAN speeds that can be achieved between offices pf multi-floor and multi-office companies and the speeds of what a single person company will get from their local ISP. That's a problem for someone working from home as well as working as an independent contractor. Try sending and receiving a 200 MB PLP file over the fastest home internet service and it locks out the whole team for over an hour.

I agree that working remotely in a real, meaningful way just S. U. C. K. S. But most of these things have nothing to do with the limitations of current technology and everything to do with the lameness of the implementation. I can in theory buy faster broadband at home than what I have at my desk but this would not mater because our VPN (when it works at all) is so slow as to make real remote work impossible. Other things, like Exchange server work OK in the building but using OWA remotly (on the Mac at least) is just TERRIBLE.

And when you try to get something better from the IT guys they usually come back with a statement like it's your fault for:

• using a mac
  Having a lousy home router
  trying to work from home

Last week I attended an event where they flew 1000 company employees and customers to a resort for 2 weeks. We all brought laptops but the wireless was terrible and the VPN did not work for most people. When I asked one of the IT guys about it he said exactly what I knew he'd say: "My VPN works great!!"

The problem is not the technology. It is the implementation and the hubris + stodginess of the implementators

[Erika Epstein]

Outsourcing/subcontracting work is doable. I do a lot of work remotely for others and have been very successful for many years; I've had a lot or repeat work.

One key factor is having a definable scope of work. It could be the entire project, or a part of one. Teamworking even a small project can make it easier if even one person in the office is working on it.

A lot of the success has to do with how the office works. With some firms it might never work, with others I find it quite easy.

Granted, I have a lot of years of experience and on many types and sizes of projects. I don't need the level and quantity of supervision that someone with just a few years of working. That's not to say I don't have a lot of questions and I am always learning something new.

- Communication is key. I send redlined pdfs and or files/ modules of what they will be reviewing or to answer question(s). I use skype, Aim/ichat , ftp sites etc. in addition to the telephone. If they don't know how to use these kinds of tools I make time to teach them. Anytime they want the file for review it's theirs. Just like in the office.

It also helps that I am someone who is focused and able to work on my own. Not everyone is.

[Srinivas]

Outsourcing is all about identifying the right person/firm who does the job for you and not necessary some one who can do it cheap.

As Erika pointed, communication is the key and I am able to get lot of repeat business form our clients for the past few years just because we know where we are good at and delivering the best of it.

[Djordje]

Interesting topic.

The main obstacle in any outsorcing is, as Erika and Srinivas - successful contracors - pointed out, communication.

The basis of any subcontracting should be clearly set rules. If someone is doing contract work for you, give him your office template, explain the ways that the things are done, and CLEARLY define the deliverables.

The main danger is in assumptions - I for example assume that the section and elevations are live, other people assume that they are unlinked.

As ArchiCAD and Revit should in fact change the hierarchy and the methods of a design office, which still rely on medieaval rankings and are drawing centered, so the new communication developments should change the way the work is done. Provided, of course, that the infrastructure and the tools exist, and that they work.

There is an interesting discussion now on LinkedIn about a full IFC model that one of the members of the group is trying to assemble, as the authorities are asking for it. Looks like he is going through hell, all nine circles, in detail.

[Anonymous]

Hi Djordje... Good to see you around.

Djordje wrote:
The basis of any subcontracting should be clearly set rules. If someone is doing contract work for you, give him your office template, explain the ways that the things are done, and CLEARLY define the deliverables.

I totaly agree...

and by your experience (hoping I'm not putting you in a NDA violation )... Do you think TW2 will be a solid foundation for a more clear, fluid and secure communication between local and remote subcontractors?

[Djordje]

Braza wrote:
Hi Djordje... Good to see you around.

Well ... I hoped that someone besides Dwight will overtake me, but I have babbled too much in the years past 😉

Braza wrote:
and by your experience (hoping I'm not putting you in a NDA violation )... Do you think TW2 will be a solid foundation for a more clear, fluid and secure communication between local and remote subcontractors?

Have not seen or tried TW2, so NDA or not, I don't know. However, if Mr. Laiserin is right, that should be the case.

The only doubt I have is the speed of the Internet connection. In some parts of the world one is more, and one is less fortunate, speed and price wise. Somehow I don't think that TW2 in WAN will be possible outside of EU, US, Korea, Japan and maybe Singapore and Hong Kong. Don't know the situation on the high speed Internet in Oz. Middle East? Definitely not, with all the proxies in place and prohibitive connection costs.