I know that out in the world there are professional architects that do nothing else.
Their entire career is spent working on blueprints, crafting specialized structures for businesses and high paying clients.
I don’t know if I would like that or not, but I never had the choice. Being an architect is just a part of what I do for my company, but I am a lot more hands on then you might expect from an architect. I work hand in hand with several other people at the company to make sure all the designs are feasible and cost effective. The blueprint is worthless if it is for something you can’t have your construction crew build for you. We also need to make sure all of the plans for future structures will be ADA compliant construction projects, which is more important now than ever before. Our company works on a lot of small and mid level construction projects, but have yet to build anything as massive as an arena or major concert venue. We have done a little sport complex construction, but it wasn’t a Superdome, it was a little league field. Technically it was sport complex construction, but I think it’s a cheat to say that a couple of fenced in dug-outs and some bleachers is a “complex.” I have no desire to design anything that elaborate, anyway, residential home design and construction has been where we are finding the work lately. Even before COVID a lot of businesses were going under, and commercial construction jobs were starting to dry up.