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Landscape Architecture is a very diverse field. There are many careers in landscape architecture and an education in landscape architecture can lead to many careers at the fringe of, or beyond, landscape architecture.
Although a masters or bachelor degree in landscape architecture it is a very practical professional degree, it can open a lot of doors that you might not expect. Certificates in drafting, 3D modeling, landscape design and other more technical courses are generally more skill-specific and geared towards certain jobs. But they can still lead to a rich career path. Once you get a job in landscape architecture you will find many areas of interest and specialization. Some landscape architects come from a technical background and gain the theory as they go. Some landscape architects come from an academic background and learn the technical stuff on the job. There are many roads in this career path.
It came as a shock to me to discover that my formal education was only the beginning. School was so intense and busy that I felt like an expert when I was done. Landscape architecture and architecture are such complex professions that it can take half a lifetime to really master it. Even after 8 years of university education.
But it's the transferable skills that will make you a better person for whatever jobs you end up doing. One of the reasons why landscape architects end up working in such a wide range of jobs is the breadth and diversity of skills we are trained in while in school.
Design is a critical thinking and problem solving process and uses many of the same habits of mind as research and scientific investigation. There is also a creative aspect at the core of this design and problem solving skill set. In design we learn to quickly develop and evaluate alternative solutions to a problem, while factoring in all the many parts of the problem. Design is never one-dimensional. There are environmental factors, cultural, historical, political factors, market factors, and ecological factors tightly intertwined in any piece of land. Changing and improving that land requires integrating all those factors within the budget, the expectations of the client, and the needs of the end users. This is what makes design such a complex tasks, and why training as a landscape architect can prepare you for all kinds of things.
Writing, expressing ideas graphically, and speaking are also core to what we do. Our work must be explained, explored, collaborated on, demonstrated and sold before it is actually built, landscape architecture demands that we become experts in expressing our ideas to others.
We work with people, too. Helping groups such as city council, a family, or a group of stakeholder citizens come to a consensus over a design problem is also something that we do often. In this capacity we are moderators, mediators, and facilitators as well as leaders of groups and group processes.
These are some of the main transferable skills that we gain while learning technical skills such as horticulture, construction materials, concrete, landscape lighting, building code and much more. So you can see that there are many careers in landscape architecture. Landscape architecture school is only the beginning, and there are many options from there.
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