Hello And Welcome To The Twelfth Day Of Grindmas.
(If You Missed Day Eleven, You Can Check It Out Here.)
Today’s dispatch marks the conclusion of our Grindmas journey. I’ve had a nice time putting these together and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them.
The auctions for the previously-shared Snow Globes, Grinding Tools, and Lunch Boxes continue throughout the week. You can review and bid on those items here. All proceeds will be split three ways and donated to Open Architecture Collaborative, Climate + Community Project, and The Architecture Lobby.
I am, like most of us, starting to reflect back on the past year. I had a lot of ideas for what the final day of Grindmas could be, but ultimately I think the most interesting, valuable, and exciting thing I’ve made all year came out in June.1 And I’d like to share it with all of you.
Welcome To The Grind is a pamphlet of advice and resources for early-career architects and designers. If you’ve finished school in the last few years (or plan to in the next few), this guide is for you.
The pamphlet is organized into three main sections (Work, Grad School, and Life) with a selection of Odds & Ends at the back. I compiled a bunch of data about salary rates, tuition costs, and other metrics like that so that readers don’t have to hunt around for them individually.
The real heart of the pamphlet, though, are the essays contributed from a wide range of architects and designers about their time in the field. I asked friends, coworkers, and other people I admire and look up to—people whose work has been influential and helpful in shaping my own path—what sorts of advice they wish they’d had when they were younger.
My initial “ask” for submissions was pretty loose and open-ended and the responses are so beautiful, thoughtful, and composed. The pamphlet contains contributions from Germane Barnes, Galo Canizares, Marianela D’Aprile, Keefer Dunn, Michael Ferguson, Julia Gamolina, Sean Joyner, Sean Maciel, Daham Marapane, Josh Mings, Marilyn Moedinger, Anjulie Rao, Quilian Riano, Lisa Sauvé, Lora Teagarden, and Chas Wiederhold.
I also included a few puzzles and games because they’re fun and more books should have them.
If you’d like to download and read the pamphlet yourself, you can do so at this link here. Click the button that says “Download the guide for free” and it should open as a PDF in a new window. No creating an account or anything like that. And it’s the whole thing, unabridged. 100% of the content. Just click the button and there it is.
I also had a set of the guides printed up a few months back. If you, like me, love the feel of a printed book these are the way to go. Cereal Box Studio in Cincinnati went above and beyond to turn these into really special objects to hold onto. I can’t commend them enough.
If you’d like a printed copy of the guide, you can buy one for $25 here. That price includes free shipping and helps recover my initial printing/production costs. And if you buy one between now and Dec. 31 I’ll throw in some extra stickers as a token of my appreciation.
I worked really hard on putting this project together and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I also want to extend my appreciation once again to everyone who contributed to, advised on, proofread, promoted, and printed this thing—you all are absolute rock stars and champions of the grind.
It’s been a long year and I’m looking forward to slowing down a bit in the weeks ahead. I’ll send out a final wrap-up post once all the auction stuff is finished.
The new year will bring new projects and fresh hustle. Until then, stay warm, be kind to each other, and Keep On That Grind!
—THA
I say “I’ve made” but it was really a team effort. More on that below…