Now what? Part II

Thanks, all, for your encouragement. On with my rambling. Andrew, you'd be surprised ... I know what I want, but since that's not out there, what will work for me?

Residential is fun, but most clients won't pay enough to make it challenging, and it's tough to get clients who want good design. Most of the projects don't provide much opportunity, especially on a 25'x125' lot, and suburban clients tend to not be interested. If I want "my" projects, they have to be pretty small projects. The problem with doing small projects, residential or not, is that you've got to bring in a LOT of them to stay afloat (about 2 a month in our 2-person firm), or charge a lot. I can handle poor job security (which I have) if I'm getting paid handsomely (which I'm not - that requires clients willing to pay higher fees). However, the residential market is likely tanking right now. In the last year, I've definitely seen the inside track on what it takes to run a firm... I've learned a lot, but maybe I'd like to head for higher ground.

High rise has the technical challenge but not much in design, so that's out. Mid-sized projects can be challenging from a technical and design standpoint (or not). But, oh, what sort of midsize projects? That's pretty open. Nor is it the most important.

That's just the work. Office environment - casual. Office size - small, but competent. Process? I'd like to be given a couple weeks' work and left alone, expected to ask questions and review progress as need be. Location - anyplace I can get to in under half an hour, and preferably someplace I can acceptably bike to and from in the summer. Right now I get paid for 8 hours and I'm out of the house for 8.5ish. It's not likely that I'll keep that.

I've got three years of experience, which gives me a lot of options. The possible time crunch makes it tough, though, and I resent that job hunting will take time away from doing ceramics, which I really love.

Saturday morning I updated my resume. I did a crummy job and didn't use all the same tenses for my past experience. But it's a start; I'll mark that up and get a nice result.

I've got an interview for PT work on Tuesday, which could keep me afloat until new FT work comes along. And a friend has a couple of potential job leads.

Sigh.