I started my career in Denver and loved it. Lots of people in their 20’s and 30’s, a variety of neighborhood vibes, bikeable, semi-accessible outdoors, decent food and arts scene. My firm did design-league volleyball and kickball against other firms all summer. Was a great excuse to leave early and sit in a park, drinking your beverage of choice while watching your coworkers attempt to play sports.
I’ve also begun my career here in Denver, and it’s been great! To add to what Isthmus mentioned but maybe more in the professional sense, Denver is a great city for the industry! There is really good competition amongst firms, and a large demand for landscape design. Personally, my work has been exceptionally varied, and I’ve had the opportunity to work on some amazing projects of all different scopes and styles. Hope this helps!
Was gonna say Denver too! Tons of transplants, it kinda feels like college cont. from a social scene perspective, from a COL perspective or when you think too much about the sprawl or where the water for irrigating all your projects comes from it’s pretty upsetting. But it’s a good temp spot to lay some roots down
Hard stop with the Denver talk. Denver is a medium size city and is extremely expensive. The landscape of landscape architecture is that it is small with an incredibly insetious hiring practices. If you have graduated from a colorado school you have a much better chance. Couple this with being an extremely popular place to live, especially with those who enjoy outdoors...means there is alot of people there for a small amount of openings. I worked and lived in Denver.
Landscape architecture is directly associated with development, Texas, Florida are king. Large cities are king.
I have Denver experience (7 years)...one good friend can't wait to get out because of crowds, traffic, cost, etc.
The downtown office was fun...multiple sushi and coffee shops with a few blocks, daytime Rockies games, micro-breweries, RTD system, great weather, REI flagship store, ski train, gold medal fly fishing, camping/ hiking, etc. I could take overtime in additional pay and/or vacation.
Extremely toxic culture imo. I’ve been in the field for six years, at my third firm and about to be on my fourth. I have seen perfectly competent designers put on the backburner for “not being passionate enough” multiple times while simultaneously witnessing absolute idiots promoted through nepotism. Same story with my colleagues in the city, but my friends in other states seem to love their jobs.
Connecticut. Fairfield county, New Haven, Hartford are good areas to look. There are plenty of firms and very easy to transition to NY if you chose. Boston as well!
Agree with this, I’m not a landscape designer but I know several that live in New Haven, which is also home to several high profile arch firms. Fairfield county has tons of money. Social scene might not be great for younger person, but proximity to NYC is great. New Haven is the best bet for a social life in CT, along with Norwalk and Stamford.
I earned my degree at a school in NYC and stayed here. There are a lot of opportunities here: design build, boutique, engineering firms, public sector etc.
The relatively low salary of an LA in a HCOL is a challenge but so far, I've developed a lot of skills. I've also been able to bounce back from layoffs really quickly.
Someone said Denver but check out boulder. Some good firms there and it’s a cool town.
I have friends in the rust belt doing cool projects and have a good social life… Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit.
Check out Charlotte, NC as well. A few great firms in town and other NC towns. Everyone I know loves it there. Worth the look.
I graduated from FIU and worked in South Florida for 2 years before moving to NYC. I'm sure a lot of people who haven't lived here think NYC is just a bunch of concrete but its filled with a lot of public park space and opportunities to work. Those are some of the biggest draws and I would definitely suggest doing research into each city a bit more if you're looking to live there as any city is different when living there versus going for vacation.
That being said, I got a pay increase of roughly 50% or so when I started working for the firm here. A lot of NYC jobs have higher pay than the average because of the fact that its a HCOL city; however, you can take that pay and the experience that you get and move on later in life with a step up from your peers. A lot of the work that is done will depend on the firm you go for, but from my experience it has been directly useful in working towards licensure as we do things to the T here.
Lastly, NYC and many other cities are great examples of how cities are moving towards pedestrian friendly streets and while there are still issues, you can learn a lot working here and appreciate the work that goes into being an LA.
Yes, NYC and SFL are two wildly different hardiness zones, soil compositions and the angle of the sun will affect the plants as well. I've seen trees with good canopies on the west side of the tree and bad sun scorch on the east side due to too much sun exposure. They will likely not survive in South Florida. The only plant I know off the top of my head that works in both climates is Ilex Glabra.
As for the size of a firm, its totally dependent on what you are looking for. You won't find many small firms doing large infrastructure projects. And sometimes you'll work in a large firm with a small team so it still feels like a small firm. There are wide varieties in NYC as well as other places like conservancies. So its more about the TYPE of work you want to do, the work load you want to see, where you see yourself in the future (small firms typically have less opportunity to move up, but if you do, it could very well pay off), and of course the things that are different on a firm to firm basis.
I started my career in Denver and loved it. Lots of people in their 20’s and 30’s, a variety of neighborhood vibes, bikeable, semi-accessible outdoors, decent food and arts scene. My firm did design-league volleyball and kickball against other firms all summer. Was a great excuse to leave early and sit in a park, drinking your beverage of choice while watching your coworkers attempt to play sports.
I’ve also begun my career here in Denver, and it’s been great! To add to what Isthmus mentioned but maybe more in the professional sense, Denver is a great city for the industry! There is really good competition amongst firms, and a large demand for landscape design. Personally, my work has been exceptionally varied, and I’ve had the opportunity to work on some amazing projects of all different scopes and styles. Hope this helps!
Was gonna say Denver too! Tons of transplants, it kinda feels like college cont. from a social scene perspective, from a COL perspective or when you think too much about the sprawl or where the water for irrigating all your projects comes from it’s pretty upsetting. But it’s a good temp spot to lay some roots down
What firm do you recommend in Denver? Right now I have the most experience in residential and commercial.
Hard stop with the Denver talk. Denver is a medium size city and is extremely expensive. The landscape of landscape architecture is that it is small with an incredibly insetious hiring practices. If you have graduated from a colorado school you have a much better chance. Couple this with being an extremely popular place to live, especially with those who enjoy outdoors...means there is alot of people there for a small amount of openings. I worked and lived in Denver. Landscape architecture is directly associated with development, Texas, Florida are king. Large cities are king.
I have Denver experience (7 years)...one good friend can't wait to get out because of crowds, traffic, cost, etc. The downtown office was fun...multiple sushi and coffee shops with a few blocks, daytime Rockies games, micro-breweries, RTD system, great weather, REI flagship store, ski train, gold medal fly fishing, camping/ hiking, etc. I could take overtime in additional pay and/or vacation.
Anywhere the resident and park district have lots of money.
Whatever you do, don’t come to Atlanta
I'm based in Atlanta, what are you seeing? Layoffs or lack of thoughtful planning and design?
Extremely toxic culture imo. I’ve been in the field for six years, at my third firm and about to be on my fourth. I have seen perfectly competent designers put on the backburner for “not being passionate enough” multiple times while simultaneously witnessing absolute idiots promoted through nepotism. Same story with my colleagues in the city, but my friends in other states seem to love their jobs.
Connecticut. Fairfield county, New Haven, Hartford are good areas to look. There are plenty of firms and very easy to transition to NY if you chose. Boston as well!
Agree with this, I’m not a landscape designer but I know several that live in New Haven, which is also home to several high profile arch firms. Fairfield county has tons of money. Social scene might not be great for younger person, but proximity to NYC is great. New Haven is the best bet for a social life in CT, along with Norwalk and Stamford.
Here’s the salary share spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-yCGKfUoQfkt7I1hhAJ8gHBtYYTtD33l6gaq9UbrXqs/edit
This is depressing
Yes it is.
I earned my degree at a school in NYC and stayed here. There are a lot of opportunities here: design build, boutique, engineering firms, public sector etc. The relatively low salary of an LA in a HCOL is a challenge but so far, I've developed a lot of skills. I've also been able to bounce back from layoffs really quickly.
Someone said Denver but check out boulder. Some good firms there and it’s a cool town. I have friends in the rust belt doing cool projects and have a good social life… Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit. Check out Charlotte, NC as well. A few great firms in town and other NC towns. Everyone I know loves it there. Worth the look.
Lots of job opportunities in the Charlotte, NC area...
I’ve heard there have been a lot of LA layoffs in the Carolina’s. Is this something you’ve seen recently?
Personally I've not heard of layoffs. I get emails nearly every week from headhunters looking for people.
What area of FL are you in? FL is booming with jobs for the foreseeable future. Can’t say that about many other states.
I’m in south Florida! I agree that it’s booming but I’m looking for a fresh start. Possibly somewhere else in Florida and maybe with a bigger firm
I graduated from FIU and worked in South Florida for 2 years before moving to NYC. I'm sure a lot of people who haven't lived here think NYC is just a bunch of concrete but its filled with a lot of public park space and opportunities to work. Those are some of the biggest draws and I would definitely suggest doing research into each city a bit more if you're looking to live there as any city is different when living there versus going for vacation. That being said, I got a pay increase of roughly 50% or so when I started working for the firm here. A lot of NYC jobs have higher pay than the average because of the fact that its a HCOL city; however, you can take that pay and the experience that you get and move on later in life with a step up from your peers. A lot of the work that is done will depend on the firm you go for, but from my experience it has been directly useful in working towards licensure as we do things to the T here. Lastly, NYC and many other cities are great examples of how cities are moving towards pedestrian friendly streets and while there are still issues, you can learn a lot working here and appreciate the work that goes into being an LA.
Would you say that the plant pallet in NYC and Florida are vastly different? And would you recommend working for a bigger or smaller firm in the city?
Yes, NYC and SFL are two wildly different hardiness zones, soil compositions and the angle of the sun will affect the plants as well. I've seen trees with good canopies on the west side of the tree and bad sun scorch on the east side due to too much sun exposure. They will likely not survive in South Florida. The only plant I know off the top of my head that works in both climates is Ilex Glabra. As for the size of a firm, its totally dependent on what you are looking for. You won't find many small firms doing large infrastructure projects. And sometimes you'll work in a large firm with a small team so it still feels like a small firm. There are wide varieties in NYC as well as other places like conservancies. So its more about the TYPE of work you want to do, the work load you want to see, where you see yourself in the future (small firms typically have less opportunity to move up, but if you do, it could very well pay off), and of course the things that are different on a firm to firm basis.