Dear architecture, kingdom's coming

It seems to me that with all the many friends I have who have been laid off from architecture firms, poor management is to blame. That is to say, firms should have cut pay and worked with employees to keep them by training them on the latest software, updating the detail library, furthering education, etc. Simply hiring and firing sends the wrong message and discourages any form of loyalty in the future, and rightly so.

Having said that, I do know offices that have kept employees, and only let go of those who they absolutely could not keep. For example, a friend has a firm with no administration people, accountants, etc. He only kept the architects, and only they are billable in the first place. Many larger companies let go of architects and keep the admin. staff. This is unforgivable. It sends the wrong message.

So when things pick up, the dinosaurs will be left with nothing. They will not upgrade to Revit. They will beg their past employees to come back. And the profession will benefit from those of us who understand this and have enough experience to forge ahead and leave them behind.

There is a whole group of people in their 40's and 50's, computer literate, experienced and competent who will lead. And to the dinosaurs, have another glass of scotch, shake your head and say, "I don't know what happened."