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Jeremy Zick | 13 June 2025The Real Hiring Crisis Isn’t What You Think
While architecture firms spend countless hours debating whether AI will replace their drafters, something far more urgent is happening right under their noses. The best and brightest minds that architecture schools are producing? They’re not sticking around to find out.
One of the most fascinating stats I’ve read lately is that at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Architecture, nearly one in three graduates now enters the tech sector instead of traditional practice. Let that sink in. We’re not talking about dropouts or students who couldn’t cut it. These are the exact people our industry needs most, creative problem-solvers with spatial thinking skills and design training that tech companies are actively recruiting.
And it’s not just happening at Carnegie Mellon. Architecture programs across the country are watching their top talent get poached by companies that recognize the value architects bring, even if our own industry doesn’t seem to.
The $19,000 Problem
Want to know why your best students are heading to Silicon Valley instead of your studio? Let’s talk numbers.
According to Glassdoor, entry-level UX designers earn an average of $78,000. Meanwhile, the AIA salary calculator suggests new architecture graduates can expect around $59,000. That’s a $19,000 gap right out of the gate, and it only widens from there.
But it’s not just about the money. It’s about what that money represents: respect for the value these professionals bring, investment in their growth, and recognition that their skills are worth competing for.
Tech companies aren’t just offering better salaries. They’re offering better career trajectories, clearer advancement paths, and work environments that actually value innovation. When a fresh graduate can choose between 60-hour weeks in a traditional architecture firm for $59K or flexible remote work in UX design for $78K, which would you pick? The seemingly endless increases in the basic cost of living makes this decision even easier.
What We’re Really Losing
Here’s what should terrify every firm owner: the people leaving aren’t just taking their individual talents. They’re taking the exact skills our industry desperately needs to innovate.
Architecture students today graduate with:
- Advanced spatial reasoning abilities
- Complex problem-solving skills
- Systems thinking capabilities
- Collaborative design experience
- Technical software proficiency
- Creative solution development
Sound familiar? Those are the exact competencies that make UX designers, product managers, and innovation consultants successful in tech. Companies like Google, Apple, and Meta aren’t hiring architects by accident, they recognize that architectural thinking translates directly to digital innovation.
Meanwhile, traditional A&E firms are left wondering why they can’t find “good people” and why their projects feel increasingly routine.
The Vicious Cycle of Traditional Hiring
Most architecture firms are stuck in what I call the “traditional hiring trap.” Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Firm needs help with growing workload
Step 2: Posts job for “Architect I” or “Junior Designer” at market rate
Step 3: Gets applicants who couldn’t land higher-paying jobs elsewhere
Step 4: Hires someone adequate but not exceptional
Step 5: Wonders why innovation and efficiency don’t improve
This cycle repeats until firms convince themselves that “good help is hard to find” or that they need to “lower their expectations.” But the real problem isn’t the talent pool, it’s that the best talent is swimming in different waters.
At one firm I worked with, the owner told me, “We can’t compete with tech salaries.” But he was missing the point entirely. You don’t need to match Google’s compensation packages. You need to create value propositions that the best people actually want.
How Smart Firms Are Fighting Back
Here’s where the conversation gets interesting. While most firms accept this talent drain as inevitable, forward-thinking companies are using global talent strategies to completely flip the script.
Instead of trying to outbid tech companies for entry-level talent, they’re building teams that offer something tech can’t: the opportunity to become a leader and manager early in your career.
Here’s how it works:
Traditional Model:
- Hire expensive local talent for routine production work
- Senior staff stays stuck in production mode
- No budget for specialists or innovation
- Limited growth opportunities for existing team
Global Talent Model:
- Hire skilled global professionals for production work at sustainable rates
- Local talent immediately moves into management and leadership roles
- Savings get reinvested in much-needed specialists (BIM managers, project controllers)
- Existing team members become team leaders, not just team members
Suddenly, that $59K architecture graduate isn’t just “another drafter.” They’re managing international projects, developing leadership skills, and building a resume that positions them as a future firm principal. That’s a value proposition tech companies can’t match.
The Leadership Development Advantage
Let me share a real example. Miguel started as a junior architect at one of our partner firms. Under the traditional model, he’d be spending years doing production work, slowly climbing the ladder, maybe getting small raises here and there.
Instead, within 18 months of implementing our InSourcing model, Miguel was managing a team of remote architects, overseeing complex projects, and developing the kind of leadership experience that typically takes 5-7 years to acquire. His compensation increased accordingly, but more importantly, his career trajectory completely changed.
Miguel isn’t unique. We see this pattern repeatedly: when you give talented people real responsibility early, they rise to meet it. And when they’re managing global teams and complex projects, they’re not looking at UX design job postings anymore.
Why This Matters More Than AI
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI might automate some drafting tasks, but it can’t automate leadership, client relationships, or creative problem-solving. The firms that win in the next decade won’t be those with the best AI tools, they’ll be those with the best people in the right roles.
While your competitors debate whether AI will replace their junior staff, you could be developing those junior staff into the senior leaders who’ll be the fuel that powers your company to new heights.
While others struggle to find “good people” at rates they can afford, you could be offering career development opportunities that make top graduates choose you over tech companies.
While traditional firms stay trapped in the production-based model that’s driving talent away, you could be building the innovative, growth-oriented practice that attracts and retains the best minds.
The Time to Act Is Now
Every month you wait, more of the best talent walks away. Every great graduate who chooses tech over architecture is someone who could have been leading your firm’s most important projects five years from now.
The solution isn’t to panic about AI or accept that “kids today just want easy money.” It’s to build a business model that actually competes for the talent you need.
The firms that recognize this opportunity and act on it will have their pick of exceptional people. The ones that don’t will keep wondering why they can’t find anyone good, right up until they realize all the good people are working somewhere else.
Here’s my challenge: take a hard look at your team. How many of your best people are stuck doing work that could be handled by skilled global talent? How many leadership opportunities are you missing because everyone’s buried in production?
What would your firm look like if those people were free to innovate, lead, and grow?
More importantly: what’s the cost of waiting another year to find out?
If you’d rather not find out, fill out the form below and see how WeCollabify can help you hire and develop the next generation of leaders.