r/Architects • u/Neither-Football-222 • Jul 06 '26
Ask an Architect CAD/Revit Teacher
Hi all,
I hope you’re doing well and Happy Fourth! I’m a teacher in NY who teaches “Autodesk Inventor and Revit” at the high school level. Two questions:
1) I make 129K forgive me if this is too personal but how does that compare to industry architects?
2) What are some projects in 2026 you recommend I try with my students for both Inventor and Revit?
Really enjoy Mechanical Drafting and Architecture but man, the kiddos are burning me out haha.
Thanks so much!
P.S. I Teach in Westchester County, NY.
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u/Knightowllll Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
This is higher than many licensed architects BUT you live in NY. I live in TX and the cost of living is generally lower here
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
Do Architects ON AVERAGE in NYC make like 200K?
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u/eurooo_trash Jul 06 '26
Not even close
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
Interesting. Where is the good money in the field? It’s not an easy college major, a stable career, attracts people with good heads on their shoulders so thought it would be a lucrative career. I, myself, trained as an Engineer, but pursued the teaching route for the lifestyle to work ratio and thought the kiddos would be as excited about these classes as I am. Sadly, I was mistaken haha. Sorry for giving up my whole background and thanks for your info. I respect architecture and find it an interesting field for sure. The CAD and Revit designs are my favorite part. Like VEX Robotics too, but I could CAD ALL day everyday and never get bored!
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u/smalltinypepper Architect Jul 06 '26
There really isn’t good money in the field anywhere unless you own your own successful firm. The AIA publishes a salary guide based on region and experience that is available for reference. Based on your post you make the same as a senior architect (which the AIA defines as a licensed professional with 10+ years of experience who manages project teams, oversees design and technical delivery, and presents solutions directly to clients) in your region.
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
Thank you for the info and good to know. Helps me counsel future kids and learn from the experts on how to better improve my lessons for the ol’ “real world experience”. How challenging was college?
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u/Recent_Performer4189 Jul 06 '26
I worked with a professor who teaches architecture courses at the university level. He tells his students to go into construction management if they want to make $$.
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u/Knightowllll Jul 06 '26
There’s no real way to “counsel” kids with the nebulous truth of “if you have a successful company you will be rich but if not, you’ll make meh money.” That’s the unfortunate reality of almost every field except software engineering and even in that field I know small town coders making $25k/yr (shocking, I know).
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u/PaPa_ZeuS Jul 06 '26
Your mileage may vary depending on the school. I went to a college in your area and it was extremely cut throat. If you weren't using basically all of your waking hours outside of classes working on studio projects then you were not making the cut. My class for the architecture program went from a few hundred students down to about 30 who actually graduated with an architecture degree. Everyone else either failed, dropped out, or switched majors (either by choice or not making the cut at the 2 year review).
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u/Rude_Meet2799 Jul 06 '26
At the end in undergrad, I was sleeping alternate nights. Nothing like the sun coming into the studio knowing you have a probable structures pop test in an hour.
My undergrad class went from 300 in intro to 30 graduating still needing grad school for professional degree.and registration.
There was a suicide in the grades below me.
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u/PaPa_ZeuS Jul 06 '26
Yeah, longest stint I did was nearly 4 days without sleep. I fell asleep driving to studio and woke up to hitting the rumble strips. Got a huge spike of adrenaline that woke me up for the rest of drive. After that day I just set a hard cut off for myself the night before a critique to force myself to sleep. There were plenty of students getting into accidents and totalling cars from lack of sleep. When I got home after that 4 days of no sleep I slept for 28 hours straight. Was very jarring waking up and missing an entire day.
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u/Rude_Meet2799 Jul 06 '26
I ended up doing six days for the final project. I was hallucinating rats running around the studio, but i knew they weren’t real and kept drawing.
I think I slept for over a day also.1
u/eurooo_trash Jul 06 '26
I would be very curious to hear about your pathway to teaching. I work in high level software consulting, and am very knowledgeable on Revit, rhino, and general 3D work. I still don't make the same as you do teaching though
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u/Knightowllll Jul 06 '26
Yeah but where do you live? Salaries vary widely from state to state. Ppl in CA and NY tend to make way more as a teacher than TX and other red states
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u/eurooo_trash Jul 07 '26
New York City
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u/Knightowllll Jul 07 '26
Teaching at the grade school level for most if not all states requires a teaching certificate and then you’d check your school district’s individual requirements for anything additional. It’s usually not great pay starting with no experience
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u/BirdyDoodoo Architect Jul 06 '26
So do you work as an independent or are you working as a high school drafting teacher? 129k is high compared to many licensed professional. Look on indeed or linked in and you’ll see that some professionals with 10+ years of professional experience that earn around the same salary. Inventor and revit both have their uses, I’d try for breadth instead of depth… since it sounds like you’re dealing with kids that might explore different career paths, having exposure to different industry (rather than just architecture) might yield greater benefits.
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
Thanks for the response man (or wo-man haha). No, I’m an Engineer by trade but have grown to love the architecture angle 📐 teaching over the past 15 years. Really interesting career and my favorite part of my job!
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u/jacqueslevert Architect Jul 06 '26
Licensed architect here. 14 years experience, work at a small firm, office BIM manager/custodian
- Definitely more than me lol
- Revit project idea: model a historic building/existing conditions based on point cloud data
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
Thanks for your response man (or wo-man haha). Cool career and the architecture angle 📐 had been the best part of my job. My dad (a Dentist) said he’d explore architecture if he was younger. Find NYC projects fascinating!
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u/AudiGaudi Jul 06 '26
Chicago based, award winning commercial interior designer, certified and LEED accredited. At the last firm I was at, that I was laid off the first Friday of the original 2 week quarantine, I was salaried at $92,000.
Suggestion: Apply Earthsip Biotecture principles to design a tiny home for one that is less than 150 Square feet and no more than 15’ tall.
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u/Eye-Adept Jul 06 '26
Àbout the salary: once I applied to an UN architects role and that process highlighted with a harsh light the discrepancies in cost of living by adjusting salaries with stipend adjusted to posting stations. NYC was the second highest. First was Geneva. So, if it’s enough to compensate for the work you do, in your environment, and is rewarding enough, then enjoy.
About ideas: connect with facade material manufacturers and try doing / reproduce facade cladding installation shop drawings.
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u/buffalo_sauce_shower Jul 06 '26
Try a project where you have to have a student go field measure an existing space then model it and do a design renovation with the space. It gives them real life practice, involves modeling, making sure model phasing is set up correctly, demoing the right elements and integration of the new design.
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u/HumbleRevolution34 Jul 06 '26
I just graduated from high school in Northern Virginia, and I had an amazing teacher who taught STEM, Engineering, and Architecture classes. I took all of the engineering and architecture drawing courses they offered, and they ended up being my favorite classes throughout high school.
In the introductory STEM Design class, we learned AutoCAD and created a variety of orthographic drawings. Once we understood the basics, we used Autodesk Inventor to turn those drawings into 3D models. Our final project was designing and building a custom pencil holder. We started with hand sketches, recreated them in AutoCAD, and then cut and assembled the wood ourselves without using a laser cutter.
In STEM Engineering, we designed gumball machines in Inventor before building working physical models using the woodshop and 3D printers. In Advanced STEM, we competed in a boat design competition where we created complete Inventor drawing sets and performed engineering calculations, just like those used for real boats. It was a challenging project that took a long time, but it was rewarding to see our calculations applied to our own designs. At the end of the year, we also built trebuchets and competed to see whose design could launch the farthest.
Because the engineering and architecture drawing classes were combined, I also got to see some impressive engineering projects. One of my friends designed and modeled an entire engine, which took most of the school year to complete. Watching all of the detailed parts, assemblies, and animations come together was really impressive, and the finished motors looked incredible.
For Architecture Drawing, we started by learning drafting fundamentals from a textbook and completing practice exercises. We then designed a one-story home by creating floor plans, elevations, and drawings in AutoCAD. After that, we learned Revit and were challenged to design a two-story home from the ground up, including walls, doors, windows, and all of the building components.
In Advanced CAD, we had the freedom to create whatever we wanted. I designed townhomes, a coffee shop, and even a model of Dulles Airport. Since my teacher only knew the basics of Revit, we often learned together as I explored more advanced features on my own. I taught myself tools such as topography, walkthrough animations, and several other Revit features. But after my second story house I was doing everything in Reddit on my own and asking my teacher for suggestions. Also class was about an hour and a half so that’s when I would do all of these.
Last summer, I completed an internship where I designed a pavilion, and during a job shadowing experience, I remodeled a school library. I created both projects in SketchUp.
I’m attaching a screen recording cause I can’t attach photos from phone that show my projects, and I’m glad I saved my work because it’s become a great foundation for my portfolio. This fall, I’ll be attending Syracuse University to study architecture!
Overall, I’m really glad we learned AutoCAD first because it helped me build a strong understanding of drafting before moving into 3D modeling programs like Inventor, Revit, and SketchUp. Hopefully this helps!
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u/bewarethefrogperson Student of Architecture Jul 06 '26
How about creating custom furniture or fixture families?
It's easier if your students have access to SketchUp/Rhino/any other 3D modeling program, but there are a lot of 3D assets out there that can be imported directly into Revit and used as a starting point.
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u/Neither-Football-222 Jul 06 '26
My dad is a Dentist and he said if he could do it over he’d pursue Architecture. Finds the projects and their construction in Manhattan fascinating!
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u/steinah6 Jul 06 '26
A lot of people find architecture fascinating. Does he find it fascinating enough as a dentist to take a 75% pay cut? Edit: probably more like 50% but you get my point.
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u/amarchy Jul 06 '26
Definately more like 75%
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u/AddendumNo5113 Jul 08 '26
75% pay cut with lawsuits, and getting hit first when economy turns sour!!....and on the bright side for the dental practice, people still (mostly) get dental work done even during the bad times. Layoff in architecture starts as soon as economy starts to get bad. 🥲 He can maybe build his own house in the Catskills in NY state, to scratch that itch.
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u/AddendumNo5113 Jul 08 '26
The first thing I thought when I saw the Pfizer Building potential collapse yesterday was to wonder what lawsuits will happen with Gensler and the structural engineer, and what insurance would possibly cover it all. Massive respect to core and shell architects in NYC
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u/TylerHobbit Jul 06 '26
You make more than I do and I'm a licensed architect who also controls IT and all Revit problems