<p>What exactly does licensing do? That is my goal after getting out of Boston Architectural, but what changes once you get your architect license? Also, if you get your license in Massachusetts, will I be able to go to somewhere like Arizona or Florida to practice?</p>
<p>A license marks you as a professional, and allows you to call yourself an architect. Before that you are an ‘intern architect’, no matter how old you are. It also allows you to stamp drawings. If you are part of a larger firm you may never actually have to stamp a drawing, usually a senior partner will take that responsibility. However it is still important for you to be licensed. Many firms will not promote non-licensed staff beyond a certain level, and you do not want to be 15 years out of school and the lead desginer on a $100 milli0on project and have to confess to the owner that you never actually passed the exam.</p>
<p>Life gets very complicated very fast once you graduate; get your exam over with as soon as you can. It will only get harder.</p>
<p>rick</p>
<p>there is a glass ceiling dividing the licensed from the unlicensed… a few manage to break past it, but for the most part you’ll have more responsibility and make more money once you’re licensed. It also makes it easier to do work on the side, and of course start your own practice.</p>
<p>If you are licensed in Mass it becomes easier to obtain your license in another state than for an unlicensed person, but there is still a bit of red tape to jump through. Several states have slightly different requirements that have to be met for reciprocity: for instance California has an oral examination that is notoriously difficult to pass, so it is the hardest state to move to or get new work in for out-of-state architects. Many architects (especially owners of firms) are licensed in several states, however. So it’s not impossible or anything, it’s just not automatic either.</p>
<p>It used to be that state architecture boards were funded by your annual licensing fees and they used this money to help regulate the profession and deal with issues such as reciprocity and the required qualifications to take the exam. However with the fiscal crisis that states have faced they have decided to just take your licensing money, put it in the general state fund, and spend as little as possible to oversee the profession.</p>
<p>What this means is that they are increasingly looking towards national organizations, such as NCARB, to do the work of determining the qualifications of candidates for registration. Thus you will go through an intern development program, run by NCARB, to determine when you are qualified to take the licensing exam. You will then take an NCARB administered test, and when NCARB tells your state board you are qualified to be a licensed architect, you will get your certificate. Once you have your state registration, you then get your NCARB certificate which will allow you to get registration in almost any state (a couple such as California may add some special requirements).</p>
<p>Overall it is not a bad system because it provides the ability to practice in different states with some level of consistency. It used to be that if you wanted reciprocity from another state you had to sit in front of an architectural board and take what amounted to an oral exam given by folks who did not want you practicing in their state. NCARB is also very helpful when it comes to dealing with continuing education requirements.</p>
<p>I know this is probably more than you wanted to know. As a firm that practices in many states, we have a full time legal assistant who spends all of her time dealing with the multiple registration boards where we practice. Not a fun job.</p>
<p>rick</p>