How To Become A Junior Architect: What It Is and Career Path

What is a junior architect and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Christy Graves

Architects are professionals who design buildings and are often members of large construction teams. Their roles are to prepare designs, complete construction documents, and oversee the execution of the plans. Junior architects, more often than not, assist senior architects with these tasks. They may need to climb the ladder and earn the right to work independently.

Depending on years of experience, a junior architect may spend most of her time in front of a computer, instead of doing other tasks like communicating with builders and supervising execution. Junior architects with more experience will work on design teams and assume hands-on roles.

Junior architects are also highly skilled in software like AutoCAD and Revit. Some qualifications for this role include a bachelor's degree in architecture, prior experience with preparing building documents, and soft skills like communication and creativity.

What general advice would you give to a junior architect?

Christy Graves

Professor/Program Manager, Seminole State College of Florida

I would advise the graduate to learn from everyone they work with within the workplace environment. Even though a degree in architectural engineering technology is valuable, it's impossible to learn everything you need to know to be successful in the industry by taking classes in school and earning a degree. Do not be afraid to ask others for help when you aren't sure about the task you've been assigned to do. In addition, keep up with new technology. Remember, learning should be a lifetime pursuit. It shouldn't end with earning a degree.

ScoreJunior ArchitectUS Average

Salary

4.7

Avg. Salary $60,719

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.2

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.32%

Asian 16.10%

Black or African American 2.30%

Hispanic or Latino 11.89%

Unknown 3.95%

White 65.44%

Gender

female 45.28%

male 54.72%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a junior architect

Explore junior architect education requirements

Most common junior architect degrees

Bachelor's

75.3 %

Master's

16.6 %

Associate

3.9 %

Start to develop specific junior architect skills

Skills	Percentages
Revit	18.53%
Schematic Design	6.49%
Design Development	6.41%
Auto CAD	5.33%
SketchUp	5.30%

Complete relevant junior architect training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New junior architects learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a junior architect based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real junior architect resumes.

Research junior architect duties and responsibilities

Accomplish the following projects as the job captain using Revit software from conceptual design to sets of construction documents.
Manage technical architects for development and support of existing and new terminal platforms to support Walmart mobile and batch application infrastructure.
Sketch design, municipal drawings, presentation drawings, elevations, co- ordination with consultants.
Assist the team with the design process starting from concept and sketch to final design project.

Prepare your junior architect resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your junior architect resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a junior architect resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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