Hopefully, many of you are settling into your summer internships, working through your onboarding activities, and getting to know your teams. If this is your first summer working for an architecture firm, congratulations! This is an excellent time to establish your NCARB record and start documenting your work experience. If you’re not working for a firm, don’t worry, there may be a way for you to record your experience too.
While it can be a daunting task, the AXP (Architectural Experience Program) is an essential step on your licensure path. The objective of the AXP is to ensure candidates get diverse experience that will prepare them for practice after they become licensed. In fact, most US jurisdictions require candidates to complete the AXP before they can earn their initial licensure. If you’re just getting started, there are a few key things to keep in mind about the process.
Start as soon as possible. With 3,740 total hours to report and 96 tasks split among 6 experience areas, there’s a lot to cover. If you worked 40 hours a week full-time, it would take almost two years to complete the minimum requirement, and some jurisdictions require additional documentation or reporting. Even though you can report AXP and sit for your AREs concurrently, completing the AXP is required to earn your initial license.
Find your supervisor. Your supervisor in the office could be anyone, but your AXP supervisor must be a licensed architect. Ideally, your AXP supervisor is someone you talk with regularly, and who has a good idea of what you’re working on day-to-day. All the hours you report for AXP must be approved by your AXP supervisor, so it’s important to have a good relationship with that person. Always ask the person you have in mind before sending them an experience report! Starting off right and maintaining a connection with them will also come in handy as you start completing some experience areas and need to shift focus to complete others.
Ask for and be open to diverse experiences. Once you dive into the experience areas and tasks, you’ll start to understand the breadth of information the AXP wants you to complete and understand. On the surface, it might seem like you can get general experience aligned with each phase of a project, but the 96 tasks that are part of each experience area are actually closely aligned with the content you’ll see on the ARE. Skipping tasks or being too broad may set you up for frustration as you start to prepare for your exams.
Keep detailed notes. Candidates can choose to report hours weekly or in bulk, and it can be a lot to keep track of over 3,740 hours. To complicate things further, each firm approaches timesheets and hourly tracking differently. While you’re working through your AXP hours it’s a good idea to practice over-documentation. If there’s a section to add notes to your timesheet, list what activities you performed during the hours that you worked each day. If taking notes by hand is more your speed, take that approach instead. You’ll need that information later to align your hours to the tasks and experience areas, and your AXP supervisor may request it before they approve your report.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Every licensed architect you know had to start this process and work through its challenges, so you’re not the first and only candidate to ever struggle with AXP. NCARB provides and maintains AXP Guidelines for candidates and supervisors to reference. Reporting requirements have changed a few times over the years, so if your supervisor doesn’t know the answers, that’s a great opportunity to learn about it together, or to reach out to a Licensing Advisor for help.
Most of the above applies to candidates who are reporting hours under Setting A, which is work performed for an architecture firm under the supervision of a licensed architect. Some candidates may report hours under Setting O, which includes experience outside an architecture firm. This can include work for other licensed professionals (including engineers), construction work, design competitions, or community volunteering. While there are some restrictions on how many hours can be reported under Setting O, it’s a good way to get started on your AXP reporting, even if you don’t land a job at a firm.
If you haven’t already, go establish your NCARB record and get started.
As always, your questions about AXP, the AREs, or NCARB in general are always welcome and encouraged. Have fun this summer!
Gina Robinson, AIA
Architect Licensing Advisor – Virginia
gina.robinson@hdrinc.com