Ready, Set, Architect!

How to Get There, How to Be Successful, and How to Have a Guilt-Free Transition to Something Else

De: Jane Lanahan Decker

Narrado por: Jane Lanahan Decker

Ready, Set, Architect! is not just an architectural career handbook. It is the living proof that you can make it out of architecture school alive and thriving. Better still, you can have your design career and move past it, too.

Ready, Set, Architect! is part career guide, part memoir, and part activity journal that is bound and determined to show you how to become an architect and come out the other side with options for every 2.0 version of yourself.

Jane explores the antithetical Gen-X movement of firm-hopping and talks about the only two jobs she has had in her adult life. Yes, only two! At the same time, she enlists the help of friends, past and present, to dive deep into their own journey to share their wouldas, shouldas, and couldas.

After spending five years in design school, with the student loan debt to match, architects-to-be find themselves subsisting on ramen and very little sleep to get very little pay and zero recognition for their efforts. Transitioning to something else is almost perverse and you can feel the admonishment from a distant relative wagging their forefinger and squeaking, “I told you, you shoulda gone into business.”

By the end of the book, listeners will admire the journey of the architectural traveler and revel in their skill sets, and for once in their nascent career, junior architects will understand the paths that remain to be forged ahead with vigor and enthusiasm, not guilt or trepidation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Jane Lanahan Decker (P)2023 Jane Lanahan Decker

i LOVED IT

Let me start by saying that I have no interest in architecture. In fact, I’ve always assumed the most thrilling part of an architect’s day is choosing between "beige" and "light beige" for wall colors. But when I was asked to listen to Ready Set Architect, I wasn’t prepared for the fact that I would actually love it. It turns out, this book isn’t just for people who dream of designing the next Eiffel Tower. It's for anyone who's ever had to create, collaborate, or solve a problem—so, pretty much all of us.
From the very start, the author’s storytelling chops had me hooked. I expected dry, technical jargon about blueprints and building codes, but instead, I got a riveting journey through the creative process, sprinkled with enough humor and wit to keep me laughing. The author knows how to tell a story, making even the most complex aspects of architecture feel accessible and—dare I say—fun. It's like the author is your friend who happens to be a brilliant architect and is somehow able to explain things in a way that makes you say, "Huh, I never thought about it that way!"
The beauty of Ready Set Architect is that while it’s centered on architecture, the lessons inside are universally applicable. Whether you're in tech, business, or—let’s say, I don’t know—organizing a charity bake sale, the ideas about innovation, problem-solving, friendships and collaboration resonate across industries. Who knew that lessons on designing a building could teach you how to design a better team or approach your next big project?
The author doesn’t just teach the mechanics of becoming an architect; they take you on an emotional rollercoaster. There are the highs of creative breakthroughs, the lows of dealing with setbacks (hello, budget cuts!), and plenty of laughs along the way. And I promise you, if you’ve ever had a coworker suggest a “quick fix” to a major problem, you’ll find yourself nodding in recognition at the challenges the author faces—and laughing at the clever solutions they come up with.
At its core, Ready Set Architect is about more than just creating buildings. It’s about building yourself. It’s about learning how to navigate the messiness of projects, find inspiration when you’re stuck, and—most importantly—understand that your work can have a lasting impact, whether it’s a skyscraper or an innovative idea in your field.
So, whether you're an aspiring architect or just someone who enjoys a good, well-told story with a side of life lessons, this book is for you. You don’t need to have a drafting table in your office or be able to name every column type to enjoy it. You just need a curiosity for how creativity and hard work can transform ideas into reality.
In conclusion: Ready Set Architect is a delightful, insightful, and surprisingly funny read that I highly recommend. It will make you rethink what it means to "build" something—and might even make you start seeing your world as one big design project. Who knows? You might even want to swap beige for something a little bolder.

Welcome into the story!

This was warm, inviting and funny! It was so easy to engage with the story and want to stay in it. I’m not an architect and am pretty far removed from the industry, but that didn’t matter to feel fully welcomed in. The story felt so real, like I knew the author. Enjoyed this immensely!

A lot of insights packed into an entertaining story

This book was read by the author and by the end you feel like you know Jane, the real Jane. Her stories are entertaining and deliver an overall feel of gratitude which is refreshing in today’s society. It was a quick listen and a fun ride. The accompanying PDFs and notes were useful and showed the care taken when porting the print version to audio.