Advice on entering Landscape Design Industry
mlb
Can anyone recommend a way (if any) I can break into the landscape design
industry without any formal education. I recently sold my computer
animation company and I wish a more personally rewarding job. I already
have a college degree (BS-Finance), so re-entering school for a landscape
design degree is not an option for me. How about individual landscape
courses. I believe the Bronx Zoo offers some. Any ideas/advice is greatly
appreciated.
MLB
Pam
mlb wrote:
Hi -
Not sure why you feel going back to school is not an option - it is definitely
the recommended course of action if you have no previous experience in this
area. Many trade schools and community colleges offer horticulture and design
programs. The tuition is relatively inexpensive and classes are offered at
convenient times including weekends and evenings. Many successful landscape
designers have gone down this road as a second career (myself included). You
can work in the field while you are getting the necessary education - the
combination of structured courses with practical, hands-on experience is
ideal.
If you have ruled this out completely, here are a couple of thoughts:
1) There are short landscape design study programs available through various
organizations, but they are not going to give you all the material you need to
know to be successful. There is much more to landscape design than just design
skills - you need to know about soil structure and basic drainage issues;
hardscape design, materials and installation; landscape maintenance issues;
business practices, bidding and estimating; marketing; and the biggie -
extensive plant knowledge. (Major emphasis on this - you *cannot* be a
successful designer unless you know plants.) Also, many clients will want you
to be able to design irrigation and lighting systems as well - this is very
specific and technical knowledge.
2) Some of this can be learned on the job, specially if you apprentice with an
established, qualified member of the industry. It does take time and you will
be essentially a laborer performing grunt work while you learn. However, you
will probably not get everything you need from this method, either. Self study
can work, if you have the discipline, but that takes time also. Working at a
nursery will help with increasing your plant knowledge. Professional
associations (like state nurserymens' or certified landscape associations) can
also help to provide some of the training necessary.
Finally, there is nothing worse or does quite as much damage to the reputation
of the industry as an unqualified landscaper, be they a designer, contractor
or what-have-you. Since there is no national qualification or certification
program for the industry (unlike the testing, apprenticing and licensing
requirements for Landscape Architects), anyone who has the inclination can
call themselves a "landscape designer" and go out and try to make a buck.
If you truly want to enter this profession and be successful at it, bite the
bullet and go back to school to get the formal training necessary. There is
really no short cut.
Pam
gardengal designs