Continuing Education

Both primer and anthology, Welcome to the Grind (self-published) contends with the experiences of young designers. The first two sections, “Work” and “Grad School,” proffer advice for those entering a new phase of their career, including tips for choosing a graduate program and saying no to an employer. The third section, “Life,” features personal and pointed essays about practicing architecture. Galo Canizares writes candidly about recovering from rejection, and Daham Marapane outlines his reasons for rejecting a professional identity. Lisa Sauvé recalls how she omitted her child from grad-school application forms. The confessional tone is well-suited to a publication released on Twitter by anonymous user @VitruviusGrind, who solicited contributions from friends and colleagues and assembled information about acceptance rates and competitive salaries from online resources. The result oscillates between resisting and embracing the “grind” of architectural work. Though it could do more to interrogate this heuristic, the tome is nonetheless a salve.