1 down-6 to go

This past Friday I finally took my first A.R.E. exam.  These are the exams you must take & pass in order to become a registered architect.  To be eligiable you need to work in an office and get "training" in about 20 different areas.  It takes approx 3 years to get the 700 required training hours.  I have been working in my office for four.  And since I live in FL I'm eligible to begin taking the tests before i finish my hours.  However, the first year I was still burnt out from school.  The next year I met a swell guy who occupied a lot of my time and the 3rd year he proposed.... you know how it goes. 

Adam has been very persistant in asking "When are you going to take your tests??"  Luckily I have a good friend Tara who's just as big a procrastinator as I.  So knowing that if i didn't do them now-I would end up 50 years old trying to take them as my children go off to college.   Tara and I devised a plan of attact and began studying for the first one (which i deemed the easiest) and hope to complete all 7 this year.  Because these tests aren't cheap I really can not afford to fail-also you must wait 6 months for a re-take after a fail. 

Anyway, I took the test Friday, Tara did not (she swears she's doing it this week ;) ).  I felt pretty good afterward and belived that i had solved the problem at hand and met all the criteria.  In 4-6 weeks I should know my results-and hopefully by then taken my second test.

It feels good to finally get this going and moving my career forward.   Working in Architecture the last 4 years has been challanging.  No one is building, so I've worn many hats and luckily I've impressed my boss' enough to survive 3 layoffs.  I'm hoping that the building industry begins to pick back up so that i can continue to learn and improve my skills and apply this knowlege to help me pass my tests.
Up next is Programming, Planning & Practice.....wish me luck.