In the beginning of the interview CEO Pati Garcia begins talking about how Gonzalo Samaniego got the opportunity to work in New York City and the value that the Architect-US Job+J1 Visa Program brought him when searching for his next career opportunity.
Pati then went on to talk about Gonzalo and his experience of working at a larger firm versus a boutique firm. He gets to work on the larger projects and has been more hands-on with design process then he has been previously at other firms. He enjoys the fast paced nature of a larger firm, and he views his experience of contributing to one competition a month, as a helpful exercise to work on his construction documents and different exposure throughout the process.
One of the key struggles Gonzalo mentions is the learning curve on Revit, and how he had to adapt to Rhino and other 3D Rendering software. Not only this, but also the professional and cultural difference between Americans and Europeans was noticeable at times when communicating and explaining ideas. Gonzalo then goes into talking about how models are used versus taking pictures of the models. The process can be very specific to the customer and the lead architect you are working with.
He mentioned the value that multi-disciplined approaches and collaboration bring to a design team, especially when in a larger organization where it requires clear and effective communication between teammates. They focused on how he can work alone, but also how he can then turnaround and contribute to the team.
In the end, it only took him 4-5 months to get a job after joining the Architect-US Job+J1 Visa Program, and he was determined to have his next career step be in the USA. Now that he has been working at in NYC for over a year, he is looking towards staying with them for the foreseeable future.
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