Embark on a captivating journey with Chris Nguyen, our bright and talented intern at CMBA Architects. In this episode, Chris shares his path to discovering a passion for architecture and the fascinating experiences that led him to join the CMBA team in 2023. Explore the world of architectural design through Chris's eyes as he delves into the projects and challenges encountered during his internship. Gain valuable insights into the evolving landscape of architecture and the unique perspectives that emerging talents like Chris bring to the industry. Join us for an insightful conversation on the intersection of creativity, learning, and the future of architecture.
(Skyler): Welcome to another episode of Laying the Foundation. Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Laying the Foundation podcast. I'm Skyler, I'm your host, and today I'm with Chris Nguyen. He's here, he's one of our 2023 summer interns. We love having you guys around. It's great to be able to interview Chris. Welcome to the show.
(Chris): It's great to be here.
(Skyler): Yeah. Awesome. From our Grand Island office. Definitely kind of a trip for me, but it's great to be here and get to see everybody that I don't get to see on a daily. So. Awesome. So Chris, talk to me about you know, what it is that brought you here, I guess here also just kind of in general with what brought you into architecture, you know, tell me a little bit about yourself.
(Chris): Yeah, so that's actually a bit of a long story. So when Grand Island Senior High, our public high school here, was switching over to their academy system, at the time I was a fine art student, or I considered myself part of the fine art clique. Yeah. So I did like theater, choir, show choir, and all that. Like good jazz.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): Unintentional pun, but yeah. So when they started implementing the academies, towards my junior year, I had to be put in an academy if I wanted to graduate. And they didn't have a music program or academy or pathway, as they called it. So they put me in what they believed was going to be the most artistic thing for me, which was architecture, an interesting time. I think it was just drafting. And now it's architecture and drafting at the CPI building, which is one of the buildings that I didn't know CMBA did.
(Skyler): Oh, okay.
(Chris): I didn't know CMBA actually existed because I mean up until like actually my freshman year it's like I never really thought about like architecture being my full time career.
(Skyler): Okay.
(Chris): But yeah, so getting into, I guess senior year is when I first started like getting Revit experience, and you know I really started to really enjoy it, and it's not something I was expecting to enjoy. So when I went up to college, or I guess I was preparing to go up to college, I ended up deciding to go into architecture mainly because at the time I think it's going to be a more successful career financially for myself.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): And coming from although like I'm very much like not money oriented, I come from a low-income family. And it's like even what I make now as an intern is more money than I've ever seen in my entire life.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): And I. Music is like one of those careers that are, I mean, even more subjective than architecture. And it's like, well, if I'm going to be successful, I can do that on my own kind of thing.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): And it's more of like, I think, wanting to leave it as a hobby, so.
(Skyler): Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, with the world the way it is and like the amount of technology and access to, you know, sharing your talents and stuff like that, like, there are a million different ways that. Yeah, absolutely. You can share that kind of stuff, have fun with it, and turn it into something for sure. So. Awesome. Very cool. What kind of music do you, do you kind of dabble within or what?
(Chris): So I like listening to all types of music.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): But technically, I think what you would consider like quote unquote, my training, which sounds very... It's not. I had a few lessons over a few summers.
(Skyler): Yeah.
(Chris): And it's technically, I guess, classically trained. I really like singing Broadway music and that. So.
(Skyler): Very cool.
(Chris): Yeah. I'm trying to nab Hamilton tickets in Lincoln. The price tags on those.
(Skyler): Oh, I can. Yeah, absolutely. I can't even imagine. Yeah. My wife, when she saw it...
(Chris): Yeah.
(Skyler): She was just obsessed after she saw it, so. Oh. That's awesome.
(Chris): I talked to Jim about it, and I mean, Jim's taking his two sons because I'm actually...
(Skyler): Oh, okay.
(Chris): I was. I've known Zach, which is Jim's oldest son, for years and he always told me that, “Oh, yeah, my dad. My dad does something with architecture.” I didn't know what.
(Skyler): Cool.
(Chris): Sure. So, actually, how I kind of came to know about CMBA, I guess, getting into that is that, So I'm a member of AIAS.
(Skyler): Oh, okay.
(Chris): Now going to be the vice-president.
(Skyler): Nice.
(Chris): Kind of thrust into it.
(Skyler): But, well, congratulations, nonetheless.
(Chris): Thank you. But Jim came down, and he was one of the mentors for the upperclassmen, I think, for the grad students and the fourth-year undergrads.
(Skyler): Very cool.
(Chris): And I was like, “Is that Mr. Brisnehan?” And then, well, I went up and said hi to him and I was like, “Oh, yeah. I don't know if you remember me, but I was in choir and show choir with your son. I didn't know you were a mentor for AIAS,” and we just kind of got talking at the time. He forgot who I was.
(Skyler): Yeah, well, you know, it's Jim we're talking about here, so...
(Chris): Yeah. And then I told Zach, “Hey, I just saw your dad. I don't know if he remembers me.” And then I guess he put in a word, and he was like, “Hey, you forgot who Chris was. He did this and this and this.”
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): A very prominent member of the choir. I don't know how you forgot him. And then, then I think Zach or Jim reached out and was like, oh, I remember. You know, I mean, at that time, it was like, “Oh, that was really cool.” Then, after talking, I think I said, “I did not know your father was one of the board members of one of the biggest firms in Nebraska.” Yeah, I guess it was just kind of a small world.
(Skyler): Oh, yeah.
(Chris): And yeah. I guess getting into how I kind of got the internship.
(Skyler): Yeah. Yeah.
(Chris): So I went into, like, the career fair, which I think is normally at every college, really not knowing what I was doing. And, at that time, I was a little worried about not getting a job. And also at the time, I was also really wanting to get a job purely off my skills and not networking. And at that time, since I'm a pretty young student coming into architecture, networking was, like, not something I had really grown into, even being part of these different social events and everything.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): Yep. So, I actually ran into Jim at the career fair, and it's like, I was like, “Hey, I don't know if you remember me this time.” “Oh, yes!” “Zach gave me a bit of crap for forgetting who you were,” but, yeah, we just kind of sat down and talked about Legos, and he was like, why don't you come back for an interview later today? And I was like, oh, yeah, absolutely.
(Skyler): Nice.
(Chris): So they were my second interview of the fair. And. Yeah. And then they were the only firm that was actually willing to pick me up and allow me to go to Spain since I... Oh. I actually missed a lot of the internship experience because they, like, CMBA let me go and study abroad in Spain. And that was just something I was super grateful for.
(Skyler): Oh, absolutely.
(Chris): I thought I was going to have to choose one or the other. And I really got the best of both worlds.
(Skyler): Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to miss out on an experience like that. That's pretty once in a lifetime, you know. So very cool. Very cool. So of the things that you have gotten to do, what does that entail? What have you been able to get your toes into?
(Chris): Ironically, I think it was the first week. So I was here for two weeks before I left for Spain. And during that first week, we had our orientation and our training in Omaha, and it was this constant, just not being in the office, because we were kind of running around. Wednesday came around, and it was like my first full day in the office. I'm actually going to do work today. And then Jim comes up to me with Todd and was like, “Hey, do you want to go to Johnson-Brock?” And I'm like, “Sure, where is that?” They're like, “Oh, just a little bit outside of Lincoln.” And it was like a two-and-a-half-hour drive there, and then we spent like an hour there, and then...
(Skyler): And that's like your whole day.
(Chris): Wow. Okay. So you know, at the time I was like, you know, I don't know if I would like to travel, and I mean it was really fun because...
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): Actually my first experience seeing kind of how like different clients and like communities kind of what their opinions are on like kind of educational projects.
(Skyler): Yeah.
(Chris): Which is obviously what CMBA focuses on, like seeing how communities either kind of want to have an input in it, or like do have an input in it. So it was really interesting to kind of go to a bid opening, which I did not know what a bid opening was until then, and then, you know, meeting with the, I want to say, the superintendent of that school as well as some local farmers who had kids in the program. It was just kind of seeing how that dynamic worked with an architect.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): Kind of being in a project. So it was really interesting, I guess.
(Skyler): Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Very cool. What else? I mean, what else have you got into? Maybe post Spain, I guess.
(Chris): Getting closer to Spain. So I kind of did a few other projects. Specifically I helped... Well a bunch. It was a bigger cross office project. I want to say it was the Emmett County...
(Skyler): Oh, okay.
(Chris): The county city hall. I don't know which is... It’s like the wrong but right. Yeah. They needed to get a big package out by that Friday. And so they just needed like all hands on deck. Like it needs to get cleaned up, drawings cleaned up, and everything. And although I had Revit experience, it was kind of my first time getting like... Well, for quite literally being thrown into a project and just figuring it out, and if it's not fixed, somebody else will fix i,t or you learn and you fix it.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): So I learned a variety of different skills, like just kind of on the fly, like off of YouTube videos.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): YouTube shorts and stuff like that, and well, like, I mean it was really... They're really actually good skills that, then I left for Spain, and then forgot all of that coming back. It's.
(Skyler): That's how it goes.
(Chris): Yeah. Yep. And that was actually like really fun for me, kind of getting tossed into a project. I’m like, hey, this needs to get done really soon. Right? Obviously a little stressful, but it was like a good, fun stress kind of thing.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): So yeah, working cross office, that was my first time kind of doing something fully digital and working with a variety of different people from different offices. I think the funny part was that there was myself and another intern. I think she's at the Sioux City office. I can't remember her name, but we were going back and forth, and like one of us would try to fix a drawing, and the other one actually got to it first and tried to skip ahead, and it was just like I was kind of going back and forth.
(Skyler): That's funny.
(Chris): Yeah, that was really fun to deal with. And then kind of... So that was my first week, I guess, and my second week, I was helping Shane. He's my mentor for this year, and he's been great to work with. He's actually kind of been a person that I've been able to talk to and discuss study abroad, because when he went to UNL, he went on the London trip. So it was kind of cool to see how we both kind of had those similar experiences. A similar time, but a different experience.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): Different city. And actually I... London was my original choice if I could go on a study abroad, but that's only kind of allowed for grad students, and I'm only going into my fourth year now, so. Gotcha. Fingers crossed that they still do the London trip. Sure. By the time I get to grad school, but yeah, I'm excited for that. And yeah, so he actually got me on a project, kind of looking through older files trying to find the original construction documents for the Aurora hospital because they were doing a smaller renovation in one of the rooms in the very, very original part of the building. And it took me all week, but it's like I found the original line drawings. Ironically, they weren't on paper. They were all digitized.
(Skyler): Really?
(Chris): We both thought that they would be on paper or on an old CD somewhere. No, they were. That specific document had been digitized, and on the last day, I think on the last hour that I was here on that Friday, I found it in a folder, and I was like, hey, I think you're going to really like this. And he was like, "Oh, perfect."
(Skyler): Nice.
(Chris): Then I left. I've been back two and a half weeks now. I came back on the 4th while he was in Omaha.
(Skyler): So hey, you know, like I said. I think that's an important thing to definitely take advantage of when you can. So very cool. Very cool. So of the stuff that you've gotten to work on so far and the experiences that you've gotten, what would you say has been like kind of your biggest or most beneficial takeaway so far? Something that you really feel like is going to help you going forward.
(Chris): Yeah. So I think the biggest thing that I've learned is kind of how to iterate designs very quickly, because that's something that I really struggle with in school. I always really want to flesh out this iteration and the next iteration and the third iteration. But you know that takes time, and it's something that I really wanted to break away from. And actually, on the project that I was put on and I got back from Spain, which is the Nebraska Veteran Cemetery, I had a few days to iterate as many iterations as I could, right? Although I didn't get a lot of iterations, I was going much faster than in comparison to what I do where I'm in school. I think actually talking to Carlos, who has been here as an intern for two years, really helped me. He's like, "Don't worry about like the main form, your focus is supposed to be the roof and adjusting that, and then maybe some various walls within the project. But don't shy away from it, and just don't worry about how it looks. We just want to kind of get a representational digital model for the clients."
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): And that end, just kind of seeing how he did it and what his approach was, kind of really helped me kind of approach iterations in a quick manner. Okay. Yeah. But I guess another skill that I’ve also picked up is this. I've kind of learned how to pick up or the need to pick up programs on the fly. I only spend like a few hours kind of learning the basics. Learn the basics from. And you know, during college, it's like I've always been pushing, if I want to learn something, I'm going to on YouTube, and it is so much easier to just like walk over to another intern, walk over to another project manager. "Hey, how can you do this really quick?" And they just come over. It's like you're not sitting there on a computer, looking for the right video.
(Skyler): Right, right.
(Chris): And it's just. That was really nice to do.
(Skyler): Oh, absolutely.
(Chris): I feel like I do enough in school, even so.
(Skyler): Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's always frustrating when you go into a tutorial video and they don't show you right from the get-go, like, here's what the end product's going to look like. Cause then I don't know if you're even doing what it is that I need to accomplish. So.
(Chris): Or they get you with the Oh yeah, here's like phase one, phase five and phase six of this like tutorial. If you want the rest, you got to pay the dollars. You're like, what?
(Skyler): No, Come on. Awesome. Well, for anyone out there who knows they're looking at an internship as the next step in their education process and stuff like that, if they've got like some underlying nervousness or fears or anything like that, like, is that something that you kind of experienced in your process? Was there anything kind of like some worry or something in the back of your brain that was going on before you jumped into it?
(Chris): Yeah. Yeah. So throughout the whole process of trying to get an internship experience or get into a firm. I mean, I think it arguably I feel that it will be pretty easy for me to. Well, for one, come back and or like hypothetically, and who I've talked to. It's like, you know, going to another friend, you already have that like office experience, which I think is something that I have a grudge with. Like the college is, you know, sometimes they really like, oh, yeah, you'll get like, Revit experience in the field. Then there are a lot of firms that will be like, "Oh, we actually want you to come into our internship already with this."
(Skyler): Oh, yeah, yeah.
(Chris): So it's just kind of like, you know, my worry was finding a job in general.
(Skyler): Yeah.
(Chris): And I think I really lucked out on getting a job and also getting a job at a place that is very focused on you don't need to know everything. We just want you to be able to understand and be able to learn and be able to kind of like continue your education, and not just like come to work every day and do that work. So, it's like, I guess my greatest advice to anyone, like looking worried or stressing out about like finding a firm or anything. I didn't have that issue of having to pick and choose. Like, CMBA was one of two firms that offered me a job, and they were on my CV was the obvious way to go for me, just because of my financial reasons, location, all this and that.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): But, don't be afraid to jump in and have a conversation with somebody. Because at the end of the day, it's like you don't ever know. I've talked to so many people, they're like, "Oh, I absolutely bombed this interview." And then like a week later, they get a call like, "Oh my gosh, I bombed it. But they're like offering me a position."
(Skyler): Right, right.
(Chris): Just don't hesitate to just go and talk to somebody.
(Skyler): Right. Put yourself out there. Yeah.
(Chris): Put yourself out there. Especially during career fairs. Because like, yes, there might be some firms that are like just there to like, full-time hire. But it's also just good to get your name out there.
(Skyler): Oh yeah, absolutely.
(Chris): And it's just that, honestly, for a lot of students in architecture, I think, I think career fairs are like really that initial networking.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): event that a lot of people go to at our school. It's like we have AIs and stuff, but it's like, there aren't a lot of people in A's because they just don't want to do it, or they don't know about it. And I think I feel like it's the. In other colleges as well. But you know, the career fair is usually a big thing for an architecture school.
(Skyler): Yeah.
(Chris): Honestly, for any college. So it's like really just going out on a wire, and then I even knew like some second first year who, you know, most of the time, like, they don't really have the design know-how to get a job, but it's like they're already. They're kind of in line like, hey, like, I know I'm not really applying for a job this year. I just want to kind of talk to you about what your firm does.
(Skyler): Yeah.
(Chris): Future. So I can do a little more like extended research into, like. Yeah, you guys really do. Because, I mean, that's kind of in a backwards way, what happened to me, it's like I knew Jim, and I kind of discovered CMBA. And CMBA was a really good they actually helped us out a lot last year, which was very helpful because we've been kind of trying to get that program back up off the ground since it happened.
(Skyler): Oh yeah, that's always.
(Chris): I've talked to the, not the dean, but one of our advisors, and she said, yeah, like at some point, like years ago, AIs used to have like 95% of most of the college was part of those like different programs. And now it's like we got, you know, 10 or 20 students that are in our program.
(Skyler): Sure.
(Chris): Versus, like the, you know, hundreds, if not thousands, of students that we have at the college.
(Skyler): Right.
(Chris): Architecture. So. Woah. I mean, sorry, I keep reading. No worst skill. I just will ramble.
(Skyler): Well, hey, no, that's all good. I mean, to some extent, that's really what a podcast is all about. You know, you just chat for a while and talk about your experience.
(Chris): So.
(Skyler): No, that's awesome. That's awesome. This has been great. It's been great talking to you, Chris. I really appreciate you sitting down with me and sharing your experience and sharing your experience with not just me, but everybody out there that's listening. You know, I'm sure that we got a lot of other students that are looking into internships and again, and I've said this before in other, episodes, you know, whether you're looking at CNMBA or you're looking at a different firm, I think that this information is really beneficial, to them if they've got that like, nagging fear in the back of their mind or whatever the case to just, like, look at the positivity that comes from it, look at the continued education that comes from it, and really just dive in and just try it out and see what it's like. So really appreciate you coming in and sharing about everything that you've gotten to be a part of.
(Chris): So, yeah, absolutely awesome.
(Skyler): Again, this has been another episode of Laying the Foundation podcast. My name is Skyler. I'm the host, for most episodes, pretty much. And, if you're out there and you are one of those interns that's looking for a possible internship opportunity with an architecture firm, definitely make sure to check us out at cmbaarchitects.com. We've got an application set up on there that you can fill out, and we will get in touch with you. Of course, you can find us on social media, whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. You can find out more about the company from there. And of course, don't forget to follow and subscribe to the Laying the Foundation podcast. You can find us on Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, and just about anywhere else that podcasts can be found. Definitely make sure to check us out there. We love that you stopped by. We love that you took a listen to this episode. Thank you so much. Have a good one.