Around the World and Back to Architecture with Jamiul Choudhury

0025 - Jamiul Choudhury, Part II Architectural Assistant and Winner of BBC's Race Across the World
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Stephen Drew: [00:00:00] Hi everyone. I am Steven Drew from the Architectural Social and I am, I am joined here by a winner, a winner who has traveled around the world. I'm making the, making him laugh. Sorry. Already making you, already making you laugh. There you go. Jamil Chowdhury. Pleasure. Pleasure to have you here. How are you, my friend?

I'm good. I'm good. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me. Okay. All right, Jamil. I know I'm not the BBC. Okay. So now we're, now that you've, for anyone that's definitely not checked out BBC iPlayer lately, you, if you're a little bit sick of staying indoors, cause we're all in a lockdown and you want to, you want to remember what it was like traveling.

And then definitely check out BBC's race around the world. Am I saying it right? Race across the world. Across, oh, come on, Stephen. I know, I'm not going to rerecord it. We're just going to go in warts and all. All right. Race across the world, across the world. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It was on [00:01:00] iPlayer.

Thank you. Yeah, it was great. It was great. Season one was good. Season two was definitely really, really interesting. And it was, it was great. It was definitely an eye opener. I loved it. I thought the program was great. And so you're a contestant on there with your uncle. I find it's fantastic because basically.

you decide that you're going to build up your bond and that you're going to go and enter this competition and that you're going to go race across the world. So where it ropes in is so I, I work at McDonald company, which you have spoken to my colleague, Will Ridgway. And I said, yeah, I'm watching this program.

And Will said, Oh yeah, yeah, the winner. Yeah, I've spoken to him. He's looking for a job right now. And I was like, you got to be kidding me. You got to be kidding me. So that's how this all came about. And so basically. Here we are, right? It's after the race and let's get to know you as a person. So I know [00:02:00] you from running on the screen on, on, on the race across the world, jumping between buses, kind of winning, sometimes messing up because traveling is difficult, but let's go, let's, let's rewind the clock.

So the bow. Of History Path. Okay. Let's do it. Let's do the bells. The bells. The bells. The bells. So tell me. So did you always want to become an architect? Study architecture?

Jamiul Choudhury: Yeah. I mean, since I can remember actually me wanting to become an architect sprung from traveling as well. When I was younger, I went on a pilgrimage with my dad to Mecca.

Oh wow. And Yeah, it was an amazing, amazing experience, but it was, it was weird and wonderful at the same time because my dad's flight actually got cancelled. We went with a massive group of people. His flight got cancelled. So I was stuck in Medina with a group of people that I just didn't know on my own.

And I got to see [00:03:00] all of it on my own. And that's where my sort of love for travel sprung from. and my love for architecture. I was so dumbfounded by this idea of people coming from all over the world to come to this one spot where there's just this black box and it was significant and it meant so much.

It's just a form and it made no sense to me. But it brought so many people together and The space was an energy that you felt around. It was just amazing. And from there

Stephen Drew: on, I knew it's just what I wanted to do. So they didn't have a clue that you'd done traveling already. That's a wool exclusive, isn't it?

That's it. We just found out that you had preparation, but it's really interesting. Isn't it? Yeah. Well, no, I say it's helpful, isn't it? Well, what's interesting is travel. Does definitely broaden your perception of the world and architecture, and I can see how much you learned from it. So, all right, so you always, so you went on your pilgrimage, okay?

And so, you were in school, [00:04:00] you decided to study architecture, so where did you study architecture?

Jamiul Choudhury: I studied architecture at the University of Huddersfield. Okay. I did my bachelor's and my master's there.

Stephen Drew: Great. And so currently you're a part two architectural assistant. So that means that, you know, you did your freshers, you had a little bit of a party and had this feel, because this is pre COVID.

You've done your deadlines. You had a few giggles. You've also had a few tears, I'm sure, at the printer being like, please God, please, please Princeton. You know, we've all been there. And so you did a year out as well, right? You've worked in industry already.

Jamiul Choudhury: I have, yes. I've I've worked at an interior design firm and I've also worked at an architecture firm in Huddersfield as well.

Stephen Drew: Okay, so you already have experience in the industry, which is awesome. And you've, what were the kind of things you learned? So which was your first role? Was it the interiors role? The interior

Jamiul Choudhury: design role was my first role and it's something that I sort of carried on for a couple of years, part time as well.

I really enjoyed it. [00:05:00] I got to meet some amazing people and I really liked the practicality of the job. I wasn't, I was involved in all aspects of it. I was their go to person when it came to sort of architectural drawings and interior design just because I was able to do it faster than the people in the office or in house.

So I really enjoyed that. That was amazing. And a year following from that, I joined IQ Architecture in Huddersfield. And I worked on a number of different projects. My main focus was residential projects, we did a lot of house extensions and we also did a lot of community projects like mosques and centers where people could come together.

Stephen Drew: Amazing. All right. And it's, it's really interesting, isn't it? When you work in practice, because I don't know how you felt, but when I first went, you're like, I don't know what I'm doing. And then you get there and then you, you kind of, and you learn these things that I remember that feeling of joining at first.[00:06:00]

So this was really good experience that you've already got. So it sounds like you've got over a year's worth of experience in architecture. And so you returned to do your part two. Now I'm conscious of what would be good is to learn. When you've done your part two and how the race across the world where that all fit in, because we must be catching up towards the race and your studies, right?

Jamiul Choudhury: Yeah. So I went in for my part two and often I get a question asked why did I go back into university for my part two? And why didn't I carry on in practice and do a level six, seven and go that route? And I think I just wanted to go back to university to develop my ability to design with concept.

And it's something that I'd quite just couldn't grasp in my, in my undergrad. So I went back for my part two because of that reason. And whilst I did my part two, my second year, whilst I was finishing it off I came across a TV show called Race Across the World [00:07:00] and there was. And it just blew my mind.

And I was, I was like, why wouldn't I want to do this? If I could get an opportunity like this, it'd be amazing to travel the world, whether it be on a little budget to see all of those places. Can't go wrong. So I applied thought why not give my uncle a call. Actually before I say any of that I met my uncle again at my sister's wedding, which was in between my studies as well.

It was there, but I was like, I haven't seen you in so long. What happened to you? You know, you disappeared. He told me about it a little bit. We got involved and we started speaking. And so I came up to him with this TV show and he was like, yeah, sure. Why not? Whatever. Yeah. Yeah. We'll do it. No chance.

That's not going to happen. Of course we'll do it. Yeah. Yeah, sure. So I signed us up for it and we got an email back saying, yo, we want you to come forward and we want you to do an interview. And I was like, no, this must be a joke. This, this doesn't happen. Of course not. So I called him up. [00:08:00] I told him we needed to do a video interview.

I think I need to send this video off and see if they want us to the, for the next process. So he made a little video in his car whilst he was driving thinking, Oh no, it's not going to happen. It's fine. And then we got chosen and went through the process and we got very lucky, to be honest.

Stephen Drew: Wow.

Amazing. And, and so in terms of timeframes, cause what, I mean, we'll talk about how it was, because I think watching it, what was interesting is quite clearly that of course. The, the BBC is there to film it, but they really don't get involved. It really is down to you whether you win or not. And, you know, and I think it was one of the other contestants, which was like, Oh, really?

I thought, you know, once the cameras would stop rolling, we'd get a glass of wine or something. But you guys were starving. You had to, you had the budget. And I got the impression that they were like, go on then. See if you can do it. And basically, if, if it didn't, if you were in the contest and then you lost the [00:09:00] money, like one of the contestants lost money, they had to leave because you, you couldn't do it.

So for anyone that wants to watch this program, my view of it, I quite liked how for a TV, I, it felt genuine because. With The Apprentice, sorry, Alan Sugar, if you're listening to my podcast, I'd be quite surprised if with all your millions, if you are listening to my podcast, but I do respect what you do. I, what I would say that there's, there's a level of it's edited and with this, it felt quite sincere.

So if anyone actually is in currently, again, a little bit fatigued with coronavirus or anything, it's definitely, definitely worth checking out. And, I know that you did really well in the competition. I don't wanna give anything away if anyone's listening 'cause I kind of knew what happened, but it was, it's really, really intense.

I'm sorry. That was probably my

Jamiul Choudhury: fault. ?

Stephen Drew: Yeah, . Yeah. No it wasn't. It was my colleagues. He was like, I spoken to the beep who beep? And I was like, oh yeah. But it was really, really interesting. It was really, really interesting. [00:10:00] And you're still there, yeah? Because you're frozen on my screen. You're still here with Jamil.

I think there's a bit of a lag with this internet right now. So Jamil, you, you, you raced across the world. We just lost you there. What's happening with your internet, huh? I have no idea. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. So I know already what happened, but, and don't freak out about that. Cause we're going to record every time it cuts up, we're going to record and we're still going to put it in because.

You are a bit of a gem and that's the point. When you, when you get into your next job, then you probably be moving to London where you'll have high speed internet anyway. So

Jamiul Choudhury: yeah.

Stephen Drew: So when was the timing? When did you start? Like when was this being filmed and how does it fit in with your studies?

Jamiul Choudhury: So Whilst I was preparing to submit my final sort of project and my dissertation and my thesis I started applying for this show and it was in between all of that I had to pop down to London every other week maybe or [00:11:00] once a month and come back and go back and do all of these things just to sort of go through the process of getting chosen first.

Right. And then we went on to film properly in September. I believe that's when we headed out to Mexico. We were out there for, I don't want to sort of give away how long we were out there for, but it was a race from Mexico to Ushuaia, the bottom of Argentina. Yeah. And it was an amazing, amazing experience.

I can't. I can't really describe how crazy it was. I'm not going to say it was easy because it wasn't, it was very hard. There were times where we didn't want to go on. There were times where we thought we couldn't go on. But. You sort of persevered and fought and went through, yeah.

Stephen Drew: Amazing. I definitely get that impression.

And what I will say, without giving any teethless away for anyone, it's a lot more closer than you feel. If you ever watch one of the Top Gear specials, actually, [00:12:00] you know where Jeremy Clarkson's racing with the other two, and it's quite tight. There was definitely that edge of the seat in us where I was like, Oh, I was like, Oh, this is a few scenes where I don't even give it away.

And with one with a bus stop on the, you'll know where I'm on about where I was just like, this is TV gold, man. You can't, you can't make this stuff up. No, it was really tight, really stressful. And what was quite interesting is. Imagine that inadvertently you know, it is actually quite character building because I I used to have a a recruitment business.

I, now I lead an architecture team, which is where Will's on my team. Will, if you're listening, you better be doing some work right now, even though I'm on the podcast, I'm watching you, but it's you, you learn over time. And I remember when I had a recruitment business, I used to make excuses not to travel.

I'm too busy. I can't do that. And what I would last a year or two, I've done a lot more traveling. And I was really scared with the idea of going traveling on my own. And I [00:13:00] have a really close friend who actually had an accident, a motorcycle accident where he's completely fine now. So don't worry. But at the time he couldn't come on holiday and we were going to go together.

And I remember he was like, I can't go, I can't get on the plane. And I remember thinking like. Are you saying I've got to go myself and I was freaking out and it's this idea, but then I, I actually went, Oh, what happens is I went out, went away for a week and I had a great time and met new friends. You did it, you made your own journey and now I have the confidence to do it and it was super, super enriching and I imagine that this kind of experience is the same of as.

It's a super challenge, and now you've done it, and you've learned so much about yourself, what you can do, and how far you can push it.

You're still there. It's your internet gone.

Jamiul Choudhury: I am, I am, I'm still here. I'm just seeing if we can sort it out in one way or another.

Stephen Drew: Ridiculous. It's because

Jamiul Choudhury: there's so many people in the

Stephen Drew: house. Yeah, [00:14:00] do you want to tell everyone, get off the Wi Fi, get off the Wi Fi. Get off the Wi Fi people! This is, this is, this, this is, this is real life.

This is kind of what it's like, and this is a bit like what the, what the, what I like about the race is like, things go wrong. People make wrong turns, health gets involved because it's really stressful for a few contestants. So you did all that. So you kind of conquered that world and you had a bit of fun in the race and you did really well.

So now let's talk about. post race, post race world, this is a bit that no one has seen yet, right? So you, you, you finished the race and you, so at this point, had you finished studying architecture?

Jamiul Choudhury: No, of course not. I'm studying architecture every day and I believe that I'll do it for the rest of my life.

It's just something that is ever changing, isn't it?

Stephen Drew: Yeah. So, but in terms of like, officially, I know you're saying spiritually, you study architecture [00:15:00] forever. When did you, when did you, when did you, when did you get, you finished your damn part two though? Like just this year, right? So in June, no,

Jamiul Choudhury: actually

Stephen Drew: it was last year in June.

Right. And since then you've done a bit of work in the industry, but this year though. It's been a bit difficult looking for a job because of coronavirus. Yeah, it's very much so. So now what's, where's, in terms of priorities, what's your, so for the man who's been across the world, the goal right now is where are you looking for in terms of jobs?

So I've been, I

Jamiul Choudhury: want to go to London because it's the place to be. I'm not going to lie. I love the sort of city. I didn't previously my trip. Actually, I'm not gonna lie. I was scared of London. Every time I went down there there was so much rush and so much panic everywhere I went. I didn't think I could cope, but I feel like it's the city for me now.

I need to be there. I am looking in London. I do want to work in a, in a great firm [00:16:00] that prioritizes. The sort of psychology of design and how people journey through it. If you look through my portfolio, it's something that I enjoy. I, I want to understand how people experience spaces and how that sort of affects them going on into the rest of their lives.

And that's sort of the journey I want to take. I want to push that forward as much as I can. And I want to become qualified. That's, that's

Stephen Drew: the main aim, isn't it? Amazing. I hear that and it was quite great as well because of so I guess we've got to confront the fact that in the race you did really quite well, but away from what I was quite impressed is that you were quite generous in terms of giving back prize money towards.

Charities, local charities, you've seen that and I've seen your CVM portfolio and the fact that you enjoy residential, the fact that you enjoy community aspects as well. I'm sure that kind of feeds into your architecture in terms of any employers listening so far, you've [00:17:00] used Revit for a few years and you've got, you've got over a year's worth of experience in industry.

So we're going to link your CVM portfolio after this, but in terms of anyone listening now, so you're available. Next to immediately, you pretty much could have moved out to London. Yeah. You're ready to go. Yeah. I'm ready. I'm ready. And the employers, they can time you, right? I know how fast you got to destination.

I'll be there tomorrow. You'll be there tomorrow. You'll be there tomorrow. You guys heard it here today. Yeah, we, it makes, it makes sense, but I think there's so much we have to offer. It is, it's definitely an interesting one of them. There's, there's been a lot of challenges this year. So like with the race, it's definitely a challenging environment right now.

But my kind of vibe is. It's like the race. There is one winner. There's there's roles out there. There isn't people, there isn't, you know what I mean? There's, there's roles, but you've got to be, you've got to be fighting fit. You've [00:18:00] got to be ready. So you've got your CV, you've got your portfolio. We've got to do something about this awful internet and your mom's messaging you right now.

And you need to be like, stop messaging me. I'm on the, I'm on the professional podcasts.

Jamiul Choudhury: You know what, it's funny because they're actually telling me, Oh, mosque time soon, so get ready.

Stephen Drew: Don't worry, we're not going to be

Jamiul Choudhury: too late. We're not time. We're not going

Stephen Drew: to be alright. Let me go. Mum, mum. Okay, he will go to the mosque, alright?

Don't worry, alright? This is important. We'll always pray. No one can see because this is going to be audio that I've got my dick in front of. That's just for you watching. Don't worry, mum. Don't worry man, we're not gonna, we're not gonna get rid of prayers. Prayer's important, religion's important. And I'm, I'm sure it's quite spiritual though, traveling actually while we're on that subject.

And let me ask you though, is it super fatiguing being on them buses for ages? Yes, very much.

Jamiul Choudhury: You just think that you'll [00:19:00] go on a bus, you'll be able to chill out, relax, you sit down, you don't have to do anything, but that in itself is so strenuous because you're not in the best positions and you're huddled up like this next to your uncle.

I know. Who's very sweaty for, and has been for, and hasn't showered for a good few days. So yeah, he's very fatiguing

Stephen Drew: and struggling. Because when I was studying my part one, me and my mum, we went on a bus ride because at the time we couldn't afford it to, to London and that took six hours. And I was just, every time I see you guys in the, in the, on the bus, on the show, I always laugh because basically I know how long that takes.

I know how long that takes, and if it's a cut, it literally cuts in between the BBC, just to basically turn it on and cut the show. And it's 20 hours and the bus ride gone. So I'm conscious that your video is frozen again. Are you still there? Are you still there? Echo, echo one, two, three. One, two, three, four.

I think we've lost Jamil. [00:20:00] I'll pause this and I'll be back in a second. Okay, Jamil, you're back. Yeah, sorry, you were saying. Don't worry, I'm, I'm here. It's fine. All your flatmates, don't worry. I get it. Coronavirus is stressful. Everyone's on BitTorrent. Just guys, stop taking the whole bandwidth up. Don't worry.

I've been in dorms. I used to, everyone used to, back when I was there, Adobe didn't have They're the student licenses they did now. So, you know, there was the whole, the black market of cracked software and all this stuff. So if you're a student or whatever, I don't know where, but right now you're in a student gap, but things are going to be downloaded.

Okay. We need the jobs to pay for the TV licenses. So BBC. Oh yeah. You know, we want to pay to watch the race around the world and take a bit of time. I mean, it paid for me to go around the world. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Of course we do. Of course we do, but things I'm used to studying. So [00:21:00] anyway, so what we were talking about is how stressful it was.

And I was saying that I've been on these long buses. And so it's quite funny that, you know, probably two minutes of you in a bus will make screen time, but that was actually 20 hours of you traveling. And that's because it's quite edited in a fast pace and obviously it is a fast paced thing, but it's quite clear how long the journey was.

So you're quite keen to come down to London. Now I'm pretty sure that I've, I've seen your CV and portfolio. You've got a lot of raw skills there, which is great. You've mentioned that you're available pretty much immediately. You can get going now, so you're going to keep sending out applications as well.

So what's, what's the game strategy right now for anyone listening?

Jamiul Choudhury: So definitely the first thing to do is fix your CV and portfolio, do the thing, follow architecture, social, and do the courses. Yeah, no, you know what, Steven, it's been a great help, man. I've looked at your YouTube channel as well, and that was a great [00:22:00] help.

It, there were things that I was doing that I just. didn't know were either wrong or right. And I think it's a good way to sort of see your trajectory. So that's main, main thing, fix my CV and portfolio to a point where I believe that it's good. And then just keep applying, do what I've been doing contact agencies, contact firms, CV follow up.

Something that I haven't been doing is following up after I've sent my application. Obviously from looking at your videos, I think it's just the way to go. So I have called up a few firms after watching those and they've told me that the job's either been taken away or it's already been filled I've asked them for feedback.

So I've been able to get a little bit of feedback but most of the time it's difficult because the person on the phone isn't the person who's actually looked at your work. So it's just about going through the motions, isn't it?

Stephen Drew: Yeah. And that's what I'm going to carry on doing. Well, it'll be interesting, because we'll put this podcast out there.

So if any employers are listening, you've literally won a race. Okay, [00:23:00] I have spoilt it, but I couldn't keep it on any longer. I think that Well, look You tried that whole time to not say it. I couldn't do it. It's difficult. It's difficult. But it's already

Jamiul Choudhury: on BBC. I'm not spoiling anything. Think about this, Stephen.

Think about this. After we came back I had to keep it the secret from my friends and family for six months before the TV show came out.

Stephen Drew: Wow. You've got more willpower than me. And that's the point. You've got willpower. You've got dedication. And I think, look, I think, I think in character, I'm a bit biased because I've seen the series, but if I had an architectural practice, that kind of drive, that kind of tenacity is the kind of thing I'd be looking for.

So I think half of it right now is you hit the nail on the head. People are busy. People are busy, right? And so we're going to put this out then. And so if people want to get in contact with you, what we'll probably do is maybe it'd be good after we get your CV and portfolio on your LinkedIn or something like that.

[00:24:00] And maybe we remove some of your personal details. So someone has to contact you because I think that's generally good practice so that you don't get everyone. And And their mother ringing you up on your mobile, asking you about the BBC race, but it would be good. Yeah. It'd be good to get your stuff out there.

But for anyone else listening, that's not, obviously if there's an employer's listening, I think they should get in touch with you. I, I've seen your CVM portfolio, it's good. And I think that what you've done on the race shows that, you know, you can go the extra mile. But for anyone that's also in the same boat and looking for a job, I really like what you said about it.

It's about, yeah, getting your CVM portfolio and getting yourself out there. And in terms of the theme of the race, I think that the most obvious route isn't the best route. So in terms of job seeking, the most obvious route is going to be Going on the zine and waiting for a part one architectural assistant role or a part two architectural assistant role.

But what you don't see with that is that you get so many people going for it. So it's [00:25:00] already competitive. And actually what you find in businesses is that a lot of jobs are not advertised because ideally you want to, there's something about timing at the right place at the right time. And it's a bit like in the race across the world of sometimes you remember there's one or two bits where you, hitchhiking along the roads. And it's a bit risky because you, maybe you're sitting on that road and no one comes, or maybe you get someone passing through to the next destination. And then suddenly you have a route there that none of the other competitors have. And you're like, Ooh, and that's the same thing with looking for a job.

The further you look and the further, because they can be great companies who haven't posted a job and they could be local to where you are. Look around on there, look around on Google maps, find things, find the off the beaten track. It's literally a metaphor, which sounds like the race, but it's the truth.

The same logic can be applied. So anyone listening, I think that's the way to go. And that's the way I would encourage a search. So, and it's [00:26:00] the same thing now, Jamil, what we're talking about, where I think. What I would do in your position as well, we will put that out and, and you see portfolio will be there.

But I think what the same way I found the race inspiring. It's the same thing I would say here is about going off the beaten track. And so what I like to do is the same way that is what you call it in the race, the same legs. Now this is the final leg. You've done all in the leg. Leg, yeah. This is the final leg.

This is the prep work. And I bet your bottom dollar that. The job where you, you go to and you will get one, it's going to be probably one, not advertise. It's going to be one. That's going to be maybe not the company that you thought at first would be the right fit, but they're a good company. They're a good practice.

You're going to learn a lot of stuff. And that's what a lot of people forget is because, yeah, it's nice to work and have a Wix and it's nice to work in fosters, but the company, which maybe is five to 10 men in size that's doing residential [00:27:00] schemes. Yes. You can make a nice building and make a difference.

Okay. Maybe it's. It's not going to be featured in the design of the week, but it doesn't mean it's bad design. It means it makes a good impact for someone else and you learn stuff. And so I think those are the jobs I would encourage everyone to go to. So on this note, on this note, before someone else.

decides to download another film on BitTorrent and I've enjoyed this conversation. Was there, was there anything, a little bit of fun with it, is there anything you'd like to ask me? Anything you'd like, maybe something you'd like to say to people in the audience?

Jamiul Choudhury: Yeah, I mean, you've started this architecture social, and you said that you started it in your furlough time.

Mm. So how long has it been up and running now? It's

Stephen Drew: been, oh, architecture, social has been going for about four months. Basically it, and I'll tell you the truth, it's because recruitment is tough right now in terms of architecture. And so what recruitment consultant does is I'm briefed by a company to find people.

And right now it's [00:28:00] all about retaining onto staff and, and that's why. What I did or what I've done comes from the point of view, because I used to be a part one architectural assistant and a part two. And when I graduated, it was the 2009 recession. So it was the same thing of, I literally graduated and everyone was like, okay, that's great, but there's no jobs out there.

And it was like this kind of fear. And it was really, it was genuinely scary. And I remember me and my friends, my friend, Will McDaniel, he kind of inspired me a little bit. Cause he's like, well, I'm going to send, I was going to swear then on the Spotify going to ban me. And it's going to send a lot of CVS.

And and I was like, how many do we talk in 20 or 30? And he's like, no hundreds. And then I literally got the Reba list. And this is a tip for anyone else. If you want to go ultra, Ultra canvas everywhere. You go, you go to read that A to Z list and you go A and you email them and you go A, A, A, A, A, and you go that way and you send out emails to everyone [00:29:00] because now's the time with probability that is actually your how is, is your friend.

So if you send a thousand CVS, the odds on you getting an interview is much higher. And of course with every employer. Would love for that person to, who really wants to work in that practice to email them. And you should send those things, but there's nothing wrong with you doing a big search of finding people.

But to answer your question, that's what was the inspiration for the architecture social, because I felt, I felt that It would be nice to impart that knowledge. And it's like when you called up to speak to us. Now, the reason you called up is because there's a job board called Nuvo, which likes to repost our part two architectural assistant role from months ago and keeps going up.

And then, and then what happens is, is that you get you know, talented people like yourself who ring up and there's no job there. But that's why it was really helpful is because I felt in terms of recruitment, It's very hard to give a part two architecturalist, [00:30:00] it's not part one, the kind of the way, the, the advice they need.

So it would be, I felt it would be good to set up a community where I'm, one of the things I would talk about on it is all my advice on how to get a job. Now it's kind of morphed into a bit more, whether you've got book clubs and this crazy stuff and really cool ideas. And I kind of would like to.

Expand around the idea of open conversation where people can bring what they want. So for instance, you could, like, it could be, you know, a bit inspired of what you did with race across the world. Maybe there's a section I've been thinking about that I'd probably launch on that after COVID because it's a bit difficult, or maybe doing might be nice where people can talk about travel.

For a talk about where they've been, what they've seen, that would be quite cool. Cause you're on Facebook. Yeah. Cause on Facebook, I think Facebook gotta be careful what I say. I think it's an evil company. Sorry. It might sound like a book. If you are a real person. It's just so evil. And LinkedIn is, and LinkedIn, [00:31:00] and LinkedIn is better, but And, oh, I gotta be careful because I'm going to live stream on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn's good. LinkedIn's good, but it's harder to have, like, I've been in a lot of LinkedIn groups and I feel like there's nothing there or the content isn't as real. And so I, the goal with the social is to have meaningful conversation, but that is really hard to do because. It requires everyone participating.

And what's really nice is that people are coming out of their shells, sharing little bits. You shared your, your, you know, your awesome article in the AJ. It's been a conversation going and look, you don't, you don't need to be on there all the time, but what I'm on about is I want it to be that if you want to be there and you just want to chill out and look at some stuff, great.

If you want to comment on one or two things, great. But if you've written like a job post or anything to get involved, and it's like this conversation now, this organic conversation. Came from the fact that you rang up well, [00:32:00] even though there wasn't a job there, then you joined the social and I was watching race across the world and I was like this is quite surreal.

And also it would be good to have a conversation. Yeah. But then it's funny that like in my head, you're the guy I've seen on TV. And then you was before this, you were like, Oh yeah, I've seen your videos and you were like, Oh, I'm a bit nervous. And I'm like, you're nervous. I'm interviewing someone on BBC, which is crazy, but that's the point and that's the connections.

And what's been cool about the social is that there's some employers on there already. And so we will put this out and your CVM portfolio will be there for employers if they want to look for it. But I think in the true fighting spirit that you had, which got you through the race across the world. I bet a thousand pounds, not really because I've been part time fellow.

I need to save up as well, but I, I bet that you get the job for yourself and I think it's that thing. And we've talked about your CV and portfolio and we've talked [00:33:00] about constructively what the change. And actually I didn't really say much. A lot of these changes you've done yourself and they're amazing.

And I think I had a little look at your CV and portfolio and I think it's good. So we're just going to get it out there. So last leg. Okay. Destination is London. You're going to let us know. You're going to let us know how you get on. So we're going to summarize here. So you're available to contact on the architecture social, but also LinkedIn.

We're going to post on the LinkedIn link to your LinkedIn in some shape or form that people want to get in touch. They can get your CV and portfolio as well. But what I think would be awesome for the community is that we've, we've talked about what you've done before. They're the last legs. We don't need to know about the last legs is the same thing right now.

It's the same amount of pounds you got in the pocket on the last leg. And what I mean by that is we are where we are. It's the race to the line. So what would be really interesting is think of it like a little experiment. When you get a job, it would be fantastic for the community to know how many emails you [00:34:00] sent, maybe how many CVs you sent, how many follow ups and how many interviews, because I think that would be really helpful information to help everyone.

So should we call this. The race across the, what's a catchy name? What can we call this race? The race, the architectural race to London.

Jamiul Choudhury: Eh, maybe? Let's call it, I'm sure we could think of something catchier, Steven. Come on.

Stephen Drew: Oh, I don't know. You're the BBC celebrity. I've, I'll think of it. All right. We're going to do a race.

We're going to do a race. We're going to do a race and then we're going to see how long it gets to the job. We'll call it the race

Jamiul Choudhury: to architectural London. No, actually when you said it, I was like, no, that's

Stephen Drew: right, it's not that, it

Jamiul Choudhury: doesn't work, does it? It doesn't work. It doesn't work. The architecture kind of puts it off.

But the race to London is, is true. That's where I want to be. Maybe it's the

Stephen Drew: race to your next role. [00:35:00] Race to the role. I like that! So yeah, we're getting closer, we're getting closer. We'll post the official name after this one, yeah? You know, Rome wasn't built in a day, okay? Alright? It wasn't. But look, really fantastic.

I'm loving the, the enthusiasm vibe. And it's It is difficult right now. And that's the point we're acknowledging this difficult. Anyone listening that's finding it difficult as well. You're not alone, but you can do it. You know, if you can, if you can race across the world, you can get your architecture job and that's the kind of person I personally would want to hire.

So thank you so much. You're on LinkedIn. You're on the architecture social. I'll post a link after this. Thank you so much for being a guest. Oh, thank you so much for having me. No worries. Thank you. I'll leave. We'll leave it there. You let me know how you go. Heroes. Heroes. I will do. Where's the hero song?

Well done. Well done. Well, well done, well done.

Well done.

Jamiul Choudhury: Thank you. [00:36:00] Alright. Yeah. Can't wait to tell you about my journey. Hopefully. Fantastic. Bye bye. See you later. Bye.