Your first three years are not a waiting room. They are your apprenticeship. A field guide to choosing the right office, mentors and work before you make the big career decisions.
“I really wish somebody gave me this during my first 3 years.”Praneetha, Master’s graduate in Interior Design, SCAD Savannah
At twenty-two you are asked to choose: practice or teaching, India or abroad, master's or work, big firm or small studio. Most students choose among options they have barely tasted, and then judge the whole profession from one bad internship.
This book gives you a different plan. For roughly three years, optimise for learning, exposure and responsibility. Then make the big decisions with evidence.
“Do not make a permanent judgement from a temporary exposure.”
The whole book is built around three stages. Each year widens what you can carry.
Get close to people who know more than you. Visit sites. Sit in client meetings. Learn how a drawing becomes a decision.
Working drawings, details, services, cost and site problems. What happens when your line meets concrete and a deadline.
Take responsibility for a package, a client or a site issue. Responsibility is where professional judgement begins.
“I didn’t realise I had only a few pages left. It was an amazing read. I really wish somebody gave me this during my first 3 years. Well, better late than never! It will shape minds, and help students and working professionals organise their mind and learn where and what to work.”
“The reflection questions were not something I could simply read and move on from. Each question made me pause and relate it to my own situation. I never felt bored. It felt like having a mentor sitting with me and guiding me personally.”
“I was able to finish it in a single sitting. No filler words, well stripped to the important points, and very much in touch with reality. Almost like a conversation. It is practical without being shallow.”
Architect, mentor and principal of D+R DESIGN in Bangalore, which he founded with his partner Rashmi in 2004. His work is built on passive design, daylight and honest materials.
He has interviewed hundreds of young architects, and writes about careers, craft and practice on LinkedIn. This book collects the advice he keeps repeating to students.
A PDF of about 80 pages, designed at A5 size so it reads comfortably on a phone or tablet and prints neatly two to a sheet on A4. It includes an 11-sheet workbook at the back, a one-page summary, and clickable contents so you can jump to any chapter or sheet.
Once Razorpay confirms the payment, the PDF is mailed to the email you gave at checkout. It usually arrives within 10 minutes. Razorpay also emails you a receipt. If the PDF does not arrive, check your spam folder. If anything still goes wrong, write to me with the receipt and I will send the book.
Not at all. It is most useful before your internship semester, when you choose where to spend it.
Yes. The book is written from practice in India and the United States, but the first three years look much the same everywhere: learn to observe, learn to build, learn to own. Readers in the Middle East and Africa will recognise the same choices, the same pressures and the same questions.
If you are planning a master's in the US, Chapter 12 is written for you. Deepak went from India to Kansas State University on a full scholarship, then practised for seven years in Seattle. The chapter helps you decide whether a master's abroad is the right move, when to go, and what to ask before you take on the cost. It is not a guide to admissions or visas; it helps you make the decision behind them.
The money chapter uses Indian examples, but its tools, like your dignity threshold, work in any currency.
Yes. Write to deepak@drdesign.in for batch pricing and a talk.
The book ends with a reading list: seven books on architecture and eight on building a career. I keep the same list online, with a link to each book. See the reading list.
After payment, the PDF is mailed to the email you give at checkout. Questions or trouble with a payment: deepak@drdesign.in
Outside India and cannot pay? Write to deepak@drdesign.in and I will send you a copy.