Student Profiles

Jesse Swan

Graduate Architect for McDonald Jones Architects
Bachelor of Architecture

Curtin had a great campus and was close to home. The degree at Curtin was also more appealing than the equivalent UWA degree.

My time at Curtin involved plenty of hard work, but was so much fun. I met plenty of great friends along the way and had the time of my life. The highlights that clearly stood out for me was when I was involved in two study tours – one through India and the other through Vietnam.

In general, the staff at Curtin were great. The tutors could be hard at times, but this was for our “educational benefit”.

As like all graduates, I’ve had the “right of passage” to starting our career drawing toilet internal elevations... However this quickly progressed to detailed documentation and working on large scale projects. I quickly became involved in design work and client liaison, working closely with the directors with complete documentation of entire developments. I then progressed to contract administration and administering the developments through the construction phase as well. Today, I am now involved from the first sketch on paper, to the grand opening once construction is complete. With the wide variety of projects and designs available, I have spent my whole time since graduating expanding within the same firm.

I absolutely think my degree helped me in my career path. I would definitely recommend architecture. It is a career that is forever challenging and no matter how long you are within it, you will always be learning something new.