Kofi Akakpo is one of our interviewees, and he shared about his favorite parts of his work experience as a Teaching Assistant at the Graduate School of Design's Fabrication Lab. Here’s the transcription from our interview!
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Amy Zhao: Tell me a little about yourself!
Kofi Akakpo: My name is Kofi Akakpo, and I’m at the Graduate School of Design right now, pursuing a Master of Architecture, and this is my second semester here. On the side, I work as a TA in wood shop.
AZ: That sounds like a really unique position - can you tell me a little more about where you work?
KA: Since the Graduate Design School (GSD) is a making school and a lot of things that we do need to be fabricated, we have a huge “fab lab” to support the students. It actually employs almost 10% of the school’s population, so there’s almost 100 students employed at the fab lab. And of course, it’s not just the wood shop, we have a metal shop, 3-D printing labs, laser labs, a robot lab, and all of these have to have teaching assistants.
AZ: So just to clarify, it’s not part of the educational requirement to have to TA, and this is something that you voluntarily opted into?
KA: Correct, it’s not part of the requirements. I did want to do something outside of work, and it was a chance to make extra money on the side, and it’s right in the building. And the thing about the architecture program, you don’t leave the building very much. So when I got the opportunity to get a job inside the building, it was really ideal.
AZ: I’d imagine that also made scheduling was quite convenient. So did you need to have previous experience in woodworking?
KA: I went to Ohio State and they had a huge fabrication lab there as well, and I did do some fabrication there for some of my previous projects, but I wouldn’t count that as experience in terms of being a teaching assistant. There’s a lot of training once you get hired here to bring you up to speed, to teach you how to use the tools before you start teaching all the others.
AZ: It’s great to hear that this job is so accessible!
KA: Yes, and the way the fab lab works is that, in my previous institution, there were a lot of people who did it for you, but at the GSD, it’s very different - you basically have to do everything yourself. I think it makes it more important that the teaching assistants are there, so that when somebody comes in who’s not comfortable using the equipment, if they’re intimidated by a saw or something like that, we can help them.
AZ: It sounds like being able to help others with their projects seems pretty gratifying. What other aspects about your job do you enjoy?
KA: I also do like the fact that it’s a great team of people that get together and that it’s a very low-stress environment. And the great thing is that you can often work on aspects of your project while you’re on shift, so that if there are not a lot of people there, if you have projects you have to complete, models to build, you are allowed to work on them while you man the shop - I really like the flexibility of the job.
AZ: Sounds like there’s so many great things going for you! How did you actually find your job and what motivated you to continue working?
KA: We had an Open House early last year, and one of the things they did was show you the fab lab so that you can get an idea of the sort of equipment that they have down there, and that’s when they also told us about the job opportunity.
Since I worked through my entire undergrad at Ohio State, I wanted to keep working if I can. I was in a very different environment - I was in sales. And I think part of the reason why I particularly appreciate this current job is because of how demanding sales was - I sold appliances - which entailed long weekends on your feet. And even though architecture is a very demanding program, the flexibility of this job makes it a lot easier to pair up work and school work.
AZ: Are there ways that your employment experience in the shop has helped you in other areas of your life?
KA: The most direct example is that it has helped me make stuff for school, and that’s probably the most direct answer in there. As to how it has affected other parts of my life, I believe that wherever you work, you pick up skills that you can easily apply to other places.
AZ: Is there any other advice, or pearls of wisdom that you’ve gotten from employment for students who might be interested in working in general or as a TA in the fab lab?
KA: If you’re interested in art, don’t do sales. [laughs] I think that it’s great to be in a work environment because it sort of gets you into the rhythm of things. It prepares you for life after school, and a lot of what you encounter while working during school are similar to what you will encounter working outside of school. But working as a student sort of gets you into understanding how to work, how to help people out, how to figure out what other people need. It also couldn’t hurt to have additional income as a grad student!
