Studying, moving and working in another country
For architects and students: what to do now to end up where you are aiming
Some are choosing a master's, some are after a first internship, some already work and want to move. We work out where exactly you are heading, what you need to get done, and in what order.
- 20+
- strategy sessions
- 6+
- countries my clients are in
- 2
- degrees cum laude: La Salle Barcelona and TU Delft
Who you will be working with
Mariia Deinega
I've made this move myself, twice: from Moscow to Barcelona for a bachelor at La Salle, then to TU Delft for an MSc in Urbanism. I applied to both on my own, and I remember the feeling — you decide now and find out how it went three years later.
Where to study isn't really a question about studying. It's about where you'll work afterwards, what you can manage with language and money, and in what order. Which country to aim for, and how to actually get there, is decided just as early — and your portfolio has very little to do with it.
Now I'm on the other side of it. Since 2024 I've worked at an architecture office in Amsterdam and I take part in choosing interns. Portfolios reach me as applications someone has to decide on, not as coursework, and I see exactly where they get closed — it's almost never the thing people worry about.
I've worked through more than twenty of these situations one to one: students, graduates, people with years behind them, applications to schools and to offices.
Education
- 2014–2018 College of Architecture and Construction No. 7, Moscow.
- 2018–2023 Bachelor of Architecture, La Salle, Barcelona — cum laude.
- 2023–2025 MSc Urbanism, TU Delft — cum laude, Honours Programme.
Practice
- 2024–now At an architecture office in Amsterdam, choosing interns.
- 2021–2025 Taught at La Salle: descriptive geometry to first-years, architecture summer school.
- 2018–2020 An intern myself — in Moscow and Barcelona.
Research
- Circular architecture, published in the CiD conference book
- Soulbound tokens for decentralised autonomous organisations in architecture, published on ResearchGate .
A portfolio is a consequence. What comes first is where you're going and what makes you useful there.
«This is what architect friends and HR people could not help with: something constructive in a difficult situation, and the steps to improve it.»
Problems you don't know about yet
It feels like the portfolio is the problem
“Help me with my portfolio” — almost every enquiry starts there.
The portfolio itself comes together quickly once it's clear who you're showing it to and what it has to say. Until that's settled, you lay it out on guesswork and then rebuild the whole thing.
The real questions are different. Where you're applying and why there. What they look at, at your level. Which parts of your experience work towards that, and which just take up space.
What people say
What people say after working with me
After every session I am in a genuinely good state. We work on what actually hurts, and I get answers to the questions that were nagging at me. You open the field up in plain terms — I learn a lot and it makes life simpler. The friction between setting a task and doing it disappears: after a session I have plenty to act on.
It turned out not to be a rigid guide for the future but a precise approach built around one specific case. This is what architect friends and HR people could not help with: something constructive in a difficult situation, and the steps to improve it. I came away with concrete steps, examples, and relevant feedback from someone who screens candidates. I finally got through to the other side of hiring.
Honestly, I want to say thank you again: I have finally got off the ground.
You helped me enormously with the review of my portfolio back then. Now I am applying again — with a new portfolio — for autumn internships in Copenhagen, aiming to stay on full time at the same office.
Questions
Frequent questions
Is it too early if my portfolio is unfinished?
That's fine. That's exactly when the conversation pays off most — otherwise it goes like this: a few days of layout on guesswork, and then all over again.
Will the information go out of date if I am moving in a year?
Some of it, yes. Visa rules, university requirements and salary thresholds move every year, and the details will need checking again closer to applying.
The strategy doesn't go out of date: what makes you different, where you're aiming, in what order you move. That's what decides it — the numbers we confirm when it comes to applying.
Is this one session or will I need a series?
One consultation is a finished service: your situation worked through, a document, and a plan for the coming month. From there you can carry on by yourself.
If you already know you want regular feedback while you work, mentorship is the honest choice.
How is a consultation different from mentorship?
A consultation answers what to do. Mentorship is you doing it while I watch the work as it happens.
A consultation is one meeting: we go through your situation and build the plan. Mentorship is four meetings over a month, and in between you send me what you've made. The plan doesn't just get written, it gets carried through.
Will it help if my experience is thin?
Thin experience is usually a presentation problem. What decides a portfolio isn't how many projects are in it, but what you show and how clearly you explain what you actually did.
And if the material really is thin, I'll say so directly and tell you what can realistically be built over the coming months. Selling you something that won't help isn't worth my time either.
What follows
What happens when you write to me
I answer myself
Within a working day.
I ask what you need
A couple of questions in messages, to see whether I can take your case.
Invoice comes after
There is no payment on this site. An invoice follows once the format is agreed.
Write
Tell me where you're stuck
We'll pick the format in messages.