Roark, by contrast, struggles. He endures poverty at Cameron's and faces rejection out on his own after the older man's retirement. Despite Cameron's genius, chances at commissions dribble only slowly into his office, and most do not materialize. Cameron does not have the money to pay either rent or salaries, but Roark remains. Their one hope is the potential commission for the Securities Trust Company building. Cameron and Roark work night after night, with a pot of black coffee to keep them awake. On the last day of their vigil, Cameron is on the verge of collapse. Roark orders him home after midnight. The next day, when Cameron enters the office, he finds Roark fast asleep on the floor. The drawings, finished, are on the table. But the board of directors awards the commission to another firm of Gould and Pettingill. Cameron is left with a check that does not cover the cost of preparing his drawings and an electric bill that he cannot pay.
In the last two years of Roark's employment, Cameron begins to disappear for weeks at a time. Roark cannot find him at home, but knows he is off on a drinking binge and waits, hoping for the older man's safe return. Eventually, Cameron loses the shame of his drunkenness and staggers into his office, openly drunk in the one place on earth he had always revered. But, still, Cameron and Roark fight on; they keep the office open though the commissions are merely drops from a pipe that is slowly running dry. They take what they can get — country cottages, garages, remodeling of old buildings. But then the flow stops completely. When Cameron finally collapses, Roark takes him home. The doctor he summons tells them that an attempt to leave his bed will be enough to kill Cameron. Roark closes the office, and Cameron goes to live with an elderly sister in New Jersey.
Though Cameron offers Roark a letter of recommendation, Roark refuses to accept it, telling the older man, "You're not going to ask them for anything. Don't worry about me." But Roark struggles. There are few opportunities for an architect with radically new ideas. Peter Keating gets him a job at Francon's, where he can give Roark orders and use him as an errand boy, but Francon fires him when Roark seeks to design in his own manner, rather than in the Classical style that Francon requires. Finally, Roark gets a job with the architect, John Erik Snyte, who employs an unusual method of design. Snyte is an eclectic, who hires specialists in several historical styles; he has a Renaissance designer and a Gothic specialist, among others. He hires Roark to be his Modernist. Snyte permits each of his men to design in their own style, then melds the plans together into a final product. Therefore, Roark has the freedom to design as he likes, but his buildings will not be erected as he designs them. When the newspaper columnist, Austen Heller, comes to Snyte, desiring to build a private home, life changes for Roark.
