Short term career making patio (7)
I believe the answer is:
terrace
'patio' is the definition.
('terrace' can be a synonym of 'patio')
'short term career making' is the wordplay.
'short' indicates taking the first letters.
'making' indicates an anagram.
The first letter of 'term' is 't'.
'career' anagrammed gives 'errace'.
't'+'errace'='TERRACE'
(Other definitions for terrace that I've seen before include "From which spectators watch" , "Balcony" , "Row of houses joined together" , "Domestic row" , "stand" .)