Guest Speaker: Steve from Taxi

Steve started off at Organic - flash animator for two years
then moved to Y&R - two years
and now ended up at TAXI

His advice for us to surviving in this industry
1. Remember all your guest speakers - the industry is small, keep in contact

2. Know your companies - always do your research before you go anywhere
    Type of work
    Organic - banners, websites, flash all the time (strictly web)
    Y&R - A lot about dollars, less creativity. Clients don't allow too much freedom
    TAXI - crazy creative shop, being different, work you to the bone.

    Clients
    Know your clients. Every company has a few major clients that pay the bills.
   
    Location
    Whether you like to drive downtown, commute to work up to you.

3. Beware the Boss
Depending on the boss, if they are a writer, they may not pay so much attention to the design

4. Find a mentor
- his mentor helped him grow
- he was his friend, was there to back you up
- he got a writing partner at Y&R - gives him a lot of advice
- they can help guide your path
- remember to return the favour and help someone else

5. Speak up
- make your passions known
- if you see an opportunity, jump at it
- if you see a project that intrigues you, jump at it

6. Never take shotgun
- control your career
- started out as a flash animator at Organic. received PSD files and applied flash. Realized that he liked designing from scratch. Let his supervisor know and started going a different direction.
- There's always a chance to go where you want to go, just let people know

7. Tweet
- it's always important to be up to date
- the industry is always changing
- follow things on twitter if you can't keep up to date all the time

8. If you learn, they will pay
- google some interests and ask to go
- great places to learn
- companies will pay if you are willing to learn

9. Drink beer
- the industry is small
- you're going to be building friendships with partners, copywriter, and art directors
- stay in touch with people
- go out and have fun when you can
- the social chunk of advertising is a lot of fun

10. Don't take yourself too seriously
- where ever you end up, it's not the end of the world if you don't like it
- don't take it too seriously or else you won't like it and you won't have fun

11. Be passionate and have fun
- If you're not passionate about your work, why are you doing it
- passion will get you through
- can't learn everything
- someone in the industry will always know something more than you


Things that have helped Steve along the way
1. inspiration folder
2. mashable
3. thefwa
4. creativity-online
5. engadget
6. youtube
7. bannerblog
8. noupe
9. linkedin
10. twitter
11. facebook