What is the typical work week for you? (in respect to your old and new jobs) Shops range quite a lot. Some will have the regular corporate activities--status meetings, one-on-ones with managers, conferences, etc. --that will punctuate the week. Others will be void of any of that. You'll be lucky to see the guy that signs your checks. Expect to have to integrate in professional environment. Your client partners, or project managers, or producers (I've always loved that title) may be wearing flip-flops and spaghetti straps, or banker blues and wielding a Blackberry. In any case, the work is project focused. You'll have a set of tasks assigned to you, see below, that can range greatly. You may be on-board from the beginning, or come in and finish things up at the end. Your role will grow the more years you have in the rear view mirror.

Depending on the demands of the project, you will work over-time. You can think about this the next time you hear about the union bosses squawking for more of this and that in their contracts. You won't have a union, or a pension, or a contract. Other than that you're a tradesmen--stuck with the suits.

What do you actually do?
That can be a mouthful. Not that the volume is that vast, the scope can be quite wide. Designers fit a number of roles. Early in the career you can expect to participate in a narrow range; make sure the pagination in this brochure works with a 64 page signature; cut these web graphics and create a naming convention that will make sense to somebody else, namely a programmer. Those who can handle the small tasks can look forward to organizing a printed communication, creating a theme for a set of communications that may include print, may include a web site; interpreting a client's business goals and developing a strategy that utilizes multiple channels of communication in a coordinated effort to realize these goals and produce objective results with subjective means.

Or, I make stuff look pretty and remind clients how right they are. Whichever is easier on any given day.

What are some rewards in your occupation?
One of the most difficult aspects of the design field is the separation of personal interests from the work. Designers, as any other artist, inputs a large amount of personal effort into the work. In contrast to other fields, art has a personal component that is inherent to the work. The trick is to keep in mind that the art is not for you, it is the ultimate property of the client. The difficult part is to swallow your pride when the client doesn't get it. Fair enough.

The reward is when they do, and it's great.

What do you like most about your field?
Puzzles. Every piece of work is something new to take apart and put back together. It's like airplanes, only somedays they are made of paper.

The other thing worth mentioning is the tangential knowledge that can be picked up in this industry. You re going to work for clients that operate in a wide range of industries. It could be non-invasive endoscopic staplers one day, and rigged-out baby strollers the next. There's an opportunity to learn more than just the day-to-day essentials that relate to your responsibilities. It can be like an auto mechanic that wakes up and finds himself in the middle of an operating room. There's slices here and there that can be quite valuable. Make sure you don't miss them.

What are some difficulties or frustrations?
See Personal Interest above.

The creative field runs the gamut of firms and individuals you can work for, from large firms that run everything through the same washing machine, to small shops where there are no titles. If you work for the former, you may find that creatives get the side-ways looks in the corporate lunch room. If it's the later, you may find yourself in a place that has a noticeable lack of protocol. The creative card gets played a great deal. But I'm a Creative can leap out of a designer when they are presented with a timesheet, or a project budget. You are either this person or you will have to deal with them. I am not sure which is worse.

How flexible is your schedule? Can you work at varied hours?
That depends. Currently I work for an asshole that cannot think further than his finger can reach for the CAPS-LOCK button. He has the most draconian sense of time entry of EVER come across. Other places have shown a certain schedule flexibility towards people with funny accents and brooding demeanors. Early on I worked 70 hour weeks. No shit, I had an even forty in Wednesday afternoon. Which brought me to $10 an hour. At that time in my career it was alright. Do that while you can as an investment in your future career. Later on, you may have other concerns that are not compatible with this schedule.

At this point in my career, I work a full-time gig and have a side business that adds a few months extra salary, annually. Add to that the fact that one needs to spend additional time learning new techniques. Oh yeah, and you have to spend time selling all of it as well. My varied hours are all varied infront of a computer and screen that is as big as my television. When I am done with that, I stare at things that do not make any sense until they do.

What are some major responsibilities in your field?
On the ink side of things, a great deal of it boils down to mistakes and their avoidance. Typos are harder to fix when there are 65,000 brochures laying around in a warehouse. Project budgets can get blown because you didn't understand the client's perspective in the first twelve rounds of creative. And no, they won't like paying extra because of this.

Beyond that, there is personal consciousness that designers may or may not subscribe to. Much of our talents can be used for means that may not be that attractive, or admirable. Think big tobacco accounts, or credit card clients. You may have to decide if your powers are used for good or bad. It's not end-of-the-world stuff by any means. But you may come home from work one day and realize that a good portion of the jun mail you just through away came from people like you. You get to choose what you create.

What are some reasons people may be fired from this field (deadlines, lose accounts)?
I'd love to say the creative field is notorious for debauchery and swindling. Ordinarily that is not the case. Kids and adults get fired from jobs for the same reasons anybody else, either their performance or the company's. More times than not, I've seen good people get tossed on their ass because the leadership of the employer more closely resembles a bake-sale than a communications firm. Most likely the companies you work for will be entrepreneurial and that's ok. Some of the best work out their comes from places like that. Know that some days you may have to earn that check, and if you don't...well, you don't. The bubble went bust.