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My career benefited greatly by taking on a very modestly paid internship ($90/week + room and board) as a teaching assistant for the digital lab of a summer workshop series at a film and photography institute on the East coast. I was fresh out of college with my BFA in Photographic Arts, and I can honestly say that if I hadn't taken that internship, I wouldn't be where I am with my career as a multimedia consultant today. The contacts I made with the instructors and students became the first stepping stones on my path as a computer book author, web developer and an established authority on web technology. The only awkwardness of my experience occurred when the lab manager quit and left. I was asked to assume his duties on top of my other TA commitments and my pay was left the same. I worked on average 12 hours a day, six days a week. The extra work was still outweighed by the immense benefit of meeting industry professionals and establishing lifelong contacts. One of the best fringe benefits was the final workshop dinner at the end of each week--I ate 12 full lobsters that summer!

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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