Are you in a team-oriented position?

Sometimes, and sometimes I work on my own.

Do you have flextime? Vacation time? Work at home? Telecommute?

My hours are usually pretty flexible. I take (unpaid) time off quite often. Sometimes I work from home. I have a PowerBook so I can really work from anywhere. It's nice to work onsite too and interface with other humans!

How many hours per week are expected or warranted for peak performance?

I prefer to keep my workload to roughly 40 hours a week if possible. There is a high burnout rate in this field both physically and mentally. If I work a reasonable number of hours and have a life outside of work, I remain happy with what I do and much more productive. I've learned this through experience.

Some people don't understand the seriousness of repetitive stress injuries either. This is largely avoidable (take breaks and exercise) but potentially very debilitating. I have a friend who had to cut back to eight hours a week because of his wrists and is now seeking a different career due to the repetitive stress of graphic design.

Are many evenings or weekends required for your job?

Not too many, but sometimes.

How much travel is involved with a job in your field?

Unfortunately none, but I do have a laptop and the ability to work remotely.

Could you give me examples of projects that you are working on?

A web interface design for one video game, Flash ads for another. The work varies a lot but I do mostly interactive advertising and the graphic design of websites. I just did some packaging design recently which was a fun departure.

Could you describe your work settings? Offices, machinery, resources etc.

Usually high speed Macs are the computers provided. There are always printers and scanners and when I'm really lucky, Aeron chairs and an ergonomic workstation. (sgi had an ergonomics department when I was there. they would come to your station and set you up according to your individual needs. utopia!) There is always access to digital cameras for shots easier taken than found and a lot of design and software books and magazines for reference and inspiration. I have a decent library at my little 'home studio' as well.

(The following paragraph is a bit of a diversion, but an interesting one imho)

Most of the companies I frequent have big industrial looking spaces with dividers but not standard boring 'default grey' cubicles. There are common visual threads between most of the places I work.. most have high ceilings and exposed piping. They seem to usually have industrial steel elements of some sort and are either bright white, or have a different, carefully chosen color on each wall. There are usually a lot of crazy toys lining individual spaces and often a community pool table or slide or something and a kitchen full of gourmet coffee and junk food. "beer bashes" on friday afternoons are not uncommon. The reception lounges are usually sparcely furnished with modern chairs and a stack of eye-candy design or internet business magazines. The culture is really quite extraodinary and very cool. People work extremely hard but love their work and most are relatively relaxed, both in attire and attitude. The word corporate does not conjure the same images for me as it once did. The above description goes for the smaller agencies too.

What personal qualities do you think are necessary for someone to be successful in this occupation?

What is the major challenge you face at work?

Being handed a time consuming project with an unrealistic deadline.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding (pros)?

Having the opportunity to be creative. Knowing the client is pleased with my work. Working on a variety of projects with a variety of companies and people. Seeing the final product is very rewarding. The pay is good and (for the most part) I choose when I want to work and when I don't.

Least rewarding? (cons)

As a freelancer/contractor/consultant you are sort of a peripheral team member and are not always asked to join in all the reindeer games ;-) (namely events for fulltime employees). Also, of course you are on your own with benefits, and you never get paid vacation time. Although usually short, there are dry spells. Work seems to roll in sometimes like a tidalwave, and then when the calender clears up there is nothing all of a sudden. It just works that way.

Are you confronted with difficult decisions or situations in your position?

Yes. I had a client once who I worked extraordinarily hard for. He didn't pay the full amount owed (which was too little to begin with because I didn't know to charge more). I had to take him to small claims court to get paid in full. It was a nightmare but a learning experience. I learned to bill hourly instead of per project and to put everything in writing. It was also a lesson in how to take someone to small claims court when neccessary (and win!). Sometimes now I can sense too much stress surrounding a project and I opt to turn the job down. Life's too short and there are too many great projects to waste time on a lemon.

Do you have a lot of interaction with a certain occupation? I.E. media, engineers, etc.

Web producers, creative and art directors, programmers, creative recruiters (although so far I've landed all but one job on my own), copy writers, other freelancers.

What is the Female to Male Ratio in your position/field?

I don't honestly know, but once I sat at a conference table for a meeting, looked around and noticed all ten of us were women. Perhaps it is generally evenly split? It is still a new industry and therefore there is probably a higher ratio of women than in other professions (but likely fewer than men).

Has the field changed since you first started your career?

Yes, a lot.

Describe the changes taking place in your field.

There was a time when everyone was building their own website from software templates. Now there is a realization that the quality is substantially better when handed to professionals. A cookie-cutter site looks like a cookie-cutter site. A professional site looks..well you know.

It is an ever changing field in so many ways. The industry has, thankfully, become vastly much more specialized. Most job listings used to ask for a hardcore programmer/visual designer. Two completely different jobs in one! It is a rare person who is extremely good at both. Now there are loads of new distinctions even within those two specialties. It makes sense. I was banking on increased specialization a few years back when everyone told me I had to learn Perl and Java to keep up. Instead I became more focused on web graphics software and visual design. It's paying off. If I had more an interest in programming than graphics I would have focused all my energies in that direction.

Project future trends?

It will continue to become more specialized and will remain in demand and ever-changing. There will not always be the degree of demand there has been, but I think there will always be work unless a major recession hits.

Do you think women avoid technical careers?

Yes, a lot do.

What do you think can be done to encourage girls to get more involved in the technology field?

Webgrrls and other groups that encourage girls and women to pursue tech careers are fantastic. It would be nice if more tech toys and software were designed for girls and less stereotypical (ie: Barbie fashion software). We need to speak to their intelligence to get their attention. Media talks down to girls.

Classes for young people to teach them tech skills could be very good. If kids are really young though, I think they should spend more time playing soccer or tag or hide-and-go-seek and drawing pictures with crayons.

Do you believe that women will be in more technical jobs in the future?

Yes, for sure. It's a great time for girls and women and it will only get better. The opportunities in new technology are limitless and there is nothing holding us back from playing an increasingly important role in the future of high tech.

Do you have any advice for women and girls that are interested in going into the field?

Take one step at a time. Don't let what you don't know frusterate you. There will always be things you don't know. Just figure out what you need to know and make a commitment to learning it. Along the way you'll figure out more specifically what direction you want to take your career. It won't happen overnight but it will happen if you stick with it and get good at it. You and your PowerMac can do wonderful things together if you commit enough hours of focused time. Sometimes you need to shut the door and unplug the phone to get anything done. Just remember to get up and stretch!