well seeing as though Mike has answered already I thought I'd give you a different account anyway. 1) Why did u want to do this job? What was the motivation? My Dad worked in the film industry and in particular the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies and being of that era it was like nothing before it and as a kid it was like 'wow, I wanna do that someday'. So I had the bug of VFX built little plasticine models and animated them with a Super 8 camera and Ive always had a passion for art so its an extension of that I suppose. 2) Was it difficult getting a job at first? Well, its one of those being in the right place at the right time stories with myself. I worked at a photographic place for a few years and would draw caricatures of the staff there. Luckily the MD saw my stuff, told me about Photoshop (v3) and Apple Macs at the time and basically asked me to do the work from there. But after 3 years I found 3d... 3) How much education (college, specialty 3d postgrad stuff) did you have, and how did it affect your getting the job? Well once I found 3d I realised there was a lot involved so I practiced as much as possible at work during lunch hours and finally I enrolled at a local college in 1998 to do a certified course in Max. But from school I didnt really have anything specific grade wise but my artwork, other grades were just standard. Saying this its important to get as much under your belt as possible these days, I probably one of the very lucky few who hasnt a great academic list 4) What kind of environment do u work in? Aahh its kind of nuts/relaxed but hardworking and very friendly, it has its days as do all jobs where theres always somebody grinding on your case, but generally its fun. 5) Do you consider your job "rewarding"? It is, because Im responsible for alot of things, ie; storyboards characters etc, very creative stuff, but again there are days where you see really fantastic work by others and you want to go and do what they're doing. I suppose thats inspiration... 6) Do you ever have to work long hours to make up for lost time? My first 3d job I did an average of 14 hours a day (no joke) and I did that for 4 years!! Thats not including travel. The upside was I got to learn Maya, the downside was I missed a lot of family time. But now its all payed off quite well and Im working a good 8 hr day and I get family time too. I still do the odd extra hour here and there but Im liucky I enjoy my work to be able to take it home and do it there when need be. 7) How do you consider the pay that you get? Bad, Good, Average?? Good. You reap what you sew in my opinion, what you put in - you get out...In this industry there arent any shortcuts to a good wage. Cheers Jay