In the early days of desktop publishing I thought that this was "the" thing and began to seek employment in the new field of graphic design on the computer.

Sure enough the very next Sunday I found the opportunity I was looking for. A big display ad for a graphic design job using the latest Mac Hardware. Called the company, got the interview and began to dream of "an impossible career that only existed in my head".

The fateful day arrived and with great anticipation was ushered into the inner bowels of what I was later to discover, not a graphic design firm at all. They sat me down in front of this huge monitor and began searching for some files supposedly to show me what they had been working on. My mind began to glaze over as their ineptness was revealed layer by layer. Actually what they were working on was some really rough animations that in some way related to their manufacturing process. I left disappointed.

Translation: What actually happened was this; a company had invested a lot of money in some state of the art Mac hardware and the latest software and thought they could recoup some of their investment by using it to "do" "desktop publishing" They were as disillusioned as I was. They were not able to answer the questions I asked and my hopes faded as fast as they had formed.

The lesson here is simple. There are no shortcuts to success. You still have to do the research, be grounded in the fundamentals and have the talent. The company, by the way went back to their core strengths and today I saw one of their trucks still delivering their goods.