To those young blessed souls

I’ve been invited to lead a sort of online discussion for the near-graduation 4th year students of the BA in Industrial design in Montreal. I was in their position in 2004 which seems like so ages ago and I remember the feeling. I felt like I was sortof on the brink of an abyss, the maternal warm womb of school finally letting go of me on the cold asphalt of reality, bills, student loans, rent to pay and generally not much hope for an industry that barely exists in Québec.

When I graduated in 2004, our class was 72 students. Most of them never got a job in design, only 2-3 of us went on to graduate school.
This year, the same course will have 12 graduates. I wonder who has adapted?

So I figured I’d post up some topics of discussions here since I’ve been asked to talk about “design and business”.

– We were told in 2004 that only 10% of us will go into design as a career. What do you think your chances are now?
– If you want to start a business, what will it be? What will be your USP?
– How important do you think the internet is to your future career?
– What do you think makes a good business person? Guts or reason?
– How many jobs do you think you’ll have in your career?
– Being your own boss? What do you think are the advantages/disadvantages?
– Working abroad: do you think its essential? what do you think about Québec as a market for your skills?

I look forward to the conversations very much, maybe I’ll get to see a mirror image of myself when I was young and innocent as Massimo says. :)