David Gray - Febrary 16 2012

David Gray
Digital Sales Producer at CTV News & Entertainment at Bell Media Interactive


ABOUT DAVID
David's LinkedIn Profile
ctv.ca

• Graduated from an illustration program at St. Lawrence
• 07' Class of the New Media Design program at Sheridan
• Started his media design career as an interactive designer
• Became known as the "banner guy", because he really enjoyed creating and developing banner ads in mostly Flash, he got to do something different everyday, and loved it
• He has worked for Publicis Modem Toronto for 3 years as an interactive designer, then moved onto being a production manager/Producer for online advertising at the same company for just under a year. Then the next year went over to Digital Branz/Digital Percent as a Client Services Manager. Over the next two years he worked hard as a freelancer working on things like online ads and digital signage, but missed the stability of income and hours of a full time job. He got a job at TBWA Toronto as an Interactive producer to ensure all deadlines were met and all the work was being delivered as requested by clients until he has recently moved to CTV as a Digital Sale producer.
• He realised that he wasn't a great designer or a great illustrator, and was fine with that, so smartly moved himself into management positions to better accommodate his good organisational skill sets.
• His new job at CTV gives him such an array of tasks that he loves. He also has a leg-up because he knows how long designing, coding, testing and research takes which makes him a lot better at this job than others that have no experience in the production work.

ADVICE

• It's all about the contacts, don't piss people off, even if they are letting you go, connections are so valuable in this industry. You might even end up working with or for them later on.
• Agency work will get you the good projects, but comes with long, hard hours. You will find you either love it or hate it.
• Don't expect too much too soon, the people that climb fast are the ones that work after work, research trends to stay ahead.
• Freelance offers you long and weird hours but is great pay. Be organised and available if you choose to go in this direction with your career.
• Sometimes companies give bonuses if you get someone good hired.
• Sign up for groups, LinkedIn jobs are posted here all the time instead of going out to head hunters.
• Put in the hours when you first start out, they do get better.
• Know as much as you can about projects - get to know the clients and what kind of work is produced for them so you can design on target.

ADVICE FOR THE GRAD SHOW

• Keep your head up, don't worry if people are looking at others sites and not yours, you never know who is actually looking at yours and has kept your resume.