Luke Hutchison

I attended the New Media, Communications and Design course at the College of New Caledonia in 2006-2008. Initially I enroled in the program to expand my knowledge of animation, but quickly found my passion for a wide variety of design mediums, especially advertising and web design. During my studies, I started on my path to entrepreneurship by freelancing as a source of income while being a full-time student. Upon graduation, it took less than a month to be hired into a relevant position in my field of choice, due to the strong focus on portfolio development from the course. I now run two businesses and use the skills I learned from the course every day.

I would strongly recommend taking Web and Graphic Design at CNC to develop your skills and portfolio. Remember to ask a lot of questions about every project, as clients and employers can be vague in the business world. Bring your own style and passion to this course and develop it while you learn new skills. If you have the time, work on miscellaneous projects to develop your skills and style even further.

As an alumni from this program, I have been able to pursue the path I wanted in my career, and with each new challenge I grow a little more.

- Luke Hutchison Owner of GoLuclear Interactive & XP Entertainment
https://www.facebook.com/goluclear/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/goluclear/

Steve Cote

I was part of the first year of the New Media Communications & Design diploma program, graduating in Spring 2008.

As part of the NMCD program I had a work placement at Jim Pattison Broadcast Group where I was offered a job in the CKPG TV Master Control department. From there I moved into the Creative department in late 2008, first as a Writer/Producer before moving into my current position as Editor in April 2013.

I would recommend an education in Web and Graphic design for anyone who enjoys problem solving and continual learning. Design and communications are both constantly evolving, so having the tools and drive to develop yourself further is key.

A good eye for design goes a long way, but I would advise that it is more important to be skilled in asking questions, finding solutions and making decisions that you can stand by.

The skills and opportunities that CNC's NMCD program provided me opened the door to my current career, and prepared me to learn independently to stay relevant in a dynamic industry.

Darren Smit

Attended NMCD, 2007- 2009. I decided to go back to school nearly 20 years after completing my first diploma! Myself and my wife arrived in Prince George during the summer of 2007 after a number of years working on cruise ships as Art Auctioneers. My goal was to pursue a completely new career path, namely in web and/or the graphic arts. I had already chosen (and applied) to the New Media, Communications and Design program at the College of New Caledonia and had the required study visa to begin. I had only ever worked on computers for email and spreadsheet purposes and had never received any training of any kind, my schooling went back to a time when the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 were only just making their first appearance! I was enrolled as an international student (formerly from South Africa) in the NMCD Program beginning in the fall.

From the moment I went through orientation at CNC I felt comfortable being back in such an environment, it felt familiar in many ways (although very different in many others from my college experience back in SA, luckily we all spoke the same language too!) and I was able to 'jump right in' as it were and go to work. The learning curve was extremely steep as you can imagine and many times I felt totally overwhelmed but managed to stick to it (also there were no second chances with re: to my visa, if we wanted to stay in Canada I had no choice but to succeed!). The help and advice gained through the relationships I formed with the program instructors (Peter Maides, Peter Ewart and Kim Stewart to name a few) were a big part of my success. They were, have been, and still are an awesome resource.

All in all I had a great experience during those two years at the college and again had the realization that there is never a substitute for hard work and sacrifice! I will forever be grateful for this time and how it helped me achieve my goal in this great land of opportunity!"

Brandan Spyker

I attended the NMCD program from 2009-2011.

After graduation, I enrolled in the BCIT Television and Video production program (later that fall). While going to BCIT I also worked for Apple in Vancouver. At the tail end of my time in BCIT, I fulfilled a 4 week internship at CKPG-TV. This internship turned into a full time position as Technical Director. My main role was to direct and produce three live newscasts a day. I took it upon myself to also help manage our station's social media pages and website. During the 2015 Canada Winter Games, I worked with an amazing team to produce and directed the first live on-location newscasts in CKPG-TV history. These newscasts won CKPG News the Bert Cannings National Award for best small market newscast in Canada from the Radio Television Digital News Association. This was the first time CKPG-TV had won a national newscast award. In August of 2016, I changed industries and joined the Northern Health Communications team as an Intranet Specialist. I help maintain our intranet website and internal communications for all employees.

The web and graphic design skills that I learned at CNC helped me at BCIT, CKPG (i.e. TV graphics, website and social media management etc...) and now at Northern Health. The nice thing about web and graphic skills is that you can apply them to so many different applications. These days having more than one skill set will help you become a much more successful job candidate.

Make connections, branch out, take on any job (big or small) that comes your way. A lot of companies these days hire based on word of mouth. Try learning different industries too. Web and graphic design work can apply to any kind of industry out there, so don't limit yourself to finding "one job to rule them all". Let's just say I never thought I'd end up in healthcare. People like to hire candidates that are approachable, easy to talk to, and confident in themselves. Never stop learning. The web and graphics industry is always evolving and you should be prepared to adapt to new standards, software, processes etc...

My education from CNC was able to provide a solid foundation of industry level knowledge, but also gave me the tools for future learning and personal development.

Elisha Brown

Attended 2011-Graduated 2013

After graduation: Employment and contract work as well as self employment. Now I am a business owner.

I was offered a contract at Northern Health in communications due to my work placement. I consistently had work with sometimes two different employers for the first two years and continued with my own work thereafter.

Yes, I would recommend the course.

Be sure, be a sponge, find your niche but keep an open mind and keen intuition. Figure out where you want to start as a designer and what you want to achieve in life because where you end up in this industry could be entirely different than where you thought you would be.

Regarding benefits of this education: In my case, which is somewhat unique, it has been the essential catalyst.

Kayla Hughes

I attended the New Media Communications and Design Program at CNC from 2012-2014.

After graduation I took the summer off work figuring out what direction I wanted to apply my diploma to as there were so many different routes I could have went. My first official job as a graphic designer was for a small start-up magazine company in Prince George. I designed covers and the layout of the entire magazine for 3 issues before finding my current position here at SpeeDee Printing. I have been the Lead Graphic Designer here since September 2014, and I couldn’t have asked for a better job. It gives me a great balance between Digital and Print graphic design… which are two very different things! I also own my own business doing Professional Photography and freelance Graphic Design. I work 24/7 - but love it.

[regarding how long it took after graduation to find work in the industry] I guess I answered this is the question above, but I was technically only looking for work for about a week before getting hired.

If you love it, then do it! Its a great field because you are continually learning and will never get bored… ever.

Web and Graphic Design is not the kind of job where you can sit behind your computer screen and never talk to anybody. You have to be driven, motivated, and educated to excel in this line of work. Always be current with the design trends and never stop learning. In my free time I teach myself new techniques so that I am never saying “no” to a client. Work hard, and you will be so happy with this career choice.

The program was a great stepping stone for the person/employee I have become today. Not only did it teach me the fundamentals of so many fields (publishing, writing, design, coding… and more!) but it set me up to be a problem solver and to learn on my own. Because this field is continually growing - you can’t expect to learn everything in this program; but you will get all the tools you need to be successful in the new media world.