“Here’s one often on the minds of our students: in-house, agency, or freelance? What’s right for me?”—@aiganeworleans

In response to this question tweeted by AIGA New Orleans, Ram Castillo from AIGA National explains the best time in your career for all three work environments. Castillo recommends working at a creative agency right out of school to build a strong foundation. After a few years in the real world, working in-house is also a valuable learning experience for emerging designers.

Castilla writes, “Experience is the best teacher. We’ve all heard that saying, and it really is true. No matter how intelligent you are or how many diplomas and certificates you’ve got under your belt, until you’re actually working in the real world—with real deadlines, real budgets, and real products—everything is theory.”

The following content has been sourced from AIGA National to share with our AIGA Raleigh Students and Emerging Designers creative community.