Things I wish I knew before I started this course

1. At least half your work time is spent dealing with software crashes.
2. About 10% of your work time is spent dealing with lost or missing files.
3. About 25% of your work time is spent trying to convert your files to a format that your software will like
4. Only 15% of your time is actually spent getting work done.
   
5. Formats that one type of software likes will not be liked by other programs.
6. Your files will NEVER be in the right format.
7. Adobe cleanscript is going to be your closest friend for the rest of your life. Get acquainted.
8. Your actionscript will NEVER "just work". In fact, you'll thoroughly check your code about 3 or 4 times before you notice that missing semicolon. Sometimes, Flash just wants a restart. Kinda like a memory enema.
   
9. Owning a second computer is a viable way of occupying yourself while you reboot, reinstall your software, or wait for that neverending render to finish.
10. Never leave your computer unsupervised to batch render. When you come back from that walk, you'll find that your render never made it past frame 1 of file 1.
    
11. You will spend a lot of your time at MLIA or Icanhascheezburger.com while waiting for your other computer to reboot, reinstall that software, or waiting for that neverending render to finish.
12. Your persistence in troubleshooting on the Adobe help centre website may not pay off in the end.
13. No one on the internet knows how to fix your problem, unless you spend 2 hours searching.
14. Half of what you will be paid for is learning how to get around your software's major bugs.
    

The list could go on. In fact, as I learn to grin and bear the numerous Adobe Premiere crashes that I've had to endure while doing one of my projects, I'll think of many, many more.