In 1993 Alba joined the Star Trek visual effects staff. His tenure on Star Trek constituted his first professional job, and he has remarked, "I held a swing position on postproduction. At the time we were shooting The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and I worked for both productions. Star Trek was my first TV show and my first visual effects job, so I always say that TNG and DS9 were my film school, since I never actually went to one. I learned a lot about teamwork and what a collaborative art form filmmaking is, even at TV level. My mentors Dan Curry and Rob Legato and Gary Hutzel were all generous with their time and willing to teach me. I was in a very unique situation–a very young kid who was allowed to learn all of this stuff at the beginning, before computer graphic imaging was