Conversation so far:
What did Stephen Hillenburg start Stephen Hillenburg's career in?
park service attendant in Utah and an art director in San Francisco, before landing the job he wanted: teaching children.
What subject did he teach when he became a teacher?
marine-biology teacher.
Did he teach any other subjects alone the years?
tide-pool ecology, nautical history, diversity and adaptation.
Between those years did he come up with Sponge bob?
CANNOTANSWER.
What year was he teaching or start?
1984.
What was the name of the school he was teaching at?
Orange County Marine Institute.
What other jobs did he have in his early career?
He created a comic called The Intertidal Zone.
Does it state what the comic was about?
featured anthropomorphic forms of sea life, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob.
How did he come up with the idea of comics and/or Sponge-bob?
he was asked by one of the educational directors if he would be interested in creating an educational comic book.
Did he come up with the ideas of how Spongebob was going to look?
comic's co-host, who resembled an actual sea sponge, as opposed to his later SpongeBob SquarePants character, who resembles a kitchen sponge.

Question: Any other inspiration to the characters?
Self-contained rewrite: Besides The Intertidal Zone's co-host, did Stephen Hillenburg get any other inspiration from the comics to the Spongebob characters?