Mon 02 August 2010
Moving right along...
For those who haven't heard the news, my last day at Webs.com was this past Thursday (July 29th, 2010). After three and a half years, I figured it was finally time to move on.
It's interesting to reflect on such a large portion of a lifespan. When I joined Webs (then Freewebs) back in 2007, I was actually homeless, and was working a part time job at a Blockbuster. I had gotten pretty tired of that routine, and started cold-emailing companies. Out of all of them, Freewebs was the one who responded and invited me out to interview with them.
I remember being shocked when, a few weeks later, I received an offer to join up. Y'see, it's no secret that I'm pretty much self taught through and through when it comes to web design - with no formal training, I was surprised that anyone would consider me for a position in this field. Accepting that offer led me down a long path that's definitely shaped a lot of who I am today, both professionally and personally.
Prior to joining Webs, I knew HTML and CSS well, but when it came to actual programming I had just dabbled here and there, never gaining a solid understanding of the craft in general. Working at Webs was, in many ways, a great substitution for a college experience. The amount of things I learned is staggering - data analysis, in depth design techniques, and more.
Granted, while all that certainly contributed to my growth, I worked my ass off while I was there; I guess I'm simply stating that the environment is easily one of the best possible places to ever work if you're a developer. All those startup companies in San Francisco that seem so great to work at? Good luck finding anything similar in the Washington DC/Metro area... short of Webs.com.
So what's next?
I'm tired of Washington DC. It's a great city with a culture all its own, but I've grown up around all of this, and I want to see more of the world in general. The west coast is very appealing to me, so I'm most likely headed out there. As my career situation develops, I'll update this space accordingly.
Besides all of that, I've got my open source work to maintain, as well as some other cool projects in the pipeline. This isn't the end, but moreso the beginning of an epic awesome adventure.
I'm awesome.