Checking in

This is just a brief post to let everyone know where I’m at. The last time I wrote was just before starting World of Webcraft last summer, so I’ll pick things up from there.

I met a fantastic group of people in the program, and I learned way more about Drupal than I’d ever expected. I would have been happy to stick around at Myplanet, but in the end they decided they weren’t able to hire any of the Webcrafters (and from the looks of things, they won’t be offering the program again).

In September, I received a call from Tim and Vince at The Pixel Shop, where I had worked briefly a few months earlier. They needed a Project Manager, so I started a new contract with them. In many ways, the role was similar to my previous Liaison Librarian roles; it involved working with clients to understand their needs, and then working with the designers and developers to make sure those needs were met. One of my major projects was the redesigned Dufflet website, which was a lot of fun, though it was sometimes frustrating to look at pictures of delicious desserts all day!

My contract ended a couple of weeks ago, so now I’m ready for something new. The possibilities at the intersection of information and technology are endless, so I’m sure I’ll find something challenging and interesting.

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Time flies

It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole month, but my contract at The Pixel Shop is over. The principals, Vince and Tim, took the whole team out for frozen yogurt on Friday in honour of my last day, which was fun, but it was sad to say my goodbyes. I managed to learn a lot over the month in terms of what really goes on behind the scenes when it comes to web design and development. The coding skills I brought with me came in handy, but now I have some real world experience as well.

I’m on the lookout for my next challenge – wish me luck (again)!

My awesome new job at The Pixel Shop

I promised I would post updates on my career situation, and I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve started work as a UX Designer / Interface Developer at The Pixel Shop. What exactly does that fancy title mean? Well, I’m going to be taking on a variety of roles on various projects. Some of it will be front end development, but I’ll also be doing some information architecture, usability testing, and more. Update: In the end, I didn’t do any development or usability testing over the course of this one-month contract. The majority of my work involved marking up text into HTML and entering it into a CMS, as well as testing sites by viewing them on various devices and browsers. Other tasks included information architecture, conversion of images among various filetypes, and creation of copy decks for English text that needed to be sent off for translation into French.

I was first introduced to Vince and Tim from The Pixel Shop a few weeks ago, at Hiring Week for Bitmaker’s 5th cohort. Of course, I was a student in cohort 4, but when the following cohort’s Hiring Week rolled around and I still wasn’t employed, the Bitmaker staff invited me to join in. From there, things moved quickly: our initial chat at Bitmaker was on a Wednesday, then they invited me for a follow up at the office the following Monday, they made me an offer the day after that, and I started work that Wednesday.

I’m really enjoying the experience. I work with a great team, on projects for a variety of clients ranging from small non-profits to big corporations. Every day it’s something new, whether I’m updating existing code or coming up with a new structure for a site that’s being completely overhauled, so there’s never a dull moment. Plus, the location is fantastic, and my commute is about 25 minutes by bike.

Life is good!