Why Minnesota?

For several years now, we’ve been wanting to move out of Texas. Somewhere closer to family, maybe. Or maybe a place with lots of trees. Or maybe to a place with mountains – or the beach. Actually, we weren’t sure where we wanted to go, but we’ve kept an open mind. We never really targeted Minnesota, but when the opportunity at The Nerdery came along, we took a long hard look at Minnesota and the more we thought about it, the more appealing it became. Yes, I know its cold there. Its cold in a lot of places. I have family in the area (I lived in Minnesota during my elementary school years before we moved to Texas) so its not a completely foreign place — to me, at least. In addition to being close to some family members, we are looking forward to lots of outdoor activities like hiking, camping, tubing, skiing and generally a slower pace of life. And yes, snow.

The Nerdery

Working at a place with outstanding company culture is huge for me. That was one of the “must have” items on my list and The Nerdery definitely embodies that. This is from the The Nerdery Profile Page on LinkedIn:

Based on staff surveys of nearly 200 web pros who blur the line between work and play, The Nerdery ranked #1 on Mpls-St. Paul Business Journal’s 2010 Best Places to Work list. A popularity contest? You bet. We’re also #6 on Minneapolis Star Tribune’s 2010 Top Workplace list. Founded by three programmers in 2003, The Nerdery has made the Inc 5000 and Biz Journal’s Fast 50 list of fast-growing privately owned companies for the past three years. The Nerdery was honored in 2010 with The Quality of Life Award and The Jefferson Award for corporate philanthropy/nerdy-deeds-done-dirt-cheap through our Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, at which volunteers have donated a million dollars worth of web development services to 39 nonprofits.

I’ll be working as a UX Designer on the User Experience Team. I’m really looking forward to joining a talented band of professionals and working on exciting web projects and expanding my skills on projects like mobile and social media applications.

These are some pretty big changes, but we, as a family, are excited about the opportunities to grow, learn and experience new things. If you have any tips for living in arctic climates or any suggestions for exploring the greater Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan area, please do share.

In addition to some basics that go without saying — good pay, location, nice people to work with, etc. — there were some more specific and harder to find aspects that I desired.

1. Smaller is Better

For most of my career, I’ve worked for large corporations. Despite the advantages (or perceived advantages) of working for a big company, I think my personality, perspectives and long-term goals are better suited to a small team.

2. Hats

I think most people like to have some variety in their day-to-day work routines. I’d like to think that I can contribute to the success of a team in more ways that one. Not only do I enjoy designing what a website looks like, I also like to be involved in (and have definite opinions on) how a site is built and how a user should interact with it and even contribute to the goals and strategy of a site. So, wearing multiple hats besides just the design hat really appeals to me.

3. Ownership & Impact

I’ve always thought it would be fun and rewarding to have my own company. However, for numerous reasons, I don’t think I’m cut out for the reality of it. So in lieu of being a CEO, it would be great to work at a place (a small company lends itself better to this) where I can still have a direct impact on the goals, strategy and direction of the company and be responsible for a major portion of the business.

I am thankful that I have found a place that satisfies most, if not all, of the characteristics on my list and more. I’m excited to announce that on May 24th I’ll be joining the super talented team of designers and developers at Ascendio in Irving, Texas. Not familiar with Ascendio? Here’s a bit about them from the website:

Ascendio is an idea development studio. We are an energetic, friendly group with a knack for building long-term relationships with our clients. Our skills are in savvy design, tip-top programming, productive thinking and honest conversations. We believe in careful attention to detail, telling the truth and making the most of life.

This is a small group of smart people doing inspiring work for some really cool clients. I am humbled to be counted as one of them and I’m eager to wear all those different hats. I look forward to working with them, learning new things from them and hopefully sharing what I know to make the company even better.

I started working at Rosetta Stone on the web team in 2006. Since then, I’ve learned a lot about web development and I’ve learned a great deal about myself. The company produces an absolutely top-notch product and I’m sure they will continue to be successful. But for me, it is time to move on.

Some things I will miss about working at Rosetta Stone:

Working from home

This is the big one. For most of my tenure here, I’ve been fortunate enough to work from home every day. Its something for which I will always be thankful. I’ll miss listening in on conversations as my wife homechools the kids. I’ll miss the daily chats and occasional games with my wife over lunch each day. The opportunity to have the kids nearby and watch them grow and learn every day is something I will never forget. For this reason, I think one day we’ll look back on these last 4 years as some of the best years of our lives.

The people

I’ve had the chance to work with some interesting characters and some genuinely nice people. Shared food, shared laughs and even some shared adventures will be etched in my mind forever.

Unfortunately, that’s where the list stops. The rest, as they say, is history.

My last day will be May 19th and then I plan on taking a few relaxing days off before starting up again. I will follow up with a separate post later this week explaining the next step in my career.

I’m usually not the type that likes to highlight and underline things in the books that I read, but I was able to make note of some of the ones I want to remember.

I strongly suggest you buy this book. Until your copy arrives in the mail, here are a few of the passages that struck a chord with me.

Its the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline. Be a curator.

When you don’t know what you believe, everything becomes and argument. Everything is debatable. But when you stand for something, decisions are obvious.

Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand … They know what to omit.

Interruption is the enemy of productivity. The worst interruptions of all are meetings. Meetings are toxic.

Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.

You don’t create a culture. It happens. Culture is the by-product of consistent behavior.

Rockstar environments develop out of trust, autonomy, and responsibility. They’re a result of giving people the privacy, workspace, and tools they deserve. Great environments show respect for the people who do the work and how they do it.

When everything needs constant approval, you create a culture of non-thinkers.

When people have something to do at home, they get down to business. They get their work done at the office because they have somewhere else to be. They find ways to be more efficient because they have to.

When you turn into one of those people who adds ASAP to the end of every request, you’re saying everything is high priority. And when everything is high priority, nothing is.

Now, go buy it.