We’ve been doing this awhile….

17 Dec We’ve been doing this awhile….

Most people take notes at the office, but I’m not sure everyone saves their notes…for over 30 years.  Apparently I am that person.

Whilst rummaging in the basement for something completely unrelated, I came upon a box of my “work” from my very first IT job.  Now some of you reading this probably can’t even fathom a world without the internet – but try an office without a local network and zero ability to share files.  It would be hard to share files, when not everyone in the office even HAD a computer.  But that’s where my IT career started, in a small paper company north of Boston, one progressive enough to know they needed to “get connected” but knew it would be super expensive to make it happen.  They took a chance on a young but savvy 20-year old who had discovered a love of relational databases at only 19 years old.

I was allowed to sit with every department to understand how they all worked and what each needed from each other.  Over time I was able to design a small but completely customized relational database program that would automate the many tasks everyone was doing by hand.  Then, I had to learn how to create a computer network, wire it, configure a server and design my program so all the new computers we got could access the program at the same time.  No we didn’t have the internet at the time – but we did finally connect – to each other and the server, and printers, and that was a HUGE deal for this small paper company.

And it was life-changing for me.

I learned from every employee of the company, from the drivers to the CEO, how everything worked, how data and information should flow from one department to another, what dependencies there were, and how to design for them.  I found my career path.

So, while there are a zillion web designers out there, there are very few who can coach you on business, how it should flow, and then guide you through the process.  It’s not “just” a website – it’s your business and your future.