Today is an important day in my work career. It's the last day of working alongside Nathan Kress, a colleague, great friend, leader, and whom I can most thank for leading me on the career path that I am traveling today. He gave me my first job in web development, where we started creating things together in December, 2004.
Nate gave me a chance as I was grauduating ITT Technical Institute in December of 2004. I really had no idea which direction I was headed for after graduation. I never even considered the advertising industry, as I was very young and foolish. The recruiter at the school connected me with him and I believe set up the Interview.
I had no idea what to expect really. I looked at his website and was intrigued by his design style and the Man vs. Machine theme that was his older website. The photographs, the music loop playing in the background, it just seemed so amazing to me. It was much a surprise when I went for my job interview in his basement! However, that's where we started, and 400lb.communications became a company of two after my hire. I started working in December of 2004.
We landed a big gig with Highmark and I was hired full time later that year. I was presented with a contract that contained a salary, something I had never worked for in my entire life. Nate showed me the way. We talked about advertising agencies, we talked about design, we talked about development, we talked about meetings. We traveled together to the Highmark building downtown and attended meetings together high up.
We complimented each other well throughout the seven years. We would argue at times, but it was always just enough, we never burned a bridge or even threatened fire. We have always felt that we needed each other to succeed, and we genuinely liked each other dispite different lifestyles and being 11 years apart in age. He let me do things the way I wanted and stepped in when I was failing.
I can remember him following me out to my car one day as I left for work. We were working on a large client website and it was not yet done. It was a mix of under estimating the time we needed and my lack of skill to get it completed. He let me know that I should not be leaving so early as the work we needed to do was not yet completed. Dispite the warning, he still let me go, and we got the work done and made the client happy, due to his tact in the situation. That was one of many lessons I learned, and I will never forget it.
We continued to grow together and moved into office space in Aspinwall. Nate dreamed of these steps, and he delivered. We continued to work so well together until we had an office of 5 people at one time. We delivered on many large websites together and survived the economic ups and downs of the times.
In June of 2010 400lb.communications limited was aquired by Chemistry, a large advertising agency in the Strip District. It was sad to leave the 400lb expierence behind, but it was a large agency of 20+ employees and huge clients. It was yet another huge leap in my career facilitated by the actions of Nate.
So today is Nate's last day. His entrepreneur spirit shining bright as he attempts to do it all over again, with his own lessons learned. We were one for seven years, and now we split, a number of times more powerful in the advertising world than when we started. I end this post declaring one last thing:
"Thank you Nate for every single piece of knowledge you have passed along. Knowledge is power, and you have given me the tools to become a more sucessful person and a great provider for my family. I owe you a debt of gratitude that I can never repay."
Nate gave me a chance as I was grauduating ITT Technical Institute in December of 2004. I really had no idea which direction I was headed for after graduation. I never even considered the advertising industry, as I was very young and foolish. The recruiter at the school connected me with him and I believe set up the Interview.
I had no idea what to expect really. I looked at his website and was intrigued by his design style and the Man vs. Machine theme that was his older website. The photographs, the music loop playing in the background, it just seemed so amazing to me. It was much a surprise when I went for my job interview in his basement! However, that's where we started, and 400lb.communications became a company of two after my hire. I started working in December of 2004.
We landed a big gig with Highmark and I was hired full time later that year. I was presented with a contract that contained a salary, something I had never worked for in my entire life. Nate showed me the way. We talked about advertising agencies, we talked about design, we talked about development, we talked about meetings. We traveled together to the Highmark building downtown and attended meetings together high up.
We complimented each other well throughout the seven years. We would argue at times, but it was always just enough, we never burned a bridge or even threatened fire. We have always felt that we needed each other to succeed, and we genuinely liked each other dispite different lifestyles and being 11 years apart in age. He let me do things the way I wanted and stepped in when I was failing.
I can remember him following me out to my car one day as I left for work. We were working on a large client website and it was not yet done. It was a mix of under estimating the time we needed and my lack of skill to get it completed. He let me know that I should not be leaving so early as the work we needed to do was not yet completed. Dispite the warning, he still let me go, and we got the work done and made the client happy, due to his tact in the situation. That was one of many lessons I learned, and I will never forget it.
We continued to grow together and moved into office space in Aspinwall. Nate dreamed of these steps, and he delivered. We continued to work so well together until we had an office of 5 people at one time. We delivered on many large websites together and survived the economic ups and downs of the times.
In June of 2010 400lb.communications limited was aquired by Chemistry, a large advertising agency in the Strip District. It was sad to leave the 400lb expierence behind, but it was a large agency of 20+ employees and huge clients. It was yet another huge leap in my career facilitated by the actions of Nate.
So today is Nate's last day. His entrepreneur spirit shining bright as he attempts to do it all over again, with his own lessons learned. We were one for seven years, and now we split, a number of times more powerful in the advertising world than when we started. I end this post declaring one last thing:
"Thank you Nate for every single piece of knowledge you have passed along. Knowledge is power, and you have given me the tools to become a more sucessful person and a great provider for my family. I owe you a debt of gratitude that I can never repay."