Looking Back and Thinking Ahead
Before coming to Think, I tumbled through my entire career.
I tumbled more aggressively after the recession. I bounced constantly between design and front-end development. I was a Graphic Designer, UI Designer, Interactive Designer, Front-end Developer, Web Developer, and UX Developer — whatever that means. I worked places anywhere from a week to about a year, mostly contracting. I worked for a marketing firm, an ad agency, an e-learning company, a large multinational software corporation, another agency, another large software corporation, even an online pet food distributor. I stopped counting around the 10th job or gig.
Then, I found Think Company. It became the place I didn’t realize I’d been looking for.
I joined in 2014 when it was known as Think Brownstone and their only office was in Conshohocken, PA. They had fewer than 50 people at the time and I joined the majority of the dev team onsite at Comcast in Center City Philadelphia. Nearing the end of 2018, the company has tripled in size in both employee count and office space. There are two downtown Philadelphia studios filled with talented people, and even more folks working directly onsite with clients.
They have a clearly defined set of core values which align with my own personal values. Excellence. Empathy. Honesty.
The company doesn’t take on more than it can handle but also knows when and how to push its services to diversify and find new clients and interesting work. There is mindfulness behind every large decision from moving into new offices or signing big clients and how to react to those changes. The culture is casual but also hard working. In my time there I’ve seen them hire very talented, diverse people with the right attitude and aptitude for whatever given job is required. They fix problems while having fun.
Since we are in tech, it’s worth noting that the people and culture are completely void of typical toxic tech industry tropes. They have a healthy culture of enjoying each other’s company, and having fun social activities that are beyond common, drinking-oriented happy hours. I recently played my first Think D&D night and killed several bandits. I’ve also been up before sunrise to serve breakfast alongside my coworkers at Broad Street Ministry on many occasions. We’ve been to many family picnics. We’ve blown glass together. We’ve thrown axes together. We’ve run road races together.
Aside from that, leadership and management encourage professional development and work/life balance. The term “work/life balance” is never really mentioned. It just naturally occurs. I can be a father first.
Looking back, so much life has happened these past four years. When I started, my wife and I were in the final stages of wedding planning. I had just quit smoking. We moved to South Philly. We got married. We had a baby. I ran a full marathon. We bought a house in New Jersey and moved again. My dad died. We had another baby. One of our cats died. So many milestones of my life happened while with this company, and they celebrated many alongside us. Across my two roles and these four and a half years, I’d never been with a company longer.
All this being said, it’s incredibly bittersweet to leave a company I’m completely content with. Today is my last day at Think Company.
My passion for this industry and work has waxed and waned for my whole career. There’s been critical junctures which reignited my passion. The most significant moment was when I went from being a UI Developer to an Accessibility Specialist. It not only reinvigorated my passion for design and technology, but it completely redefined my worldview.
Accessibility now drives everything that I do. It inspired me to write blog posts and give all sorts of talks on the topic. In order to continue this work at a larger scale, I’ll be taking the next step in my career and joining Comcast full time. I’m very excited to continue innovating and advocating for inclusive design, especially for people with disabilities. To Think Company: thank you so much for the years of opportunity, support, motivation, inspiration, and fun. On Monday, I start my new role as a Product Manager with my Comcast Accessibility Team.
