Well, its 2020. Two-thousand-and-twenty. Holy fuck.
What is it about the arbitrarily assigned significance of a new decade that is so captivating to humans? You see the same effect throughout all of numerology. It really pulls at my heart strings to think of the amazing memories that I have made over the past decade. Some of the memories are of joy, others of heartache. Some of accomplishment, some of failure. The beauty of all of that merged into a single thought – “last decade,” is almost too much to bear, yet I can’t look away or diminish its significance. I graduated from college and started my career in this last decade. I found the love of my life. I lived in three different states. A lot has happened!
The feeling of wanting to revisit some of these memories brought me to dig through my old portfolio, dating back to some of my first professional projects created back in 2010-2011. It was amazing to see how much I have grown since then, as a web developer, as a designer, and as an artist. Some of the work still stands on its own! Some of it, not so much. Either way, I am grateful for each learning experience and the abundance that this universe has provided for me. The truth is, I made a lot of sacrifices. I worked my butt off at multiple jobs all the way up until I landed my first full time professional gig. I had a lot of people help me out along the way, and I had a fair amount of luck. I am not one to bullshit – luck is a big part of it. In order for that luck to be converted into growth however, you have to put in the work. From January 1st 2010 – December 31st, 2019, in the voice of Mark Jackson, I. put. in. the. work.
To honor this time in my life and to reflect on the miles traveled, I am going to create a short professional journal right here in my blog. I want to go through each part of my career, discussing the connections, projects, relationships, and lessons learned along the way. I will speak as candidly as I can in respect to my current and past clients, as there is always a balance between professionalism and brutal honesty. There is also a fair amount of NDA stuff to avoid or rewrite, so don’t hate me if I have to flat out skip over some shit. Mostly, I hope to bask in the brilliant nostalgia, the humor of my failures, and turn the page into 2020 with a new-found sense of completion. I hope maybe someone who is starting a career as a developer or designer happens to come across blog and finds a nugget of wisdom or two, should I be able to dig any up to begin with.
Here we go…thank you for tuning in and your support!
– Merritt