Category: Work

Incredible.  In the middle of everything else, today marks my one year anniversary with “The Greatest Company In The Worldâ„¢”, Wirestone.

I have to say, this past 365 days have been far and away the most rewarding of my professional career.  It is remarkable to work for a place that you would bend over backwards for because you feel that they would bend over backwards for you.  I have worked 15 hour days and 70 hour weeks.  And I would do it again, if that’s what was asked.  I am not alone in this assessment either.  Just recently, some friends worked an entire night to get a project done.  That’s dedication, brother.

The thing is, they make you feel appreciated.  That your work is important, and in turn, that makes you want to bust your ass.  Especially coming from Hewlett Packard, where the idea of “employee worth” was thrown out the window YEARS ago.  It doesn’t take only pay or perks, although important.  It takes gratitude.  A feeling of self worth.  Wirestone has got that down in spades.  This comes from having amazing people who are engaged and excited from the top all the way down.

There is an interesting phenomenon here.  There have been a multiple people who have left Wirestone, seeking greener pastures, only to come sprinting back once they see how other places are run.  Sometimes, within the same week.  The only explanation I can give is that people who have been here awhile can forget just how good we have it, and going somewhere else brings that fact into stark reality.  I, having spent 8 grueling years at the declining HP, have no such delusions.  I know there is no other place I’d rather be than here.  (which makes me work all the harder).

Here is the email that my direct manager Mike sent to the whole Boise office this morning:

Jason Haberman is 1 stoner-year-old today.

Its hard to believe he’s been at Wirestone a whole year already, and equally hard to imagine how we got along without him.  Anyone who has had the chance to work with Jason knows about his great work ethic, dependability, attitude, and incredible hot metal skilz. These positive traits, plus many others are what keep Jason in high demand – to the point where I get requests from other offices for him by name.

Thanks for being part of our team Jason, and good luck with your wedding!

Mike

It has absolutely been my pleasure.

And after a week in Maui, I’ll come back charged up enough to take on the world.

Some of you might be wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to… ok… maybe not. Perhaps I have an inflated sense of self-worth… No matter. I’m telling you anyway, whether you want to know or not.

Working. That’s it, that’s the list.

I got handed a rather large website project last week. I spent last weekend dipping my toes into the pool but began with vigor on Monday. This site is quite involved, and consists of many many gradient background pieces and other items which just add to the complexity. I spent so much time staring at gradients that when I got out of bed to go to the bathroom Thursday night, the light through the window cast a gradient on the wall… All I could think was how I needed to slice that up and make it into html. Yeah, I need more sleep.

I’ve got <div>’s, classes, and pixel widths coming out of my ass. Don’t get be started about Internet Explorer’s, shall we say, “limited” standards implementation…

Plus, there were a number of technical challenges I ran into. Strange corner cases with CSS and javascript that took me forever to try to solve. The worst day this week was Wednesday. I was at work for over 12 hours and when I left I was in the EXACT same place as I was when I started the day. I actually accomplished nothing. Spent the day banging my head against the wall. I would fix one little thing, or think I had, only to find it didn’t really work, or worse yet, broke something that was previously working perfectly. Let me tell you, that was frustrating.

Counting the 9+ hours I worked today (Saturday), I am at over 62 hours for the week. It was nice and quiet at the office today though. I was the only one there. I do think I need to invest in an additional monitor for my home PC, so I don’t have to always work in the office. Any of you out there with dual monitors will agree with me on how much more efficient you can be with them. I think Costco might be a destination tomorrow…

As of this evening, I have conquered all of the real sticky technical pieces… and even better, I can reuse all of the code I’ve developed on future projects, which will save me a ton of time. Sometimes, there is nothing better than really getting in that groove where everything is working and you are making killer progress.

Speaking of which, as an aside, have you seen those bumper stickers that say something like “A Bad Day Golfing Still Beats A Good Day At Work”? Bullshit. I would MUCH rather have a good day at work kicking ass, than have one of those rounds where you put 12 balls into the water. It’s not even close to a tough decision. Maybe that’s just me.

On the plus side, Jess is actually out of town in Portland, OR visiting an old college friend this weekend. So, I’ve been able to completely focus on work. Not that I can’t when she is around or anything, but it is tough when you have a metric shit-ton of work but would rather spend time with a certain someone, ya know?

So, the ‘beta’ site is due to show the customer by end of business on Wednesday. With the stuff I got knocked out today, I don’t think I should have a problem hitting that deadline. That being said, I will be working long hours up until then to be sure. Not to mention, that the client will then review it, then provide feedback. Judging by how this client has been up until now, there will be a TON of changes and alterations. I think the final product is due the 8th or 9th.

I will be neck deep until then. It’s unfortunate that I’ve been so slammed, because there has been a lot I wanted to blog about lately… bitching about daylight savings time, Boise State winning the WAC and making the Big Dance, my brackets performance (or lack thereof), so on and so forth… maybe I’ll get to them sometime.

Today was Wirestone’s holiday function.  It consisted of a Bad Sweater party, coupled with a Crock Pot cook off, all in our recently remodeled office which we opened for all to see.

Frankly, it was a hell of a time.  I brought my now-famous Stroganoff Dip which was a gigantic hit with everyone who tried it.

I bought a horrible acrylic sweater at JC Penny’s yesterday.  I figured $15 was enough to spend on a joke.  The office was absolutely filled with the most horrible collection of sweaters ever collected in a single location.  If it wasn’t so amusing, it would have been horrifying.

But, we had a lot of beer, wine, hot buttered rum, mulled wine and an open bar.   It was a nice turnout.  Jess came by as well as my folks.  I was able to show everyone where I work and give them the nickel tour.

I, personally, started drinking at about 1:30pm and the party didn’t start until 3.  I spent the morning help set up and get everything setup.  So, I figured I earned a beer…

Anyway, it was a great party and I can’t be happier to work in such a terrific place.   Keep you fingers crossed that I won the crock-off… watch this space for updates.

Happy Holidays!