In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Since 1998, I’ve been designing websites. Before MySpace, Facebook, or any now popular sites which allow anyone to post yourself online without any technical knowledge, I was sitting behind a computer hacking away at mark-up to create my pages. I was online before being online was popular.Most of my projects were volunteered services. Only once did I get paid for a site I put together. $50 for a five page, MySpace like, site for a high school friend. I don’t think the site was ever actually uploaded, but I did do the design work on it. Beyond that, I designed a multitude of sites, mostly for the religious groups I was involved with. While the thought of designing for additional income has crossed my mind, on more than a few occasions, nothing has ever come of it.

Until now.

Earlier this week, I was approached by a co-worker who’s husband has been tasked with managing a complete overhaul of their church website. A few days later, I met with him, hashed out the scope of the site and my fees, and signed on as their designer. So now, for the first time, I’m going to make some real money for designing a site. I’m really looking forward to progressing with it. I’ve already created a concept sketch, included with this post, and am excited about pulling it all together.

I wouldn’t mind doing more design work in the future. Perhaps this will be the catalyst that will move me to finally start coding web 2.0 type sites and start building the business I’ve been thinking about for quite a while to provide technology solutions for small businesses, including web design.

Yesterday I received a call from the Virginia Beach Advanced Technology Center (ATC). One of the administrators there was forwarded a picture I had sent to my former Cisco instructor (the picture attached to this post). After a brief telephone interview, I was asked if I would be willing to fill out an information sheet and supply a quote for media and promotional purposes. Of course, I was more than happy to do so.My experience at the ATC was a tremendous help to me, more than just professionally. If I hadn’t been enrolled in the Cisco Academy, and had to endure full days at my high school, I’m not sure if I would have made it through my senior year with my sanity intact.

It’s really both an honor and yet humbling to be recognized for being on the right track. I have a meeting at the ATC soon, and will have to look for myself on their LCD displays in the foyer. I’m not sure when or even if they’ll post my info on them, but it is a possibility. I have to admit, that would be a bit strange to be reading about myself on a public display. Maybe it will be like celebrities who read about themselves in magazines. Weird.

Remember the job that I applied for a couple days ago? Well, I checked positing and it’s no longer listed. I’m guessing this means that they found someone else. I probably was too late in getting my paper work in. I shouldn’t have waited to long. Sometimes timing really is everything.I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed. I would have liked to at least interview for the position, and…okay, I’ll admit it…a new car would’ve been nice too.

I wasn’t going to blog about this until things progressed a bit further, but I feel like I need to; if only for my own sanity.I have been so grateful for the opportunity to have served, and to continue to serve, as the Data Support Specialist at Luxford Elementary. Though they say that they knew they wanted me immediately after interviewing with them, I can’t help but to feel that the administration took a chance on a young kid who’d only been back in town for a month, was living with his grandparents, was making plans to start college, and who’d been away from computers and technology for about two years. As it turns out, my perspective of their risky decision to select me for the position has had a crucial positive impact on my life, and in turn I’ve tried to fulfill the duties of my position to the best of my ability.

I’ve learned a lot over the past year. Previous experiences and knowledge have found ways to come rushing back as I’ve tackled some of the difficult challenges asked of me. Mostly, I’ve gained a lot of my confidence back, something that was allowed to dwindle in my pursuit of what I once thought was a higher calling. There is absolutely no way to measure the value and impact of the return of confidence and self worth, and no way to adequately repay those which aided in that return. I’ve made a lot of progress at Luxford this past year.

Progression, however, often requires difficult changes. Often opportunities arise when one is not truly prepared for them, and decisions to act upon these opportunities must be made. Such an opportunity has presented itself in the form of an administrative position with the Department of Technology for Virginia Beach Public City Schools. Last week, the job posting for the position of Student Information Systems Specialist was brought to my attention. At first I shrugged off the position as not being aligned with my current situation. I had also said I would stay at Luxford for the 2007-08 school year. However, after reading the job requirements a second time, it didn’t seem completely out of reach. Throughout the last week, the applying for the position has been on my mind. I’ve been unable to dismiss the idea.

Today, after preparing the necessary paperwork and updating my resume, I discussed the opportunity with my Principal, who admitted that she had seen the position and had thought of  me. She was refreshingly positive about my applying, and thought at the very least it would be an educational experience to at least interview for the job. Somewhat like her perspective on interviewing me for my current position, she didn’t think the possibility of me being selected was as much of a long shot as I believe it is. She agreed it was too significant to pass up. After discussing it with her, I submitted my paperwork and resume, thus effectively throwing my hat into the ring.

This is obviously not a farewell to Luxford, not in the least. We’ll have to sit back and wait to see if anything comes of my application. If nothing does come of it, so be it. That’s alright with me. Staying at Luxford is not a horror of a thought in the least. If this is the first step to a significant change, it would open the door to new challenges and rewards. We’ll see, and I’ll keep you posted.

In high school theatre, the week before opening night was filled with dress and tech rehearsals. One never knew how long these rehearsals would last, or how many times we’d have to run through a scene. The answer to the latter question was, “until it’s right” and the answer to the former was based on the answer to the latter. Affectionately, we thespians titled this week, “hell week”.The first day of school for us is next Tuesday, and for those who don’t know, I am a Data Support Specialist at an elementary school. This week has been “hell week”. I suppose the week started on Friday with the Computer Resource Specialist and I reconfiguring 40 laptops to run on the new wireless access points we were given over the summer. All in all I’ve put together a 50 slide presentation, 100 pages of graphs, given two electronic grade book trainings, and have facilitated the analysis of testing data and goals planning for the upcoming school year in multiple meetings. All this was in preparation for, or occurred, this week.

I’m tired.