Goodbye Erskine

It’s been one hell of a gif-fueled ride, but today is my last at Erskine.

When I joined almost two years ago I thought that Git was an English slang and I didn’t know anything about Sass, JavaScript or responsive design. Fresh out of university I hadn’t worked in the field at all, I hadn’t spoken at any conferences or meetups, and I even sometimes tried to hide my work from colleagues. This wasn’t due to inexperience however, it was just one of the many unpleasant side affects of discomfort and shyness. The very thought of sharing my ideas and my work in an open, public way used to be terrifying. Of course, with the help of everyone at Erskine I now see that by revealing this process of endless mistake-making is the only way to really improve.

There’s just so much that I learned in Nottingham and it’s hard to write it all down in a single post – not only about the technical side of web design but also how to communicate with clients, how to manage their expectations and how to work peacefully alongside team members from other fields. This small band of designers and developers at Erskine pushed my latent skills in writing, programming and design but they also challenged my tendencies to avoid humiliation at all costs. Most importantly though I discovered a working environment that was supportive and friendly, so it’s kind of impossible to thank everyone enough for their patience as I tried to figure things out.

So what’s next? Well, I have no immediate plans but I’m looking for an exciting place to work right away. I’ll be leaving Nottingham at the end of the week and doing a lot more traveling which might be fun. Although there’s certainly no denying those noxious fears – oh my god, how am I going to pay my rent – but this mixture of terror and unrelenting excitement is often packaged in strange ways.

To adventures!