April 3^rd/ Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

In a lot of ways, I’ve been writing this post in my head for the past four years. Starting in April, I’m leaving Web Associates. In doing so I’ll be joining up with the ranks of ENTP and also starting up my own little thingy (hell if I know what to call it), Helvetino.

ENTP

I can’t tell you how incredibly stoked I am to be joining up with the rockstars at ENTP. The team is made up of the most skilled people I’ve ever known in my life, and they make products that I actually use every day. Best of all, everyone over there has the same crazy idea-driven mindset that I do, and the skillset to pull it off.

Helvetino

Helvetino is going to be my official front-end to all these random projects I’ve had tumbling around in my head for years. Sites like Poetry with meaning, Total Spore will be immediately joining the ranks, and sites like Drum Report, The Hostr will be joining soon after. It means that I’ll be taking all of these side projects seriously and finally give them the love and attention they deserve.

Learning and giving back

One of the strongest driving factors in this move in my life is just the quench for more time. I want to have time to sit back and just learn Actionscript, or just release a new project. I haven’t had that so far in my life — work or college has always taken up all of my time. Any learning time was the time after work that was already split between my projects and friends.

This move is going to give me much more time to work on the things I’ve always wanted. I’ll be able to learn new technologies and techniques right — the first time. Most importantly I’ll have time to give back to the communities that have made my job so enjoyable.

In short: keep an eye on my little github universe — good things are coming.

Warpspire

The third leg of this move is of course Warpspire. For the longest time Warpspire has fallen silent compared to the glory days of old. I’ll hope to have time to start updating Warpspire regularly now. I’ve never had a shortage of ideas for content here, I’ve just had a shortage of time to craft those ideas into coherent paragraphs. I looked at the drafts collection in my Wordpress dashboard and found that I had a draft from 2005 — almost three years old! No more will that happen — I hope to establish some sort of regular publication schedule, and maybe even finish the site some time (cough lifestream cough).

Web Associates

I do want to point out here that my choice to move on had little to do with WA in particular. WA has given me amazing opportunities in the past three and a half years. I’m 23 years old and I’ve lead projects that have served millions of users and shipped on millions of machines. Come this time next year, I’ll be able to walk into nearly any computer retailer and see my product on their LCD’s. I can’t even describe how amazing the projects and people I’ve gotten to work with have been. They’re a stellar company with a track record of excellence, an amazing culture, and have some of the lowest average work weeks I’ve ever seen in an agency (this is a pretty amazing thing — finding an agency with even a <50hr/wk average is uncommon). If you’re looking for a job, I’d seriously look at WA.

My decision to move on was spawned primarily by my craving to screw up my life — umm, I mean, take chances. When I graduated in June (2007), I transitioned straight into full time with WA, which was pretty much a dream job for me at the time. But in many ways it was the safe road, and allowed me very little time to exercise my crazy ideas I have bouncing around in my head.

So here we are — the dawning of a new day. Are you excited? I sure as hell am!

1. 

   Natalie Jost

   April 3^rd | #

   You’ve been in my feed reader for a few years now, well as long as you were at WA apparently, and I’ve rarely commented, but want to wish you the best. If I had all that you have when I was 23… well, somehow I know you know what you have and you aren’t about to take it for granted. God bless your work, and your play because on the web they seem to go hand in hand!

2. 

   Daniel Oliver

   April 4^th | #

   Good luck with your new adventure. I look forward to seeing what comes of it all and I’m sure you will do well.

3. 

   Matthew Pennell

   April 4^th | #

   Congratulations on the move and the new plans, Kyle - looking forward to seeing what you get up to with Helvetino. :)

4. 

   Matt Wilcox

   April 4^th | #

   Sounds very exciting indeed, good luck :)

5. 

   Peter Baumgartner

   April 4^th | #

   Congrats, Kyle! I’ve never been a fan of the “safe road” myself. I don’t doubt you’re making the right decision. Enjoy it!

6. 

   Nathan Smith

   April 4^th | #

   Congrats, Kyle. Sometimes you just have to do something crazy. Like, move to Oregon! :)

7. 

   Wired

   April 4^th | #

   Congrats man! Hopefully we’ll see some posts / articles @ WDF about your new projects :)

8. 

   Kyle

   April 4^th | #

   Thanks for all the great comments guys!

9. 

   chris rhee

   April 4^th | #

   I thought you were going to dedicate this life decision to me, your mentor and hero.

   Good luck! It was great working with you (especially since you did all the work) and I hope to “work” with you again.

10. 

    Ben Bleikamp

    April 4^th | #

    ENTP looks really cool, Kyle. Sounds like a great place for you to work :)

11. 

    J Phillips

    April 6^th | #

    Congrats man, and good luck with your new job.

12. 

    Andy Beeching

    April 7^th | #

    Congrats on the move and taking a chance, I can certainly empathise with you as another mid-twenty something developer, tis the time for risk! Looking forward to some more articles on interaction and UI design.

13. 

    William Paoli

    April 9^th | #

    Congrats man! Thank you for all your help over the past year. Its been cool. Absolutely positive you are making the right move. It’s easy to stay in a comfortable spot and before you know it, time has flown and yer old like me. Good luck, and looking forward to seeing all the cool stuff you are going to be creating.

14. 

    William Couch

    April 10^th | #

    Hey man, congrats. Happy to see people who are moving onto bigger and better things that’ll let them really pursue work they can get into. :)

15. 

    Ryan

    April 10^th | #

    That’s fantastic man! I’m excited to see what’s ahead for you. Love the look of Helvetino. Very slick.

16. 

    David

    April 11^th | #

    Hey you only live once right?

    Don’t let the same ol’ job keep you -even if it is safer. I mean, what is the point of your life if you don’t have the time to live it?

    Take the jump with excitement!

17. 

    Mike

    April 12^th | #

    Hey man,

    I had a very similar situation happen to me. Right out of school I was hired at a firm as director of interactive - it was my dream job just waiting for me.

    I took the job, and was quite happy. I got to design for major fortune 500 companies at 19 years old.. But that ‘freedom’ of choice was missing.

    So I left and started my own projects, 3 to date. And I am doing extremely well…

    So jump in head first - and stay hungry, good things will come out of your willingness(sp?)

    Good luck!

18. 

    Lars

    April 15^th | #

    Hey Kyle.. Congrats dude.. 8-)

19. 

    patricia

    April 17^th | #

    gooood luck. it was awesome working with you and leaving post-its on your desk.
    do you know how awkward it is to sit in your desk?
    i still owe you snickerdoodles.

20. 

    Mike Papageorge

    May 9^th | #

    Well, its a month later and I hope its going well for you, Kyle :)

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