I hate the process of moving. Its one of the times in life where teleportation, transmogrification and The Force would really come in handy. But as much as I dislike it, I'm actually looking forward to doing it this time because of the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Last week I accepted an offer to join The Nerdery in Bloomington, Minnesota. And about a month from now, I'll be moving there to start the new job — up there in the Land of [Frozen] Lakes.
Why Minnesota?
For several years now, we've been wanting to move out of Texas. Somewhere closer to family, maybe. Or maybe a place with lots of trees. Or maybe to a place with mountains - or the beach. Actually, we weren't sure where we wanted to go, but we've kept an open mind. We never really targeted Minnesota, but when the opportunity at The Nerdery came along, we took a long hard look at Minnesota and the more we thought about it, the more appealing it became. Yes, I know its cold there. Its cold in a lot of places. I have family in the area (I lived in Minnesota during my elementary school years before we moved to Texas) so its not a completely foreign place — to me, at least. In addition to being close to some family members, we are looking forward to lots of outdoor activities like hiking, camping, tubing, skiing and generally a slower pace of life. And yes, snow.
The Nerdery
Working at a place with outstanding company culture is huge for me. That was one of the "must have" items on my list and The Nerdery definitely embodies that. This is from the The Nerdery Profile Page on LinkedIn:
Based on staff surveys of nearly 200 web pros who blur the line between work and play, The Nerdery ranked #1 on Mpls-St. Paul Business Journal's 2010 Best Places to Work list. A popularity contest? You bet. We’re also #6 on Minneapolis Star Tribune’s 2010 Top Workplace list. Founded by three programmers in 2003, The Nerdery has made the Inc 5000 and Biz Journal’s Fast 50 list of fast-growing privately owned companies for the past three years. The Nerdery was honored in 2010 with The Quality of Life Award and The Jefferson Award for corporate philanthropy/nerdy-deeds-done-dirt-cheap through our Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, at which volunteers have donated a million dollars worth of web development services to 39 nonprofits.
I'll be working as a UX Designer on the User Experience Team. I'm really looking forward to joining a talented band of professionals and working on exciting web projects and expanding my skills on projects like mobile and social media applications.
These are some pretty big changes, but we, as a family, are excited about the opportunities to grow, learn and experience new things. If you have any tips for living in arctic climates or any suggestions for exploring the greater Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan area, please do share.