This is The World According to Buchs - Keepin’ it moving since 2003!

Today is my last day at Layer One Media, Inc..

I joined Layer One (”L1″) just shy of 3 years ago. I jumped over from Starkmedia in November of 2001. I felt that I had progressed as far as I could have at that company, and was ready to take on a bigger challenge. When I left, I told that owner I felt I had to either take this new position, or start my own company - which I wasn’t prepared to do at the time.

At the time, L1 was a “start-up” company, and I was their first employee. I was attracted to the position because (1) they were pretty gung-ho about using Cold Fusion as the primary development language, (2) they were going to be targeting larger projects than I had been working on before, and (3) I was going to get the opportunity to construct and direct a development staff using my own ideas and principles. Things didn’t quite work out the way we expected. But, in the end, I think I’ve set them on the right path. They recently hired 3 new people, and while none of them can do all the things I do, they’re all talented individuals.

There were a lot of ups-and-downs at L1. For the first 6 months, my bosses were so secretive, I thought that the company might have been a front for some covert CIA operation. Staffing was an issue. In my 3 years, I think we’ve gone through 7 different people in the sales department, and another 4 or 5 in design/production. Through all that, we were able to pretty much stay on track, and work on some great projects. I have links to a few of those in my (soon to be enhanced) portfolio section, but there are 2 companies in particular that I truly enjoyed working with. For one, I’m constantly amazed at how smart they are, and they’re all a bunch of good, fun, people to be around.

* Next Generation Consulting - Rebecca Ryan was one of L1’s first big clients; I’ve worked on 4 sites for her in all, plus an intranet project.
* FiveTwelve Group - another consulting company, who just happened to have offices across the hall from ours. I worked on their company site & extranet, as well as a few other projects.

Well, fast-forward to the last 6 months… I’ve come to the realization that I’ve been extremely unhappy in my position with L1. Some of it stems from a very high opinion of myself; some of it from the fact that I can be incredibly stubborn, and so was the boss (heads were occassionly butted). To sum it up, I just need to do my own thing. I have my own ideas about how things should be done, and the only way that’s going to happen is to do it myself.

So, starting Monday (I’m taking tomorrow off!), I’ll be working on my own. Things will be tight for a while, but I’m confident that I can pick up enough business to keep myself busy. I’ve also got a few business ideas that I’d like to give a shot.

I’ll keep this blog around, but it’s going to undergo some revisions. There will be some changes in the content: I’m going to try to focus on more technical writings (although you’ll still be able to read about what I had for lunch, etc). I plan to expand the portfolio section, and explain more in detail what it was that I was able to do for the companies I’ve worked for. I’ll be updating the “about” section, and turning that into more of a “services” overview.

I’ve learned a lot in my time at Layer One, both on the technical and business ends. I’ve met some fantastic people, and worked on some challenging projects.

Not much is changing - I’ll just be doing it on my own.

Wish me luck.