At the start of the Spring semester, I quickly understood that the Hive was going to be a major stepping stone. The experience has been life changing for me as a designer and a developer, but mostly as a professional. The staff of Revenflo, and the educators at York Technical College and Winthrop University really had the Rock Hill community watching, and the endeavor has been one of epic proportions.
Churning out work for five major organizations was no small task, but to the students involved it was something that could provide a real world application of all the college classes they have been taking. When my instructor Jyron Baxter spoke with me about it early in the fall semester, I immediately saw it as an opportunity. I knew that I could bring a lot to the table as a designer, and I saw it as a chance to hone some of my developer skills. While there are still a lot of developing languages out there to learn, I have grown in my understanding of the one’s I am familiar with ten-fold thanks to this experience. Working on the Children’s Attention Home website, I was exposed to some incredible people and I have learned a lot from them. The developers from my team, and Samir, our resident developer extraordinaire, have helped me come to terms with the fact that I may not memorize all that code, but I can tell you what it does!
I do independent contracting work for the Charlotte Metro APA, and have done some small projects for local business, including Revenflo. I love the idea of being able to work independently, and have had the opportunity to speak with a few people regarding new projects since being involved in the Hive. Having people in the community support me has greatly affected the ability to generate interest in not only my work, but in my success as a person.
The buzz that has been generated about this endeavor, has directed a lot of attention to Rock Hill as a forward-thinking business community with plenty of opportunity. As a resident of Clover, I really felt that much of my search for employment would have to be directed toward Charlotte, but now I have an equal amount of faith that I can find work in Rock Hill.