Business & Web Development at Smart Solutions Week 1

I spent this past week at a tech company in Beachwood called Smart Solutions, Inc. On the first day my sponsor told me that my main task would be revamping the corporation's website.

I was surprised (and still am) to be put in charge of something that is so important for any business nowadays, and especially when that business is technology-based itself. It's quite an opportunity.

The first week (minus AP testing) was used primarily in preparation for what I did today. I held a meeting early this afternoon to solicit input from the website's stakeholders (including the CEO!) and as a courtesy before getting started. For the meeting I created a comprehensive powerpoint incorporating a timeline of the project, areas of improvement on the current website, and a compilation of my own ideas for the upgrade. We went over the ideas in detail and I got a clear sense of what they were looking for. Although I haven't been able to do any work with the site yet, I've gained valuable insight into the business world by having to create a proposal and organize a meeting to discuss it. The stuff I'm familiar with starts tomorrow, when I actually get to begin modifying the website.

Many of my proposed ideas for the site are trivial, but some are on a more fundamental level. I will be forking the project into two “demo” sites that stakeholders can view (and provide feedback) before one of them goes live. One will be more-or-less the current site with all minor changes enacted, and the other will be a full redesign. My personal goal is to make the latter preferable enough that it becomes the one I get to implement.

I'm especially grateful that my project is turning out to be so meaningful because IT tends to get perceived as boring, but it's really not (at least what I'm doing isn't). I get to combine a business experience (in which I'm a novice) with an exercise in web development (where I reign :D ). From what I can tell, it's a perfect learning experience for me.

The website is located at http://smartsolutionsonline.com but changes will not be visible until it's all done. If there's still an image of a guy fist-bumping a server, it hasn't been updated yet.

- John K.