Name: Ryan Doom
Title: President and co-founder of Web Ascender
Websites: www.webascender.com & www.ryandoom.com
Location: East Lansing, Michigan

Tell us about your educational/professional background.
I graduated from the Michigan State University Computer Science program in 2003. During my stay at MSU, I worked to get a good internship each year that would help prepare me for what businesses would be looking for when I graduated. My senior year I started working almost full time at a software consulting company and worked there for four years. I also have a couple Microsoft certifications. I am currently an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) and MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer).

Tell us about your current job.
I started a web design, development, and internet marketing business with a long-time friend and schoolmate in 2005. I am currently in charge of all sales, marketing, and project management activities.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I used to spend 80% of my day in programs such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Visual Studio, and other web development tools. However, I find that I spend 80% of my day now in Word, Outlook, and a web browser. A typical day for me would look something like this:

Morning:

• Catch up on any emails and send out ‘to dos’ to some of the employees
• Create my personal to-do list for the day
• Work on any sales proposals I have to create, follow up on phone calls of new business leads

Afternoon:

• Work on creating website specifications; Document how a website feature is going to work and function and maybe if I’m lucky get to work on some visual concepts for each of the features
• Do some accounting/ Send out some invoices
• Attend our daily stand up meeting where everyone stands in a circle and gets 1 -3 minutes to talk about what they did yesterday and are focusing on today
• Client Meetings

End of the day:

• Send out project updates
• Email out any last minute to dos for the day
• Internal & Client Meetings

In the evening I might work on some project related tasks, which could be some design work, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, or .NET coding. In the evening is when I try to spend some time learning and working with new technologies that our company might want to get involved with.

What kinds of documents do you produce?
I work on proposals for new web development projects. Sometimes they only need to be an email, other times they are 30+ page documents outlining the projects requirements and pricing. I also create technical specifications for projects. These are the documents that outline how the web application will work. For smaller websites these are not usually necessary, but when you are building a complex e-commerce system or social network, it’s important for both the client and our development team to see how it is supposed to work before we get started building it. It’s essentially a blueprint.

What communication skills are needed for your job?
Communication is the majority of my job so it is imperative that I be able to communicate effectively in front of people, over the phone, in emails as well as in formal documents. I also do some public speaking to get Web Ascender’s name out in front of more professionals and this has been great for generating new business and buzz for the company. If you have a sales oriented job — even if you don’t — it’s not a bad idea to attend some local networking events like a Chamber of Commerce meeting to get connected with your community and what other professionals are doing. This also gives you a chance to work on your verbal communication skills with other professionals.

How did you prepare for your job?
Luckily I have been doing web development since 1995 and with my computer science background I haven’t really had to worry much about the technical aspect of my job. However, moving into the role of a business owner and the primary salesman forced me to learn about things other than technology. I prepared for my current job from books. I checked out tons of business and sales books from the library and bought some of the classics that everyone recommended. I also joined a local Toastmasters group and a business networking organization to meet new people and get comfortable talking when lots of eyes are on you.

List three of your favorite professional resources/references/tools and tell us why they’re your favorite.
The public library – I never utilized a library until 2004, I just assumed they would have nothing of interest, but I was wrong. You can get lots of brand-new business, marketing, and technical books. The selection of movies and CDs is quite impressive as well.

Blogs – I have 10 to 20 blogs that I read regularly and then another 30 that I try to read if I can fit it in.

Community – It’s great to have friends, co-workers, and organizations that you are closely involved with. This gives you a place to talk about new ideas as well as hear about new things that are happening in your industry.

How do you stay up-to-date in your field?
My field moves very fast. About every six months there are minor advancements and then about every three years there are major technology platform shifts that you have to keep an eye out for and make sure you are ready. Fortunately, tons of people write blogs and books about web design and programming, which makes it easier to keep an eye on what is happening. Even if you do a great job of keeping an eye on the trends, you always feel like you could be learning more. I also belong to some local organizations that talk about technology and try to attend at least one conference a year.

How would you define professional writing?
I would define professional writing as published writing that really connects with its target audience or gets the author some coin for producing it. Grammar, punctuation, and writing style would not be a very important factor for me to consider it professional. It’s more about whether the audience sees value in it — if they do, then I would say it’s professional.

Do you have any tips to share with other professional designers/writers/editors?
I don’t think most people give themselves enough credit or really believe in their capabilities. If you want to get a certain job, or get that promotion, or get started on your own, or whatever your goal might be, it is probably closer to your reach than you might think. It’s all about equipping yourself with what you are going to need to get to that next level. Think about the end goal, think about where you are, and then just think about a couple next steps you can take to get you there. Continue on that path until you make it. Never stop reading, never stop learning, never stop questioning, and never stop meeting new people. I also like attending events that I have never attended before, where I don’t know anyone. People are friendly, give it a shot.

Tags: In the Workplace

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 7:21 am and is filed under Career, Design, Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.