As you may know, my last day with Gateway will be this Wednesday, August 31st. Befittingly, as my tenure began with a major product line revitalization (back when Gateway was the “Essential” and “Performance” computer to have, we launched the Gateway 300, 500, and 700 Series that September), so it ends with one.
I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given and the growth I’ve experienced – both professionally and personally. I came to Gateway – back when we were located in La Jolla – on August 27th, 2001, a 22 year-old boy with a dream. Just kidding about the dream; honestly, I had no idea what to expect when I answered a Monster ad for a two month-long assignment as Gateway converted to the Siebel platform. Lesson one, though: priorities change!
Quick memories, some great achievements and lessons learned. I hope you smile and go “hmmmm…” as I did while reminiscing on the following:
- Gateway.com and Accessory store shopping cart integration.
- Pre-attach, pre-attach, pre-attach! – A pain to get that initiative to its final iteration on our product details pages.
- Conversion from static to dynamically generated and automated product pages.
- The rise and fall of Gateway Consumer Electronics.
- “The Comforts of Gateway.”
- C3, C4, Release 1.5, etc.
- Professional’s Humanology endeavor… “The Servers have Ears!”
- Web order entry automation.
- Quick config/ship vs. fixed SKU.
- And finally, “When in doubt, it needs a footnote: an ode to Legal!”
Thank you all, and speaking as a colleague, friend, and stock owner, I wish you and Gateway the best and brightest of futures!
One a personal note, please watch for me as I audition for American Idol this year. Product placement, anyone? Speaking of which, what ever happened to the Desktop Diva? In honor of her, here’s a blast from the past (only accessible on our network):http://irwgtwy902/temp/joshb/DesktopDiva-2563.mpeg. We have truly come a long way!
So now I have to look for a job, but I'm taking a lot of free classes to brush up on some Web development skills.
