Six Months Of Epicenter Consulting

By Ben Nadel

Published 2008-07-24 in Life, Work — Comments (13)

This last week marks the sixth month anniversary of my time at Epicenter Consulting, a web application development company. For those of you who don't know, I left my position as CTO at Nylon Technology back in January to partner with Clark Valberg and create Epicenter Consulting. It was not an easy decision to make; I had been at Nylon for close to 5 years and had seen it grow from a 3 developer shop that held its staff meetings at the Corner Bistro into a diverse 15 person team.

So why the change? Quite simply, working with Clark Valberg was not an opportunity that I could pass up. He is one of the most intelligent, insightful, and inspiring people that I have met. Even before there were any talks of working together, I remember always coming away from our friendly conversations feeling enlightened. He has a knack for exacting the hidden problem of any situation (professional or social) and calmly finding the best way to resolve issues. It is through the help of his wisdom and generosity that I am the person I am today.

I remember very vividly walking down the street one night in early January, wrestling with the idea of working with Clark. I was in the middle of listening to the audio book "The Magic Of Thinking Big" by Dr. David Schwartz. As I made my way down 31st street, Dr. Schwartz said, "In order for you to be successful, you must surround yourself with excellent people." I knew at that moment that working with Clark was the right decision. Both socially and professionally, I needed to be around excellent people. I needed to be around someone whose goals and values were aligned with mine. I needed to be around someone who inspired me and urged me to push myself to be a better person.

And so, Epicenter Consulting was born.

I can't believe that it's been six months already. It has been awesome. After creating ground-up, customized solutions for some high end clients, my technical abilities are leaps and bounds beyond where they were only half a year ago. My new abilities combined with our belief in Interface-Driven Architecture has allowed me to expand the way I see applications and their potential to deliver value. I have gone from a developer worried about implementing code to an architect focused on creating solutions and changing the way people do business.

It has been a great experience and I look forward to the years ahead.

Note: I'll get a better picture up there when I have one.

Short link: https://bennadel.com/1297

Reader Comments

David Droddy Jul 24, 2008 at 10:44 AM

32 Comments

Congratulations Ben AND Epicenter!!

Ben, as always, TRULY inspiring.

Ben Nadel Jul 24, 2008 at 10:48 AM

15,848 Comments

@Macbuoy,

Thanks a lot :) It's been a great time.

Steve Withington Jul 24, 2008 at 11:17 AM

67 Comments

Congrats Ben! Your enthusiasm is contagious and I continue to be inspired by your passion for not just ColdFusion, but for trying to find the best solution to the problem at hand.

Cutter Jul 24, 2008 at 11:39 AM

21 Comments

Ben,

Glad to hear things are going well. Simon Free had told us about your change, when we were talking at WebManiacs. And Clark is a great guy. He and I had a discussion at CFUnited '06, out on the back deck over drinks one night, about people with an affinity for learning foreign languages seeming to do very well in development, as they seem to quickly pick up new programming languages and concepts. Sounds like an outstanding opportunity, and I'm sure you guys will be doing some great things.