When I was interviewing at UCLICK one interviewer said to me, In the end, it’s only comics. At the time, that put me at ease. I had just been introduced to programming and was nervous that I would somehow destroy the entire company by writing some errant code. Some years, a GoComics.com rebuild, and a GoComics.com relaunch later I believe that statement is far from true.

We just relaunched GoComics.com with a significant facelift as well as some really tasty goodness under the hood. One thing we recognized in the previous release of GoComics was that people were using the comments more as a meeting place. We decided to encourage that activity by creating more opportunities for people to comment. Another thing we did was add more sharing opportunities. Somewhat to my surprise, GoComic’s Twitter traffic has skyrocketed. Both of these features are evidence that GoComics isn’t only comics, it’s a community. People show up for the comics, but they stay for the camaraderie and are compelled to share what they find across the Internet.

Internally we built a page that lists every comment in real time. It’s fascinating to see what people are talking about. Everything from the mundane – what’s on the dinner menu for the evening – to the profound – a woman’s miscarriage experience and how it affected her feelings on abortion. Of course, there are trolls and troublemakers, but that’s any community. It’s great to watch how people handle them as well. Some get flamed, as would be expected, others are given the benefit of the doubt.

I think in the development process it’s very easy for the developer to lose site of the humanity of the project. You may be developing another entertainment/commerce/management/accounting/whatever application, but the truth is you are creating something for people. Ideally, real people are going to use what you create. For me, there’s a lot of weight in that realization.

The difficulty is in balancing this reality with the ever looming deadline. Whether you are contracting or employed by a company, you’ve, no doubt, got a deadline on your current project. The struggle becomes make it work versus make it work right. There is room for both. I’ve made it my focus to learn best practices, to not be embarrassed to ask, and to learn something new, no matter how minute, everyday. My goal is that this balance will become second nature. Lofty? Perhaps, but certainly attainable.

It is a real honor when something you contributed to becomes important to someone else. I’m proud of the work we’ve done with GoComics. So much of what was done will never be noticed by anyone but those of us that did the work and that’s alright. Active participation may be the highest form of appreciation.

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than six months then your name is probably M.O.M. and you probably recall my committment to take on 30 with a vengence. I am making good on that committment every day.

My friend Peter Inzerillo once told me that 30 is “the age of clarity.” The age at which so much comes in to focus. I am beginning to understand what he means.

I started looking at what I value the most over the last five months. It just started happening. I didn’t decide, “I’m going to examine what I value most out of life.” It just kind of happened.

Funny what I found. I wonder if these types of values change, too? Still, I’ve come to determine that I value stability (believe it or not), my community, and opportunity. General items I know, but in the interest of brevity and being thought provoking I’m going to leave it at that.

Armed with these new found revelations I began job hunting and am happy to say that my search was relatively short compared to some. This past week I accepted a Web Producer position with uclick the online division of Andrews McMeel Universal. After tieing up some loose ends with my current job and a few days rest I’ll start later this month.

To say that I am excited is a vast understatement! If you only knew the killer things going on inside that company, and if you only knew some of the amazing people that make everything happen you also would be elated. Plus, I’ll be working with comics and games… what could be better?

Check out uclick when you get the chance. We’ll be taking over the world soon.