I am Jon Morgan

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Thank You
I was so overwhelmed by the number of birthday wishes on my wall today that I felt like I needed to do something to show my gratitude. I tried to click like for every message posted on my wall whenever I had a free minute at work, but those were very rare, especially in the afternoon during my ninety minute web development meeting (which, of course, was supposed to be only an hour long). Now that Im home from work, I admit that I could have sent a thank you message to each person who wished me a Happy Birthday. Instead, Ive consolidated all of you into one Facebook Group, where I will be able to send you my message only once. During the twenty minutes I spent entering everybodys name into the Facebook Group, I reflected on how diverse my friends on Facebook really are. There are relatives, neighbors, coworkers, former coworkers, high school alumni, college alumni, former teachers, mentors, role models, radio personalities, and friends. What I gained from this quick survey of Facebook friends is a deeper appreciation for all of you and the way that you have been there to support me, whether in the past or currently. I wanted to share the following thoughts as a way of offering an extended thank you for the birthday wishes. Hopefully Ive given everybody the chance to catch up on my life a little bit. Now, I hope that you will share something about your life with me either via email at 32bpwr3@gmail.com, by posting on the Thank you for the Birthday WIshes group on Facebook, or messaging me on Facebook.

Where Ive Been

My life has experienced a lot of twists and turns over the years. When I was in high school, I only wanted to be a journalist so that I could write on the side and eventually become a world famous novelist. Then, after college stark reality settled in as I found it tough to get a newspaper or magazine job, and ended up working at HomeTown Online in Howell. I didnt know it at the time, but I had begun developing skills which would carry me through two future jobs (Michigan State Medical Society, and Special Olympics Michigan). I think that I entered the workforce at exactly the right time when web development was still in its early stages, but was starting to earn a great deal more respect from traditional media and business. When I was hired by HomeTown Online, it was based on the single website I had built and my Journalism degree. By the time I was interviewing for Special Olympics Michigan, my portfolio of web design work from my previous two jobs seemed like more of a necessity. Along the way I got married (1999), and had children (2000 and 2002). Kayla was born while I was working for MSMS, and Josh was born while I was working for Special Olympics Michigan. After I was let go by SOMI, I was hired by Dow Chemical and SPL to work at Dow Chemicals video conference helpdesk. By this time, web design had progressed to a a point where you needed to have far more programming experience than I could ever had, so I assumed that I would never find a place there again.

I am Jon Morgan
View as: | Pressbook | Google | Activity Feed | After Dow Chemical, I began working for EduGuide in Lansing as their Community Coordinator. Amazingly enough, this has brought me back to the profession of web development, and since started there Ive been promoted to Manager of Web Services. The incredible thing about where I am now is that there are often times when I am able to pull from the wide range of skills and experiences Ive gained from my different past jobs. As tumultuous as my career has been, it seems as though Ive always ended up where I needed to be. One of the biggest lessons Ive learned over the past year is that it is the people in my life who matter the most. Looking at the list, I am struck by all of the lives that have touched mine and the number of people who have helped to shape me into the person I am today.

Where Im Going
Im continuing to work for EduGuide, where I wear different hats as project manager, quality assurance, user experience guru, media manager, and user testing coordinator. Needless to say, work can be exhausting at times! But, at the same time, I enjoy the chance to learn from the developers, and Ive stayed inside a field that I enjoy. At home, I also enjoy pursuing interests in photography and writing. Ive recently been able to fit in a few hours of fiction writing. I am also experimenting with social media and content distribution via different services and platforms. Our biggest news at home is that we are expecting another baby boy in February 2013. With our first two growing older (Kayla is 12, and Josh will be 10 in November) it seemed like we had closed the book on babies forever. But, then, our lives have taken another unexpected twist and I will have another opportunity to evolve once again.