We’ve had a lot going on this fall. As many of you have heard we’ve had some challenges with our offices in the basement of the Hillsborough Building. The good times did not stop there. I’m going to give this to you in a Good News / Bad News sandwich.
Good News (bread)
Miles got a new job! We’re obviously devastated, but we’re very excited for Miles to take on new adventures in his position at MediaVine. He’s still in the area so we can see him some and make sure the new job is treating him well (and they better or we’re gonna knock heads).
Bad News (sandwich innards)
I was going to label this as a Vegemite™ sandwich but I don’t want to offend any Vegemite lovers and “innards” sounds suitably yucky so we’ll use that.
We’re already running on a shoestring budget and paying below average salaries. Trying to get up to even minimum salary levels, and beyond that, to fair salaries comparable with our campus counterparts, proved to be too much. There’s not enough client income and OIT budget to bear the load.
We will not be replacing Miles.
More Innards
Knowing we’re losing staff means we’ve had to take a hard look at everything we’re doing. Our workload is not just custom web development and design for you, our campus clients. We’re also responsible for several enterprise WordPress environments, WordPress training and general support, a number of freely-available campus themes and plugins, and a whole host of OIT-based projects and websites. Over time we’ve seen increases in the workload for a lot of the projects we do that are not client-funded, and it’s cut into our ability to continue to do new projects, and to support them for the long-term.
What this means is that we are going to have to cut back on our client work. Way back. A full post and emails and more information on the details of what this looks like will come. But for now you all need to be aware that until further notice (and maybe beyond) we will no longer be taking on new clients or starting new work for existing clients.
Some of you have already spoken to us about work for this year and we will be honoring those plans. But going forward we will not be able to help with anything more than basic maintenance and support of your site(s).
Good News (bread)
Brian is pregnant! Ok, sorry. This is not like, scientific break-through good news. Brian’s wife is pregnant. And they’re due December 25th. How cute it that? We’ll happily accept bets on actual delivery date, baby weight, height, etc. Winner names the baby! Wait, what? No. Brian says no.
Sandwich jokes aside, we know this sucks. I’m happy to try to answer any questions you have via email (jmriehle@ncsu.edu) or in-person at office hours.
We’re going to do the best we can for folks but there will be more changes coming for sure and for the longer term. Thanks for your patience.