Holding the thought of changing jobs in my heart..(in progress..)

When I transferred to the fashion department, I was very much interested in branding.

The work of creating a value that everyone can resonate with by staking my own sincerity on it..
And it began with the wish that the work I do, where I spend more time and pour out more of my youth than I do with my beloved family in the 24 hours of a day, 
would be meaningful in my daily life.

And I am a designer.
I think communication is the foundation, and turning thoughts into reality is the conclusion of my role.

..
While working at my first job at age 26, 
I started a business with the thought that I might as well do it directly myself.
I thought branding was possible even without money.
But due to many processes and procedures, I always ended up stuck in vague daydreams.

While running a multi-shop café started that way, I came to know the power called collective intelligence.
With the artists from Hongdae's Free Market, residents of Daechi-dong, former colleagues from past days, nearby office workers, and Daechi-dong teachers..
With them I made indie albums, made a webzine, opened markets, and held parties.
The everyday-life artists held weekly classes, and college students were able to exhibit their own works.
Personally, I designed and sold custom-made clothing, and was even featured in Vogue Girl and Fashion biz.
It didn't make a lot of money. But while learning how to put thoughts into action, we were able to grow together. 

(Looking back now, after time has passed, I realized it overlaps in many ways with the ecosystem Apple operates. I opened the space to them in various ways, and as they sold their own works, the shared space called normalstory (a multi-shop) was naturally promoted as well. I supported them, and they supported me — and so, when they grew, I was able to grow along with them.)

While continuously running new projects, I learned a lot.
And I also became aware of many shortcomings.

I realized that the words "collective intelligence" are crucially important and absolutely necessary.
I came to feel that the most important thing in business is not money but people.
The title of CEO and the way people around me looked at me — I started to think these might still be a bubble for me.
I came to think that I needed to enlarge the vessel that is myself a bit more.

I closed the café and looked for a research center whose thinking and direction matched my own. I was lucky.
The government project being run there
seemed like it could become a solid stepping stone for entering the future web service market that I had only roughly sketched out alone.  But before even a few months had passed,
unfortunately, the project we were running came to a halt due to internal political issues at the research center. 

Many people decided to resign, and only myself — the most recent hire — and a few others remained.

Should I leave too..
But leaving like this seemed too cowardly to me.
Even so, since there are still people to work with right now, isn't this better than struggling alone running a café —
I can build it up myself. Start with what I can do.

In order to plan and create something,
I thought I had to know my fellow teammates (especially developers).. who they are, and what their roles
can do. 
After that, every weekend, I went up to Seoul and attended communities and seminars no matter what.
And I learned a bit of programming and ran sample tests.

Nothing grand, but I attended a QRcode meetup, published a small book,
made the company website mobile-compatible, and changed the business cards.
After finishing that sampling, I made a business proposal to the CEO, the executive director, and my colleagues. 

Until now we had only done outsourced work or government projects,
but my idea was: from now on, let's build up the ability to sustain ourselves with our own technology.

In truth, internally the response wasn't that positive,
but the participating companies and surrounding companies actually responded well.
In the end, the business was adopted,
I became a senior researcher, and started working with two new junior developers.

The web-based service (mobile) business
was planned so it could naturally proceed using stepwise experiences and development progress as a stepping stone.
From the start, my thinking was that mobile web is just a one-year market — barely an early-stage market.

But
the first project finished, and the second project was a parallel two-track effort.
One was building a revenue structure through short-term product development,
and the other was preparing long-term content services.

The new developers want to pile up new tools and skills more than build services that can generate revenue,
and the newly arrived executive director is reluctant to form consortiums with outside companies for the project, devoting most of his work to the existing business he had been operating.
The CEO is still uninterested in IT,
and my fellow (experienced) developers... honestly, I have no idea what they're doing.
Even when I ask them to join, they shrug it off, saying web or mobile service businesses don't make money..



I came here hoping for collective intelligence... but this emptiness doesn't decrease..

This morning, while drinking milk, I happened to scan a QRcode that took me to a mobile page,
and while doing some research, I saw the structure of a site by chance,
and I was shocked.
The world is changing this fast, the market is growing day by day..

These days my head feels dizzy..