Working for lynda.com has a lot of perks, but recently it had one of the biggest perks of all. lynda.com held an employee contest that asked all its employees to practice what we preach. The contest required contestants to watch at least one of the courses in the Online Training Library® and learn a new skill. The goal was to inspire learning and creativity.

It has, since high school, been a goal of mine to have my own web site that I could regularly update and manage, and as a recent college graduate I found I needed this now more than ever. I needed a place not only to promote my self as a filmmaker, but also my short film Hold Up.

So I set to work making this web site, complete with photo galleries, trailers, resumes, my reel, a blog, and a video explaining my learning experience. I felt a sense of achievement and a personal fulfillment that went beyond words. I now had the power to advertise myself to the world and have my voice heard.

I really enjoyed this contest and feel like I not only learned a lot about iWeb and web site design, but also about lynda.com. Before I never really understood what learning at your own pace meant, but now I truly understand. Despite the fact I have been editing tutorials for lynda.com for almost a year now, I honestly didn’t have much experience with the site before this and had been meaning to use it ever since I had been hired.

On December 4th, they announced the winner of the contest. I felt ecstatic just to have my own web site, but I was completely floored and over joyed when they announced I won the employee contest. I am not only thankful for the knowledge and the tools the lynda.com site has given me, but I am also eternally grateful for the recognition of winning the contest.

Thank you lynda.com! Also special thanks to Bryce Poole for all the motion graphics and Will DeAngelis for audio engineering.