25 Year Reflections: Carter Jons’ Story

As we celebrate 25 years of building community, we asked our team to reflect on their own growth from 1999 to today. Senior Project Manager Carter Jons worked at an internet advertising company and relied heavily on sticky notes to keep track of projects. How did he find himself at Bridgepoint 25 years later? Read the full interview below to get an inside look at Carter’s story.

Reflect on where you were 25 years ago and what your career aspirations were. What would you tell that person now? I had just started my career and worked at an internet advertising company (DoubleClick) before the dot.com bubble burst. I would tell myself that there will be many changes in my career expectations, but it will all work out.

How does your career progression align with or differ from your expectations 25 years ago? What I expected 25 years ago is definitely different from where I am today, due to my decisions throughout my career to focus less on career and more on experience. I would not change it for anything.

What was your biggest work tech headache 25 years ago? The internet was so slow!

How did you collaborate with colleagues? Our office was a hub of young people, and we figured out the emerging direct messaging technology on Windows. It was not very advanced, but it worked.

What office supplies did you hoard the most back in 1999? Definitely sticky notes. They were everywhere.

What was your biggest work disaster 25 years ago? Our biggest advertiser bought all the keywords across our network for relevant search terms. No one renewed the words and a much smaller competitor bought them. Neither of them are around now…

Looking back, what surprises you most about how work has changed from 1999 to 2024? Technology has evolved rapidly, and remote work would have seemed silly 25 years ago.