While web developers were
burning the midnight oil, Overnight Challenge hosts
The Nerdery were putting the finishing touches on an expansion that will more than double its Bloomington headquarters.
The 8-year-old web development firm is growing like crazy; the employee count stood at 205 last week, but don't blink.
"We're pretty much adding staff all the time," says Nerdery Communications Manager Mark Malmberg. "Almost every Monday new people are starting."
The buildout will bring the headquarters to 44,625 square feet, about half of which was being occupied in daily phases this week. The rest will be ready around the turn of the year, says Malmberg, likely just in time for the approximately 100 employees they expect to add by then.
New hires have mostly been developers, but The Nerdery has also seeing smaller departments expand--both its user experience and quality assurance departments have grown from a just one or two to 10 people. The company has also been adding account executives; two-thirds of its business is for more than 200 agencies in 30 states.
The expansion includes the addition of a 220-seat theater, in which the "big hive mind" will congregate on Friday late-afternoons for its weekly Bottlecap Talk, a "peer-to-peer with beer," as Malmberg puts it--a company tradition of sharing work from the week before.
The Nerdery will also let other organizations from the web development community, such as iPhone developers and PHP and Wordpress user groups, use the space, Malmberg says. "We like to be the hub for that sort of thing," he says.
The physical and staffing expansions reflect revenue growth, of course; The Nerdery "is tracking to $30 million" this year, says Malmberg.
Source: Mark Malmberg, The Nerdery
Writer: Jeremy Stratton