Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Transitions

I never really paid attention to blogs until I started working as the Engineering Manager for Blogger at Google, back in April 2004. Oh, certainly read some blogs here and there, but never really felt like I had anything to say in a blog. Once I started working on Blogger, I "got it" but did not want to write one for fear of people mixing my opinions with Google's opinions.

Today, that has changed. I have left Google and thought this post about "why" would be a great start for my own little corner of the Internet.

My time with Google has been awesome. It is an amazing company to work for. After Blogger, I spent several years working with Chris DiBona to shape Google's Open Source policies and strategies. I traveled and spoke about Open Source. For a while, I was involved with Google Gadgets, and Google App Engine. But I was getting distracted (more on that in a bit) and I sorely missed writing code. Last year, I switched things around and started to work with Neal Gafter and the Google Calendar team to add CalDAV support (just launched yesterday!). After that, I worked again with the App Engine team for a while.

But I've really been missing out on writing Open Source code. It has been several years since I have significantly contributed code to any Open Source project, and that has been a growing dissatisfaction for me. I've been involved with Open Source for over fourteen years... it is one of the things that I love to do.

I've also been greatly distracted by a major upheaval in my life. As many of you may know, about two years ago, I moved out of the house and a relationship that was over 18 years long. I've since moved to San Francisco, met many wonderful new friends, and have met someone that brings new joy into my life.

My departure from Google is going to allow me to get back into Open Source development. It is going to allow me to travel. And it is going to allow me to explore where I'm going with my new life. I see a world and a lifetime of opportunity with this move, and am tremendously happy about it.

And no, I'm not going to be working any time soon. Please feel free to contact me about short-term projects, and I'll keep it in mind, but I don't foresee any real interest until at least January.

In closing... I'm here for a few days, then off for a wonderful week in Europe. More trips are planned later this year, and I'll write about those as they come up.

See you around, my friends.

36 comments:

Robert B said...

I did not see that coming!

Dion Almaer said...

Greg,

Have a great adventure my friend. You will be missed here at the 'plex.

Cheers,

Dion

Niall Kennedy said...

Glad you are able to get out and explore what makes you happy. In both the job and the home.

Unknown said...

Well it certainly was a doozy! Stay in touch if and when you can..... :)

Steve Jenson said...

Congrats, Greg! It's a tough choice to leave such a good company but I'm glad you're going to be digging back into writing open source code. Any projects in particular? Subversion?

George Reese said...

Oooh! I have an idea for an Open Source project.

Like, wouldn't it be cool if people created a standard set of programming APIs that enabled others to create online text adventure games? Kinda like Zork for the 21st century?

Thoughts?

Unknown said...

Awesome! Can't wait to hear which open source project you'll be digging into.

Jeffrey McManus said...

Congratulations, Greg.

Stephen Austin Welch said...

congratulations Greg!

onward... upward !!

I wish you the BEST;
and am sure I will be reading about it on your *new* blog.

SAW

Unknown said...

Was great seeing you - you did drop a couple of hints :) Have some great adventures, and stay in touch!

Unknown said...

Clinky Clinky

urban mermaid said...

greg, this is a great thing for you. and will give you a chance to do all that you outlined, while living in a state of life that makes you happy. keep us posted, i'm now got you in my feeds.

Brian P O'Rourke said...

Congrats, Greg! big changes indeed

derek said...

Greg,

Enjoy life, it is short and you deserve to be happy. Good luck, and I will be following your adventures via your blog..

=derek

Unknown said...

*signs up for ApacheMUD*

Sulamita said...

Hi Greg!

Wow, I had no clue about this. But, hey, I'm happy you're doing what makes you happy!

Have a wonderful time in Europe! And I'm adding your blog to my list. It takes sometime before really make part of our life, but I bet you will have fun :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, going to miss you at Google. Always enjoyed our chats.

Karl Fogel said...

Well, that's one way to start off a blog! :-)

Congratulations, and have a great trip. Hope we'll be seeing some of your code out here in the codosphere again soon...

Garrett said...

Wow, sorry to see you go man. Looking forward to seeing what you end up working on next, drop me a line if you're ever in Boston and we can get together for a drink or twelve ;-)

Unknown said...

Congratulations, Greg! It's great to see you continuing to follow your passions!

Whenever you're back in the swing of things, drop me a line, we'll catch up. :-)

Dave

Bernadette said...

May the force be with you.

Ted Leung said...

After dinner the other night, this isn't a total surprise. I'm glad you are going to do this!

Adam Sah said...

have fun, man-- keep in touch!!

adam

nori said...

We'll miss you around here, Greg! Sounds like things are going well for you, though -- congrats on that, and hope to see you 'round SF ...

Christine said...

congrats dude - as long as you're happy and doing well, that's all that matters to me. =) see ya around!

Anonymous said...

soooo jealous! i do have to pile on with everyone else, we'll definitely miss you around here. i'm psyched to hear about what's next, though. best of luck!

Thunder said...

Word Greg! Until the next time we are causing havoc... oh and I owe you some departing drinks ;-)

Anonymous said...

Congrats mate! Safe travels, and see ya 'round.

-E

Hixie said...

Sorry to see you go, but I'm sure we'll run into each other again in the future!

tequila said...

This is a very courageous move! Congratulations Greg! I am happy for you! Keep in touch and let us know about your trips in Europe!

David Anderson said...

Well, damn. As the comments say, I did not see that coming. Sounds like you have a lot of excitement, adventure and really wild things ahead. You lucky dog :-).

Bon voyage, mon ami. And do ping if you pass through Zurich at some point, so we grab a few pints.

Andrew Mager said...

Excellent news man. I hope you enjoy your time off. You totally deserve it.

I am also very excited about the projects that you are going to be working on.

And I promise, I will post soon on syf :)

Unknown said...

Damn, and I was hoping to get to hang out with you more, Greg, when I intern under Guido for the GAE team this fall!

Good luck with it all and hopefully we will see some Python contributions in your near future. =)

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's big news. Congrats. Surely not an easy decision. Hope to still see you at the next conference ...or whereever :)

Unknown said...

Greg,

wow, that's some news! It will be great to see you back writing Open Source code, and I'm sure you'll have plenty of cool stuff to do out there.

Enjoy your time off and, hey, Europe: make yourself heard and I would be more than glad to show you around!

Unknown said...

Dood! Glad to hear you're finding happiness in your personal life. When you're back in town and settling into whatever comes next, drop me a line so we can have drinks.