The thinly and not-so-thinly veiled allusions to big changes in my life can finally be put to rest. My last day working for Ubermind was on Friday; on Monday I began working for deCarta, a company that provides various mapping services (“location-based services” or “LBS”) for both embedded devices and the Internet.
If it seems like a bizarre manoeuvre in navigating the path of my career, well, it is, but it’s not without rhyme or reason. Location-based services is a hugely growing field in technology with the advent of so many location-aware (ie. GPS-equipped) network devices like the iPhone. I strongly believe it’s the next frontier of the digital age, and we’ve already seen the initial wave, but the quality of the existing software lags tremendously behind what the hardware is now capable of. DeCarta is giving me the opportunity to change that, and to hopefully be a really influential player in this emerging marketplace. Which rocks. I am leaving Ubermind with something of a heavy heart, but the timing is right and it’s too good an opportunity to pass up.
So I have begun work as a Senior Software Engineer there, where I will be putting my game development skills to work on redefining the user experience when interacting with maps on various handheld devices.
DeCarta is headquartered in San Jose, California, but rather than uprooting my life for a third time I will be telecommuting from my home in Redmond. This is a fairly big and slightly scary change for me; I’ve worked from home before but it’s never been my main workplace. I’ve had to give away the futon in my den, one of the pair of matching futons that has loyally and obediently followed me since I first moved out to New York City in 2004; I can assure you my heart was pierced at that sacrifice. I’ve replaced it with an L-desk from Fry’s that required a borrowed pick-up truck and (if we’d been adequately prepared) a third person to move it into my condo, but we had to make do with only two of us. It currently sits on the floor in its two unbelievably heavy boxes; I hope to assemble it this weekend and finish turning my den into a proper office that will solidify the line between my home space and my work space.
In the meantime, deCarta flew me down to San Jose yesterday for my first week. It is the first of what will no doubt be many such business trips, especially for the immediate future, as I am diving into a project that has a major milestone next month. I generally dislike flying and the stress it causes me, but the company’s travel policy is a good one and keeps me comfortable when I’m away, and it doesn’t hurt that the weather here is immeasurably nicer than Seattle this time of year. They also have a smaller office in Portland which I may occasionally visit; it’s about three hours away by train.
So: fairly big life change there. My second job switch in under a year. I’m hoping it’s my last one for a while.
I went out for drinks with the Ubermind folks on my last day. It was a good time, and I will miss them and the work I was doing there. (I won’t miss commuting to Fremont or competing for parking around that crowded block, though.)
Cannibal is closing this weekend. We’ve had some spectacular houses, and I won’t be at all surprised if we sell out on Halloween. It’s one of the few shows I’ve done where people are actually coming back to see it a second and third time… which isn’t to say it’s necessarily good, but at the very least it’s enjoyably bad. You should get tickets if you haven’t already; it closes this Sunday, and if you miss it, you miss it.
Dan.
