On Moving On

Sunrise over Lennox Head, Australia

In early November last year, after great consideration, I decided to quit my job at State. I’d been with them for almost two years, however, the time had come for me to move on. It wasn’t an easy decision to move on, but one that I had to make. During the second half of 2013 I had managed to burn myself out. I wasn’t finding the right balance between work and life, nor was I finding the right levels of creativity in my work that I desired.

I decided to I wanted a break from programming, and looked for roles relating to product design, management and marketing.

In the middle of November, I started working with Resin.io, doing product and marketing, this was a great experience, and their team and service are amazing. However, in January, I parted ways with them too, which was tough to do, but also needed.

I’m now writing about this many months afterwards, as my progression onwards from these companies is still relevant. At the start of this week, I handed in my resignation to Kano, this too, was done after a great deal of thought, and with quite a bit of sadness.

At Kano, I joined as lead backend developer, responsible for building their APIs and web-services, an incredibly exciting and challenging role, which is why I took it. In hindsight, I should have realised I was still burnt out, and that I needed a role with less stress and responsibility.

Do not let my departure from these companies be misconstrued as these companies being bad places to work, in fact, they’re quite the opposite: they’re exciting companies, building innovative products or services, with outstanding teams. I loved working for each and every one of them.

So, why am I moving on from each? Because I need to.

I need to get my life back in balance, back under control. Over the past few months, I have started suffering from depression again. I had also been struggling with it in my last 4-6 months at State. I’ve started to write about depression and my struggles with it, and soon I’ll be publishing more on it.

What’s next?

Firstly, I’ll be available for consulting work as of the start of April. To discuss your project with me, drop me an email.

Secondly, I’m going to be working more on a startup idea I’ve been toying with for the past two years. I believe I now have a solid plan for it, and that it’s viable to test it out. If you’re interested in hearing about what I’m doing or would like to chat about potential investment also get in contact. I’ll be writing more about what I’m working on soon.

Thirdly, I’m now working from Ziferblat and I’ve started volunteering there, if you’re in the neighbourhood, stop by, have a cup of tea or coffee, chat, do some work and take your time. I hope to see you there soon!

I’ll leave you with a song that tends to inspire me on my journey, it’s The Chase by Illy, go give it a listen.