Fuuuut

So much to do, so little time. That about sums it up. The tl;dr for this blog post is me feeling weird because tomorrow is my last day at Q42 and I'm about to jump into a wild roller coaster for a month or so. But it'll be an awesome roller coaster, that's for sure and I'm really looking forward to what's coming my way.

So in case you haven't followed me on Twitter or see me personally (in which case, you probably don't even care), I've quit my job at Q42 to join Uxebu. While it's not a decision I took lightly, it is one I'm convinced about. Let me explain...

The unnamed company

(No need to throw explicit dirt.) When I started at my (currently) previous job, it sounded great. It was a (in national terms) big travel blog. But as the company was taken over by other people. It turned out I didn't quite work that great with the new bosses. They were completely a-technical and basically only focused squeezing every penny out of the site they could. While it might be a very bleak picture I'm drawing, it's certainly not that far from the truth. And I don't like that kind of attitude. I want to build cool stuff and felt like I was really just wasting my time there. So after half a year I told them I'd quit in half a year. I was basically their life line on technical aspects and I figured I'd give them enough time to find a replacement for me. Turns out I might as well could have given my month's notice. But that's another story. So while they did give me the opportunity to be the technical lead on a site with millions of uniques, even though I was "fresh" out of university (albeit not that green), it did turn out to be a lousy job with a lousy pay and a lousy vision.

Q42

So after being pushed by Krijn that I absolutely should go pay Q42 a visit (and being rejected by their daughter company a few weeks earlier ;) still no hard feelings guys!) I sent an email to Kars, one of the guys that owns Q42. I had not really heard of the company at that point, other than some ... history related to Fronteers.

In the initial email I said that I was interested. Their job offer (Dutch) really stood out amongst the dull standard crap. Protip: if you're looking for a job, that's the kind of job offer you're looking for!. But I also said I was merely sending an email to explore the possibilities because I'd have a daily 3 to 4 hour commute because I didn't exactly live close to Den Haag. I ended up with a conversation with Kars and an hour or so later I had a job there. Euh, what? :)

So working at Q was awesome. I'm really so happy to have had the pleasure and experience of a company like that. I mean, once you get to work in an environment so vibrant and filled with the good kind of nerds like that, you'll never go back. Not only that, the company pretty much has a different way of working. Oh sure, we use scrumm and there are more .NET/C# developers there than other languages. But the difference is that they're not in it for the money. Not really anyways. We all need to make a living, and being a web developer simply pays off good.

The main theme at Q42 is the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and we make references to it all the time. The name is a clear reference (Question; answer 42). We actually have towel day with Q42 branded towels! In fact my email to notice everybody of my leaving started with "So long and thanks for all the fish"!

Though the major difference is that money is spent back on the developers. If you need something you'll get it, hardware software or environment. No hassle, whatsoever. They listen to you. If you tell them that a certain approach is probably better they'll listen. They do the same with customers. They don't just accept a new job, build it and deliver. No, they really sit down and make sure that the product that's being requested is actually what they want. In most cases it's not and the result will be much better because the customer is happier with it. They're about making cool stuff and earning a living while doing so. Oh tomorrow is going to be so difficult for me...

Moving on

So if this is all double rainbow and magical unicorns for me why the hell am I leaving? Did I eat the forbidden fruit? Did my earth get destroyed? No, I simply have other ambitions and aspirations. I'm a JavaScript dude and really just want to do more with the language. So at first I tried to get a job at a big vendor. Again, no need to explicitly throw mud here, but let's just say that their hiring process could really use some updates. You don't let somebody in the cold for two months if you've already made up your mind :/ (FYI: The main issue was mainly about me not being able to relocate within two years) Ironically, I received an offer later from a competitor that actually started with being able to work from home. Hmmmm. Anyways, it was too late. The prior experience left a bad taste and I was already talking with Uxebu.

Uxebu

It's weird how things work. Nikolai approached me on Twitter (dm) and basically offered me a job. At first I said no. I had no intentions of leaving Q. But his pitch kind of stuck and got me thinking. It actually just sounded like something I had to do and would be best for me in the long run. Of course, by the time I decided that they put up a public job offer. At that point I really felt like I had missed a boat, you know? And the boat was full of awesomeness and I'd have a very small chance of ever getting onto it. So I hastily tried to get back in contact with Nikolai, but it was like the week before the MWC and it turned out to be difficult :p

But yeah, clearly it worked out. We talked some more and later had a teleconference with Tobias and Wolfram. We later met in Germany (they're all German :p) and it felt good. Uxebu has the same mentality as Q42 (I was actually a little surprised to find another company on my path with the same attitude, so fast). So I accepted their offer and here we are now.

April / May

So I'll start there the first of May. Basically JSConf is going to be my first day of work. I mean, how awesome and symbolic can you get? :D The coming month is going to be crazy. In all fairness, I already planned most of it long before Uxebu even came in the picture.

Next week I'm doing a JS workshop for Fronteers, which is exciting for me as well. Then I'll be in St. Louis from the 24th, my aunt lives there and I wanted to pay her a visit (it's been like 10 years ago since I visited her).

On the 30th I'll fly to Oregon for JSConf. It's my first jsconf and I'm so excited. I'm actually going to open day two to announce the JS1K winners!! How awesome is that :D I also want to try and get a spot in the B-track at JSConf to show a personal project (a visual statical analysis js tool in js) I've been working on the past few weeks.

Getting back from the States I'll be in Amsterdam a week later for Mobilism, which is kind of a home game for me (the organizers are friends from the Fronteers group ;). And a week after that I'll be at FalsyValues, where I'll be doing a two day game workshop with Kornel and enjoying the conference the day after that.

To infinity and beyond

And then... Pfff, I think June comes after that? :) Me and my girl's birthdays and of course general preparations for our marriage in August. Is it me or is everybody getting married right now. I think I know at least eight people who'll get married in the next 4 months. What the hell :) Must be a phase.

But yeah, life is good :) Just had to blow off some steam with ya. Thanks for listening!