What I did yesterday…

  1. Quit my job
  2. Get a new apartment.
  3. Get called “crazy” by my mom.

Obviously the third follows from the first two.

And yes, I literally submitted my letter of resignation and signed my lease on the same day. The rest of my day was less exciting.

Some explanation…

Leaving Technorati

I decided recently to leave my job at Technorati. The reasons are varied and mostly personal.

I’ve been at Technorati for quite awhile. I started in May of 2005 as an intern, while finishing grad school at USF. After finishing school, I came on board full time.

When I joined we were about 18 or so people. We grew to around 45 but have since been reduced, through layoffs and departures to around 25 or so. Of the people working at Technorati now, only 4 who’ve been there longer than I have.

I’ve worked on many different projects: some launched, some dead, some popular, some unpopular. My work has touched pretty much every area of our infrastructure, from our spider to our HTML and CSS. This includes programming in 6 different languages*. Seriously.

I say all this to say that I’ve given all I can to Technorati and its now time for me to move on to other projects.

My last day at Technorati is November 16th, for those in the Bay Area, there will likely be a shindig around that time to celebrate (or mourn, depending on your opinion of my decision). What the UpPownceBook-sphere (or this space) for details.

After that I’m going to be doing some consulting work. I’ve talked with a few people about this already, but as of now I have no firm commitments. So, if you’re interested in having me work on a project basis with your team, let me know. For an idea of what I could help your team with, see my resume

Moving

Cameron and I have been looking for an apartment to move into together for about four months. We were finally offered one that we like, so we jumped on it and will be moving this weekend. We’re gonna be at 26th and San Jose, part of the Outer/Lower Mission, also not far from Noe Valley, Bernal or Glen Park.

Once again, for those in the Bay Area, there will be festivities at some point. Likely closer to the holidays (did I mention we have a working fireplace? I didn’t? Oh, well now I did.)

Rebooting

As Cameron said “its like you’re rebooting your life”. Well, kinda. I seem to do this ever few years. Last time was nearly three years ago, when I picked up and moved from Kansas City to San Francisco for grad school. I knew no one in San Francisco at the time (besides my grad school advisor). Of course, at the time, I was miserable living in KC. I’m not miserable now, just uninspired and in a funk.

* PHP, PERL, Python, Javascript, Ruby and Java (plus I’ve written HTML and CSS)

17 Responses to “What I did yesterday…”

  1. Edward O'Connor Says:

    Hey Ryan. Sounds a lot like where I was when I left Eventful — best of luck with the transition to consulting. I’ve found it to be a worthwhile mixture of success and failure.

  2. Buzz Andersen Says:

    Congrats, man! I know how you feel–it seems like everyone’s kind of rebooting their lives right now :-).

  3. Dimitri Glazkov Says:

    You crazy. Now I know nobody at Technorati.

  4. Jeremy Keith Says:

    Will the last person to leave Technorati please switch off the lights.

    Have fun moving into the new place (que theme music from The Odd Couple).

  5. BenJ Says:

    Congratulations !

  6. Rev. Dan Says:

    Anybody who ever does anything new/bold/daring is always going to be called crazy by folks who aren’t bold/daring.

    Congratulations for choosing to make changes, hopefully they work out for the best! I’ll be keepin’ a good thought for ya! Cheers!

  7. Jessica Says:

    Everyone seems to be “rebooting” this year, including myself.

    Does this mean you and Cameron are only 3 blocks from Andy?

  8. ryan Says:

    @Jessica-

    I dunno, where is Andy living?

  9. Dan Connolly Says:

    18… 45… 25… 4… yes… well then… good luck with the reboot!

  10. Paul Downey Says:

    hey, enjoy the reboot.. and I think as a freelancer you’ll probably have to learn how to say no, ‘cos everyone will want ya!

  11. ryan Says:

    Thanks Dan, but I don’t understand the numbers. :)

  12. Dan Connolly Says:

    The numbers are from the “When I joined…” paragraph.

  13. Matt Says:

    Best of luck in your new endeavors. I think there is something in the water. Before you get caught up in the day to day, take some time to unwind and write down the things that are most important to you going forward.

  14. Casey Says:

    Congrats! I quit last year around this time… it did me A LOT of good.

  15. Micki Krimmel Says:

    Congrats, Ryan. You are unstoppable and will surely do amazing things. I might even call you for a few. ;)

  16. Mom Says:

    Interesting to see the comments of others- and my comment about ‘crazy’ made it on the page. Glad for the re-boot-hope it continues- will see you in March! Dad and I could use a re-charge ourselves!

  17. the ryan king » Risk Says:

    […] Awhile back Matt suggested I “write down the things that are most important to [me] going forward”. […]