After 10 and a half years of working for Google, yesterday was my last day. The end was a bit anti-climatic: I had an exit interview, I gave back my laptop, and I turned in my badge at reception before leaving. I had a great time working at Google. It changed my life and my career, really.
Some of you reading this blog know that I have a degree in journalism from a California-state university in the suburbs of Los Angeles. When I moved to San Francisco I had few job prospects in my chosen industry. I spent time out of work and looking for something, anything, that would pay my San Francisco rent. It took a while and a few unintuitive leaps to get there, but in 2005 I was hired by Google.
Since then it’s been a challenging, rewarding, amazing, and at times awe-inspiring ride along the way, and yesterday it finally came to a close.
What’s next for me, you ask?
Well, first I am taking some time off from work and adjusting to not checking my work email every 5 minutes from when I wake up in the morning to when I go to bed. And then, when I am recovered from that, I will be starting a new job at Github as a Corporate Partnership Program Manager.
I’m truly excited about the new opportunity at Github. I’m going to be working with a lot of folks who are passionate about the same things I am: getting more students into programming, getting more diversity in software, building enthusiasm and energy around programming, and improving programming education.
I’ve had such an amazing time managing GSoC for the last 6 years and feel like I have made an impact on the way people see students and software development. It’s time to keep building and growing that impact with another set of challenges and another group of amazing people.
I’m looking forward to telling you all more about it soon!