leaving duke

So, a couple of weeks back I decided to leave duke. I went in and talked to
my boss and we came up with an exit date of April 13th. Yes, I’m leaving on
Friday the 13th. It amuses me to no end.

I’ve been working for duke since September of 1999. I started in the Physics
Department, stayed there for 6 years then went to the Office of Information
Technology in October of 2005. So it’s been a good long time. I doubt anyone
can claim I’m leaving an employer quickly. 🙂

A lot of opportunities were made possible as a result of being at duke. It’s
been a time of research and practical-skills acquisition for me. For duke I
hope it has been helpful and rewarding. The infrastructure for all things
linux is dramatically different than when I arrived and I think I had a lot
to do with making it so. I’m proud of how far things progressed here. However,
in the last while I’ve been increasingly unhappy w/how much time I’ve had to
work on the projects I think mattered and there didn’t seem to be much fruitful
recourse. With that in mind I decided to leave.

I’ve made arrangements with duke so that the things that we have running here
and the access we have to the open source projects hosted here will continue.
They’ve been gracious and helpful in making sure we keep things moving along.

I’ll continue to lead yum development and work on the other smaller
projects. I just won’t be coming from the @linux.duke.edu address for that much
longer.

I’ve not found a new place to work but, I think I have a lot to offer any
place I end up going. I’ve made some inquiries at a few places but nothing is
firmed or even very gelatinous, yet. I’m looking for a job where I can work
on something that matters. Work on something where I feel like I’m helping
people independent of whether or not they’re paying me. That may sound a tad
idealistic but when you’re looking for something new it sometimes helps to
be a little idealistic.

I’m going to take some time ‘off’ from a job for a month or so after I leave
here. I have the time coming and I think I’ll be a much more capable
contributor to any organization once I’ve taken some time to rest, regroup and
very likely move house. 🙂

I’m sure I’ve not answered a number of questions some folks might have for me.
Let me know and I’ll do what I can to answer them.

If you want to talk to me about a job take a look at my resume and then email me if you have something in mind. I’d like to hear what else I can help on.