Thank You. Good Bye. But Not Really.
Moving on from the Node.js Foundation.
It has been two years since we started the Node.js Foundation.
When I first took on the task of leading the Foundation, it was in order to support a project under very new and untested organizing principles. We had not yet shown that these principles could handle the challenges of stability and long term support the ecosystem demands. We did not yet know if these ideas could handle the number of contributors doubling, then doubling again, and then once again. I believed they would, as did others, but we were still learning as we grew, just as we continue to learn today.
We soon learned that the Foundation and project’s structure was effective — it continues to nurture and sustain the project and ecosystem today. But the project, and the Foundation, also have very different needs today than they did back then as we have continued to scale.
Today, most of our project leaders are not those that created our policies but those that began contributing under them. In just a few years, the new faces out-number the old. As the project has become healthy and sustainable the need for my direct involvement has dwindled and I’ve turned more and more to the institutional needs of the Node.js Foundation. In this, I have always been less adept as a salesman than I have as a community organizer and for some time now I’ve been looking for the right person to hand it over to.
Node.js has a strong project, an even stronger community, and it deserves a strong institution ensuring its longevity. We have never had funding commensurate with our adoption and in order to achieve it we need a great Executive Director to lead the Node.js Foundation.
I’ve known Mark Hinkle almost as long as I’ve been at the Node.js Foundation. He had been the VP of Marketing for the Linux Foundation for most of that time. After hearing so much about how great our community is Mark had to see it for himself and decided to attend Node.js Interactive in Austin, TX last year.
What struck me about Mark was how excited he was by this community. Mark has been a part of Open Source communities his entire career, but was clearly seeing something new.
Earlier this year Mark took on the role of Executive Director and I’ve been transferring my administrative responsibilities to him. At the end of June, this transition will be complete and I’ll be leaving the Node.js Foundation.
I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish the last few years of Node.js. While I’ll forever be a part of this community, I’m ready to move on from the Foundation to the next challenge. The project is as strong as it has ever been with plenty of new project leaders who will surely fill whatever void I leave behind, and the project will end up even stronger for it.
