Onwards unto tomorrow

2016–02–05

Today was my last day at Apcera, Inc. It’s a little bittersweet.

I’m proud of the products we’ve built and cheered by the friendships made.

The product we’ve worked on is incredible; it pretty much defines the market, having been repeatedly ahead of the curve. We’ve won multiple technical evaluations by sophisticated customers, where we’ve easily surpassed the competition, with product which exists and works today. We’ve demonstrated the power of a coherent integrated design, where security has never been an afterthought, in a highly technical product field (containerized job management over the entire deployment lifecycle of a company’s applications).

I’ve witnessed great work from people across many fields. In many ways, Apcera has been like a family. Moreover, Derek and the rest of the management team have done well by the staff, working with the utmost integrity; this has directly resulted in my having the freedom to step back from the daily grind without having to immediately stress about mortgage payments and the like. I couldn’t do what I’m doing next if they had acted more like the horror stories which are too prevalent in Silicon Valley today.

But I’ve hit 40, I’m about due for a mid-life crisis, and I need a break. If I take some time to myself, I can probably avoid buying a car that’s far too fast for me to handle. So I’m going to take a few months to see what I can do to slow the spread of white hairs in my beard. Much more daily exercise; expanding my cooking repertoire; painting the house if I’m feeling masochistic enough; perhaps even removing from their plastic seals some of the console games I bought together with a PS4 after the company was sold. It’s been well over a year, perhaps I finally should see what Destiny is like.

Then there are the pressing and important matters which I’ve put off for far too long, such as citizenship. I should gain the ability to influence the colour of this country for the next 4 years.

After a little bit, I’ll start crafting some code I want to write. The chances of this providing a steady income stream for me are low, but if I surprise myself then I might even start my own business instead of going back to work for someone else.

For now though, I’ll heed the sage advice of one former colleague, to not look for the next thing while still preoccupied with the old thing. Time and distance are needed, to gain perspective upon my life, my career and my path into the future.

Peace out, all!
-Phil