Here’s the first in a series of questions related to my move to Seattle.
I’m thinking about going car-less in Seattle, and relying on Flexcar when I actually need a car. Public transportation seems pretty good, and I may well be able to find an apartment in walking distance of work. Advantages: no garage or parking costs, no anxiety about car theft. (Chris seemed to have particularly bad luck when he lived in Seattle.) Disadvantages: less flexibility, can’t drive outside the lower 48 (i.e. no trips to Vancouver or Victoria).
So what do you think? Right now I’m planning to leave DARWIN in Massachusetts; I can always change my mind in a few months….
Category: Amazon
And now, the envelope please….
It’s official (or it will be as soon as FedEx does its thing): I’m going to work for Amazon.com. I shall be working with Werner Vogels, the Amazon CTO. My start date is August 14; I’ll be heading off to Seattle on August 8. Lots to do between now and then.
I’m very excited by this job, and just a little bit intimidated too. For years I’ve been involved in projects at Sun which focussed on “distributed computing at large scale”. Those of you who heard Rob Gingell or Greg Papadopoulos (or me) speaking on the subject will know that we were convinced that the reality of “large scale” would continue to surprise people. (Shades of Hofstadter’s Law, or Douglas Adams on space.) Well, now I get to deal with “really, really large scale” – unmediated, no excuses, in the flesh. It’s challenging. It’s… well, exhilarating. And it’s a wonderful opportunity.
More anon. Right now, I’m going to crack open a bottle of champagne!
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P.S. Many thanks to all of you who helped with this, especially Dan, Cassandra, Wendy, and Rakhel.