I said in my last update that I was partly clearing my life update news queue because I had something much bigger to announce. So here it is:

I just gave my notice at Creative Commons... I'm leaving so I can spend a greater amount of time focusing on my pet project, MediaGoblin.

This should be a pretty smooth and gradual transition if all goes as planned... I care deeply about the success of CC and the tech team, so we've agreed on me staying part-time to ease the transition of the team and to help wrap up the projects I've been working on. So I feel good about that. One thing is for sure: working at Creative Commons these last three years as a software engineer has been a rewarding, fulfilling, and unique life opportunity, and I'm glad to have had it. I'm glad that I'll be leaving in a way that I can feel good about both for myself and for Creative Commons.

I've never had a project that I've cared about as deeply as MediaGoblin before, nor one that I thought was as important socially as MediaGoblin is. So I am planning to shift focus so I can more carefully help the project along. MediaGoblin is also much more than just my project; we have a lot of contributors who have invested much time and energy into it. Yet, at the same time, I've observed that every time I step away from the project it seems to grind to a halt, and whenever that happens I get depressed. For the last year, I've dumped 100% of my weekend, vacation, holiday time into MediaGoblin. I need a way to be able to spend even more time on MediaGoblin than I already am while avoiding burnout.

You might be wondering: how am I going to fund this? I have some ideas, and will be working on it, but in the meanwhile I don't have anything concretely set up. I have the part time CC work, and I have some possible contracting opportunities lined up, but I'd also like to make MediaGoblin development funding sustainable.

It'll be an interesting and exciting year ahead. There are a lot of transitions going on in my life, including the move to Madison, but I think this is the most interesting and exciting one for me.

On to the next chapter!