OpenIDBack to full-time employment
I’ve been freelance for a year and a half now, and it’s been a great deal of fun. For me, being freelance meant having the freedom to pursue all sorts of different interests—technical writing, public speaking, Django, OpenID, JavaScript—and the opportunity to work with some really fantastic people.
It was going to take a very special opportunity to pull me back in to full-time employment, but I believe I’ve found that opportunity at the Guardian. I’ll be joining them full time (well, four days a week) in mid-October as a software architect, collaborating with their development team on some ambitious API projects. The Guardian have access to a lot of interesting data and I can’t wait to get stuck in to it. Since they’re a newspaper, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they scooped me to the story.
I’ll be particularly sorry to say good-bye to the outstanding team I’ve been working with at GCap. I’m looking forward to talking about some of the things we’ve been working together over the next few weeks.
Congratulations, Simon! Looking forward to the stuff you'll be doing at the Guardian.
Derek Willis - 22nd August 2008 17:31 - #
Congrats Simon! The Guardian is awesome and I'm sure you will really push things forward for them.
See you at dConstruct!
Congratulations Simon.
Simon Wardley - 22nd August 2008 17:37 - #
Congratulations on the new role Simon.
Brilliant news, Simon--congratulations. Can't wait to hear what you'll be working on.
Ethan - 22nd August 2008 17:50 - #
Congratulations Simon, hope you'll have a great time there, and looking forward to being able to play with the Guardian's yummy data...
Fantastic news, Simon.
I think you'll be a great benefit to The Guardian.
Craig Saila - 22nd August 2008 18:00 - #
Congrats Simon! Sounds like a great opportunity and right up your alley.
Congrats Man. That's really, really awesome. I suspect that's gotta be the British equivalent of a Manhattan boy working for the New York Times. Outstanding.
I'm sure you'll have a great time at the Guardian :) It's been pretty awesome working with you at GCap!
Robert Lofthouse - 22nd August 2008 18:30 - #
Great news Simon: congratulations! Looking forward to seeing what you cook up.
Congrats, Simon! The Guardian is one of the most clued-in news outlets in the world, and I'm excited to see what you come up with. This is really great for all parties involved.
Adrian Holovaty - 22nd August 2008 19:38 - #
Good luck at the Guardian !
Say hi to Paul Carvill, who I got a chance to work with for a bit at UpMyStreet (he's a nice guy).
Congrats++ Simon... as one of the only media organizations I take seriously, I look forward to seeing what you get up to there.
Hopefully they let you have some time off to come to Webstock again!
maetl - 22nd August 2008 20:56 - #
Congrats Simon! The Guardian is very lucky to have you, indeed.
Chad Dickerson - 23rd August 2008 00:01 - #
Congrats!
Alex Russell - 23rd August 2008 05:07 - #
Congrats Simon! Looking forward to a post on what you're working on.
Shriphani Palakodety - 23rd August 2008 12:37 - #
Congrats!
I've just read this interesting article about the software architecture at Guardian.co.uk "Domain-Driven Design in an Evolving Architecture" http://www.infoq.com/articles/ddd-evolving-archite cture
As you know, Guardian.co.uk is Java-powered. In your opinion, could Python/Django be used for a similar complex project? Do you plan to use Python/Django for smaller side-projects with your new employer?
Giorgio Navicella - 24th August 2008 07:25 - #
I dont know what to make of the economy but I see thousands of high paying jobs posted on employment sites, this is a great barometer...
www.indeed.com (keyword)
www.simplyhired.com (keyword)
www.realmatch.com (matching)
Lots of $150k jobs!
Jamie Fontain - 24th August 2008 18:41 - #
Congrats on the job! A great appointment.
I'm joining the Guardian myself at the end of September - but I'll be up in Manchester as Head of Online for their regional business...
I hope we'll get to collaborate!
Paul Lomax - 26th August 2008 10:30 - #
Simon! I thought you were happy at GCap?
Ian Forrester - 26th August 2008 15:01 - #
Awesome! I hope you keep up your blogging!
Joshua Allen - 26th August 2008 20:24 - #
Ian: I was (and indeed am) very happy at GCap. The Guardian job is a different kind of opportunity, working on a very different set of problems. It just happens to align with my interests extremely closely right now.
Hi Simon. Just wanted to test working OpenID here. And it works!
Congratulations, Simon! I didn't catch you at dConstruct but next time I see you I will have to buy you a celebratory drink.
Jeff Luan - 9th September 2008 15:39 - #
Belated congratulations although it is tough going from freelance to employee!
Sam - 4th October 2008 05:48 - #
I would like to know why The Graun doesn't appear to use its own spelling/usage check on articles.
For example recently it's had repeat Corrections about the spelling of Gandhi, another about Audrey Tautou, many other examples, plus words from its Style Guide which should get flagged up for checking.
But it doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes, so I presume that there is no word checking going on, although I have noted this to both the current and previous Readers' Editors.
Maybe a proper techie could point them in the right direction ...?!
MikeW - 9th October 2008 12:01 - #
... or perhaps not !
MikeW - 19th October 2008 22:55 - #
Congratulations, sir. I miss your more frequent posts!
Ref - 25th November 2008 04:05 - #
First of all, congratulations! Simon, be happy that you have experienced a wonderful time as a freelancer and dude, 4 days a week sounds awesome! This would be my dream job!
Flug - 1st December 2008 16:51 - #