End of the Tadhg-Nimblefish Era
After almost five years, I am no longer working at Nimblefish. I started freelancing at Nimblefish on Tuesday 09 September 2002, so that’s four years and eight months there. I was at their current offices in downtown San Francisco from when they moved in there, and was full-time there for four years and five months. It’s difficult for me to believe that I was there that long, and difficult to believe that I’m no longer there.
It feels like I’m on vacation, that I’m going to return to the office after some time away. I wonder if I’ll end up there while on autopilot on my morning commute to Metaweb (the commute is almost identical, and I pass Nimblefish on the way). It feels unreal that I’ve packed the stuff from my desk, and that it’s no longer my desk.
It’s a much easier transition because of the physical proximity. I’ll still see people from Nimblefish, a very good thing as I know a lot of great people there. It’s not like I’ve taken a job in the Valley.
I’m leaving Nimblefish on a high note, too, which is great. People really like the work I’ve done there since the start of the year, and it looks like they’re going to keep going with it. It’s certainly a completely different feeling from being let go in the third round of layoffs, which is how I left my last job.
There’s another layer of strangeness, which is that times of transition make me think of other changes in my life, such as starting my M.A., starting my M.Sc., moving to Berkeley, getting my first full-time job at ClientNet, deciding to stay in San Francisco—clearly a number of those are very major events, but looking back makes them appear like a slow drift, and right now it seems vaguely odd that I’m not still in University College Dublin, visiting Trinity every couple of days, running MTG tournaments in Bewley’s on George’s Street, and living in Booterstown. Even though those things have not been the case for almost ten years. The past, in other words, clings to us, a series of skins we don’t fully shed, a kaleidoscope of views we never quite stop looking through.
Despite the sense of unreality, it feels right. I’ve really looking forward to the Metaweb job, and I think it was time, finally, to move on from Nimblefish.
06 May 2007 at 01:55
Congratulations, love. I’m SO glad this is the right thing for you. Go thou and wow them!
06 May 2007 at 10:25
Thanks—and the same applies to you!