Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Passage to Dubai

After 20 months of happy employment at Embarcadero, I resigned last week from my position as Program Manager for Java and SQL Developer products to pursue a new job opportunity. May 8 is my last day.

My tenure at Embarcadero was action-packed. Product deliverables every six months, travel to interesting destinations and working on cool technology with some of the best and brightest.



All good things come to an end though.


The New Job

On May 25, I start a new job as a project manager at Infusion Development, a position that is a complete 180 in several aspects:

  • I am relocating to Dubai.

  • Consulting. No products.

  • No Eclipse. All about Microsoft.

Of course, the main mandate continues to be to manage large distributed development teams and deliver quality software on time and on budget. That is what I do (and do well ;).


From Toronto to Dubai

I have always wanted to work in the middle east, given the right opportunity. I am originally from the region, speak the language and do enjoy the larger-than-life things that Dubai has to offer.

If it all goes well, the plan is to relocate to Dubai by the end of summer. My place of residence is yet to be decided, but I am thinking I will get an apartment in one of these buildings:




From Eclipse to .Net

The fact that my new job has nothing to do with Eclipse had drawn interesting reactions from my Eclispe-loving circle of friends. Reactions ranged from a simple "wtf?" to Nick Boldt's more eloquent "But Eclipse has been good to you, and you have been good for Eclipse."

That is certainly true. Eclipse is a great technology, the Eclipse community is passionate and being an Eclipse committer has been an honor. But after 10 years, maybe the time has come for Eclipse and I to start seeing other people ;)


Just Deserts

To chronicle my new life in Dubai, my blog will need a new name. After much deliberation and research, I came up with a clever name: "Just Deserts."

You see it's clever because it's like "Just Desserts" (the famous dessert restaurant chain), but with one less S. Get it? :)


Onward and Upward

Thank you, Embarcadero. Thank you, Eclipse.
Here's to the next chapter and the Dubai adventure...