Moving on

July 5th, 2010 . 15 comments

As of last week, I’ve decided it’s time to finish up with my full time Blender development contract and move on to new things. It’s been 8 months now since I started with this, pretty close to the first 9 month target/budget, so it’s not too unexpected. I’m happy to have done my part in bringing Blender 2.5 closer up to production ready status over the last several months, and this decision doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll cease contributing, but it will be the end of it for now in this professional capacity. It’s been an interesting time, I’ve had some new experiences, but it’s not what I really want to be doing with myself in the long term – I’m itching to get back into more regular creative production work!

I think what I’ve learned from this is that while some people are happy programming for programming’s sake, It’s really most interesting for me when it’s directly in service of some artistic goal or creative problem to solve. While I’ve done the work to the best of my professional ability, the last several months of report management and bug fixing (I estimate about ~350 fixed since the start) has been a bit motivationally draining, so it’s a good time for change.

So, what next? I’m looking forward to getting stuck into more freelance work again

(hire me! 😉 as well as developing some new skills in other areas and working on some personal projects. Hopefully more interesting times ahead!

§ 15 Responses to Moving on"

  • You will be sorely missed.

    Can’t wait to see what your future brings you however. Hopefully it will push Blender along in greater ways as well…

  • Hi Matt,
    I’m not sure what to tell here. I’m glad you are “following your heart” and will dedicate yourself back to creative works. On the other hand you will be certainly be missed.

    It was really nice to have your support during those few months. Not being (or willing to be) a fulltime programmer myself, I found easy to interact with someone with your mixed background. Thanks for all the orientation and help.

    The work in the Logic UI simply wouldn’t happen without you. And I must say, it was pretty fun to work on those problems together!

    Take care and good luck,
    Dalai

  • William says:

    Thanks for your work. As you distance yourself a bit and regain your breath I hope you’ll find motivation to work on UI features like radial menus, and improved tools such as the ‘primitive’ modifier you demoed once.

    I think this is your core strength as a developer – you can more easily put yourself in the shoes of users, and improve Blender in areas that nobody else does.

    Cheers,

    -William

  • Reyn says:

    I second what William said. Good luck on your next endeavors, Mike. I think if you follow your heart and go to the direction with which you’re happy, you’re rewarding yourself better. It might not be a very easy transition but I’m hoping you will get by with it pretty fast and get your momentum. Good luck, Matt.

    -Reyn

  • Matt says:

    Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

  • LetterRip says:

    Matt thanks for your excellent work. Looking forward to seeing you get back to the art side of things more.

  • Mike says:

    I third what William said, and good luck returning into commercial productions!

    Thanks for all the bugfixes too! That’s why I like Blender.

  • Ciriaco says:

    Thanks for your work !
    =:-)

  • Big Fan says:

    Hey thanks for the effort. 350 squashed bugs is very welcome.

    Must have been hard going being away from the main team though.

    I sense you are disappointed and a little frustrated not to have done more new stuff rather than the bug fixing.

    I know you are good at ‘developing’ so I sympathise.

    I think we partly missed an opportunity.

    Perhaps the mystery sponsor will back you again sometime to tackle some genuine goodies…perhaps after you have had a rest and perhaps for a lesser duration – say 3 months.

    Thanks again for your contribution to Blender over the last 8 months.

    Unleash some of that creativity on some Blending.

  • eonmach says:

    sad news, I can only say thanks for your hard work and contributions to the Blendah community, I wish I had your talents you have, in my proyects.

    Thanks again and good luck in your upcoming proyects, I’ll be watching closely. 🙂

  • Otomo says:

    Good luck with all your new projects in work and life in general! And thank you very much for all your work you did in Blender3d and the contributions for the Blender community.

  • Matt says:

    Thank you for the kind words, everyone!

  • Demohero says:

    Thanks for all your efforts Matt.

  • TxRx says:

    Your hard work was/is most certainly appreciated Matt. Can totally understand your point about needing a more creative outlet/set of tasks. Have fun in your next job!

  • nrk says:

    Thank you SOOOOOO much Matt! As you know I am a major fan of all of your work and appreciate all you’ve done! Thanks for your consideration and feedback when I needed it and I wish you all the success in the world on your next projects.

    I write software, but I can’t do it for more than three days a week or I start walking in to walls and getting headaches, that’s why I specifically picked a job that mixes it up.

    God Bless!

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