In the summer of 2007 I graduated from college, moved to Seattle, and started working as a web developer for Groundwire, then called ONE/Northwest. This week, five years later, I'm both sad and excited to announce that I'm moving on.
Working at Groundwire has been a fantastic experience for which I am deeply grateful. I got to work with the best colleagues in the world, as well as some awesome clients whose missions I believe in. I learned a lot about shepherding nonprofit organizations through the process of doing a significant technology project. I was privileged to spend time pushing the Plone content management system to the next level and building deep integration between it and the Salesforce.com CRM platform. Groundwire is still doing great work to help nonprofits engage their constituents, and if you're currently looking for a great opportunity to combine your tech skills with a desire to work for good, I can wholeheartedly recommend applying for one of Groundwire's open positions.
But nevertheless, it's time for me to "level up" to the next challenge. After Thursday, I will start working as a freelance contractor specializing in Plone, Python, and web app development. I'm looking forward to working with and contributing my skills to some other great consultancies and clients, as well as learning new tools and techniques for constructing web-based solutions. And I'm looking forward to having a more flexible schedule with more chances to work on my own projects in addition to paid work.
The Plone content management system has grown dear to me during my time at Groundwire, and I will not be abandoning it. During the next few weeks leading up to the annual Plone conference, I plan to spend as much time as possible working on various Plone-related improvements that I have had scarce time for lately, including:
- Attending the Sea Sprint and pushing forward the Deco layout system
- Continuing to improve Dexterity's capabilities for building content types through the web
- Helping prepare the release of Plone 4.3 (including completing the demise of KSS)
I'll be doing this work on a volunteer basis, but if you've benefited from my contributions to Plone and/or want to help make sure I continue to have time available to work on it, please consider leaving me a tip:
Following the Plone conference, I am scheduling projects for mid-October and beyond, and am especially interested in:
- Chances to work with Plone, Pyramid, and/or other Python-based web frameworks—or train other developers on how to use them well
- Web projects that are interactive rather than merely presenting information
- Projects that expand what is possible for non-developers to accomplish using Plone
- Projects that are driven in part by a "social good" mission rather than merely profit
If you have something like that I can assist with, please be in touch!