Hire me!
tl;dr
I do corporate open source strategy and I’d like to do it for you. Here’s my resume. Email me. Let’s talk.
Background
Back in May of 2020, Juniper laid off our team. Immediately afterward I dove headfirst into conversations with companies about joining or advising them. As I was speaking with a lot of interesting people and discussing some fascinating challenges, I was learning some hard lessons about exhaustion.
Facing Burnout
The thing is, I’ve been running at full burn since…um…2012? Maybe 2014? Anyway, for too long. 2019 alone saw me on the road for about 70% of my time. Only my cat sitter liked that. (I honestly couldn’t have done it without her). The layoff—however unwelcome in normal times let alone during a global pandemic—put me in the position to review my life and finally stop denying how damn burned out I was. Almost as importantly, it gave me the opportunity to do something about it.
After I pulled my head out of my a…mbition I put my job hunt on hold. Well, not on hold exactly. For the past several months I’ve spoken with and advised several companies as opportunities present themselves, but I’ve certainly not gone out of my way to put myself out there.
Instead, I’ve launched the FOSS Governance Collection. I’ve led the conversion and relaunch of the FLOSS Foundations website and directory. I started work on my second book. More importantly, I’ve rehabilitated my travel-degraded eating habits. I’ve started getting regular exercise for the first time in years. And oh how I’ve slept. I’ve slept ever so much and it was glorious. The cats helped. They do some truly inspiring work in this field and it’s been an honour to learn from masters of the craft.
So as unpleasant as it was to lose my job in the middle of a pandemic, in the end it turned out to be for the best as well as being a true privilege. I know precisely how lucky I am to have been able to take time for myself and I’m very grateful for it. I long for a world where everyone is able to do this.
Ready to go!
As you’ve probably already figured out from the post title, break time is over and I’m throwing my hat back into the employment ring. I stand ready to help your company be more successful by using, releasing, and contributing to free and open source software. Here’s my resume. Hire me!
What am I looking for?
Some guidelines for what sort of opportunities will turn my head:
- Full time. I am not currently looking to do freelance consulting. I’ll consider a flexible long-term contract or part time work if the opportunity is compelling enough, since I do have a book to finish writing and could put that extra time to good use.
- Minimum of Director level (or equivalent), and higher preferred. I’ve worked very hard to reach this rung on the career ladder and will not be making downward moves at this point. Director is the bare minimum title for the level of work I do, anyway.
- Remote, even after the pandemic has passed. I’ve telecommuted and led distributed teams for more than ten years now. Not only have I no desire to change that, doing so would seriously impact my ability to get stuff done. I don’t perform as well in the distraction-laden environment of an office. While obviously I’ll head to the office when necessary (and safe), forcing me to spend time in one is not going to get your company a good return on its investment in hiring me.
Hire me!
Does your company or organisation need help with its open source strategy? Does it want to know how its open source use and involvement can help its bottom line? From forming and running an open source program office (OSPO), to building and leading a metrics-driven community/developer relations team, to shaping strategic product roadmaps, if it’s strategic for your company and involves open source software, I’m your gal.
Check out my bio, my articles, my talks, my book, and my resume. My skills and experience are clear. Your company probably needs them.
Drop me a line. Let’s talk.