Through the Interface

I started working at Autodesk 15 years ago on August 29^th, 1995.

Part of me wanted to start this post by saying "it seems like only yesterday that I started working for Autodesk…", but the truth is, it doesn't. It feels longer, but not for bad reasons: mainly because so much has happened in the last 15 years, whether from a technological, professional or personal perspective.

[I wish it were 20 years, though, just so it'd make for a better Beatles lyrics quote. But who knows if I'll still be here in 5 years? Better to use it now, rather than risk never getting there. ;-)]

For a little anniversary fun, I scanned in my various business cards, over the years (I may have missed one or two – ADN has lived in a number of different organisations within Autodesk during this period so I had a few reprints), but there's certainly at least one below from each of the positions I've held.

If you've had the patience to look at a few of these, you'll notice I've had a number of different roles (and in different countries) within the ADN team, a few of which were before it was even known as ADN. And it's been great, more or less all the way through.

In fact, a friend of mine asked me a few days ago whether 15 years wasn't too long – from a career perspective – to be in a single organisation: he, himself, has had quite a different career, so it was an understandable question. All I could tell him is that I enjoy my work more today than I ever have before.

On a daily basis I get to work with bright, motivated, interesting people (I'm thinking particularly of the ADN & DevTech teams, but also many of the other people I interact with from both inside and outside of Autodesk). I'm involved in more interesting activities than ever, many of which I even get to talk about publicly. And this blog has just been a fantastic experience: not only because I love to communicate technical ideas (and yes, I do enjoy having my own private soapbox 😉 but because it has ultimately enabled a lot of the other fun stuff I get involved in within the company.

So thanks to all of you for helping me find the motivation to still be here! 🙂