Moving on (and yet not)

As hinted in my last post, I have some news to share with you all. After sixteen and a half years with the ADN team (and for a reminder of my various jobs, check out this previous post or you might also watch the video on my about page), I'm moving on to pastures new. I have deeply loved my current role – working with an incredibly talented team and getting exposure to a broad range of issues experienced by development partners across our various products – so this was not an easy decision to make.

To answer some of the first questions that probably spring to mind: I'm staying with Autodesk and will continue to write this blog. With that out of the way, here are some further details…

I've accepted the position of Software Architect within our Platform Solutions and Emerging Business (PSEB) division, the one responsible for products such as AutoCAD and AutoCAD WS. I'll be moving across officially on February 1st.

I'll continue to be based in Switzerland, although I expect to spend more time in – and work more often with people in – the San Francisco Bay Area.

During the last few years I've been focusing a big chunk of my time on management activities, so this move is going to be quite a change for me. That said, I'm really excited about being in a position to really influence the direction of our platform products, especially in focusing on the needs of external developers (which is very much a part of my DNA). This feels like a really good direction for me to move in, career-wise.

I do expect there to be some impact on my blogging: hopefully not in terms of frequency, but I I do expect my role change to influence the type of content I post – mainly because a lot of my work will be focused on "futures", rather than released functionality – and I expect to be using it to gather input from the community a lot more. Please be warned, though: just because I'm moving into Engineering, this doesn't mean I'll be in a position to just fix things for you (I will direct you towards the ADN team or the discussion groups if you make such requests, just as I do now).

And now for a special note to Scott M:

Sorry, Scott, but we're promoting within the team to replace me. [Scott asked – very amusingly, and, of course, not at all seriously – during my Kinect class at AU if he could have my job, mainly because it's clear I have a lot of fun fooling around with new technology.] If it's any consolation, I expect to be taking the most fun part of my job along with me… ;-).

15 responses to “Moving on (and yet not)”

  1. Francois Dauberlieu Avatar
    Francois Dauberlieu

    Good luck in your next life.
    Hopefully, you'll still have fun in your job and hopefully, for us, your replacement will be as good as you are.

    Have fun

  2. Congratulations, Kean!

    Looks like a great and exciting and enviable move to me.

    Keep rocking!

    Cheers, Jeremy.

    P.S. I never noticed your about the author video before, nor the very sensible disclaimer ... you always provide lots of goodies for me to copy 🙂

  3. congratulations Kean

    it's good to move on from time to time - it just gives the brains an other boost
    good luck and keep on blogging

    ciao Henny

  4. Congratulations, Kean... I almost missed your note at the end. As soon as I started reading, my thoughts went straight to that moment during your AU class and I was tempted to scroll down and paste my resume into the "comments" section. Oh well...

  5. Congratulations, Kean!

    I hope all goes smoothly for you in this transition.

    Doug

  6. Congratulations Kean, and all the best!

  7. very much congradulations B)

    and if you're looking for some user input, i and a few people i know would very much like windows phone 7 support for the mobile products... thanks! B)

  8. Nikolay Poleshchuk Avatar
    Nikolay Poleshchuk

    Good luck!

  9. Kean,
    Congrats my friend, this is exciting news!

    .. And I agree with what Timbot said, but I'll take it up a notch, AutoCAD and AcadWS need to have Windows 8 in its DNA, from app integration to all the goodies if you happen to be on a touch device.

    Cheers!
    Jose

  10. Congratulations, Kean!
    Wish you success on this way
    Be well for your boys

    Oleg

  11. www.facebook.com/profile.php?i Avatar
    www.facebook.com/profile.php?i

    Kean,
    Congrats my teacher
    I learned a lot from their publications
    God bless you always
    and good luck on your journey

    Rigoberto Texmaye Gazpar

  12. Thanks, everyone! 🙂

    Timbot/Jose - I passed your request on to the AutoCAD WS Product Manager, and apparently this is something that's increasingly being requested. We'll for sure continue to evaluate relevant platforms for WS based on customer requests and market share. Here's hoping that ends up being good news for you, sooner or later.

    Kean

  13. Congratulations, and I look forward to seeing your positive influence on the products I use. 🙂

  14. Congrats to you
    It's well deserved
    I hope the changes are fun
    I useta couldn't spell programmer
    Now thanks to you I are one!

  15. Good luck with the new position.
    I think they could put you on any team and you would have a good impact.
    I would consider all Autodesk programs as emerging though, so how do they decide which ones you improve 🙂

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