I recently started working on Firefox. To be more specific, I help run the Gecko Layout Team for the Mozilla Corporation. My team is responsible for everything you can “see” in Firefox. As you can imagine, the team is very busy.
I really enjoy working on software used by hundreds of millions of people. Before I started working on Firefox full-time, I managed Software Engineering for the Adobe Flash Player. Before that, I worked on a bunch of other software used by lots of people. After 13 years at Adobe and Macromedia, it was time for me to make a change.
I started looking for an opportunity that would let me continue working for a global audience and allow growth through new challenges. At Adobe, I had the opportunity to work with all the browser vendors to make sure that the Flash Player worked on their products. I really enjoyed working with the Mozilla people, so I reached out to let them know about my plans. They’re hiring lots of new staff and needed help on Engineering Leadership to scale the organization. After a very rigorous interview process, I started work on September 12, 2011.
In the short time I’ve been at Mozilla, it’s already clear that this place is run by Engineers. I love it! It feels a lot like Macromedia did when I started there in 1998. My first day on the job was at the San Jose Convention Center where the Mozilla employees had their All-Hands meeting. There was far more energy and enthusiasm at the Mozilla All-Hands than at the last event I saw at the Convention Center (which had 10x as many attendees!) Everyone at Mozilla is definitely on a mission and charged up…
- It’s not enough to not be evil.
- It’s not enough to be good at what you do.
- You have to Do Good.
Jet, welcome to this awe…, er, splendid non-profit organization where we love the web so much that we want to make it better for everyone, with Gecko being one of our forefront assets helping to achieve that. I’m looking forward to working with you and your team to make Gecko even more stable while keeping it at the edge of web innovation! And I hope you won’t be too sad to help working on making Flash obsolete in the future… 😉
I’m really jazzed about working on the core infrastructure of the Web, and Mozilla leads the way on many fronts. I’m quite certain that Flash will be around for a long time. I don’t say that because I worked on it, I say it because the core value proposition for Flash will continue to be a consistent rich media experience across browsers and devices. As long as differences exist among browsers/platforms, especially around rich media (audio, video, 3D, etc.) Flash will offer an effective way to span the gaps. That said, mobile devices are tipping the scales away from Flash and towards Web standards. At least that’s the case for the general Web browsing use cases. The rise of App Stores may ultimately be the best place for Flash (embedded in apps) on mobile devices.
Welcome, Jet. You’re gonna love it here. It’s one of the most amazing opportunities in the technology universe 🙂
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