Very happy to report that I turned in the keys on my apartment this afternoon and am now a free man. I have a small storage unit in the suburbs where I put some of my favorite things (pictured) but other than some camping gear that friends are borrowing and the couple bags of clothes/gear I’m taking to Europe, this is the entirety of my earthly possessions.

And I have to say – Getting rid of stuff felt SO GOOD. Both because of how happy it made my friends (and random Craigslisters) to get things they wanted or needed, and because of the freedom I could feel slowly seeping into my life. And it feels great to know that all the art I owned is now scattered across the city to brighten the spaces of some of my closest people until I am ready to take it again. Although, it does feel pretty strange to suddenly be, for the first time in 5 years, without a bed or a space that I can retreat to and call my own if I need it. Scary and liberating.

True to the spirit of spontaneity, I’ve changed my plan already – instead of going to Philadelphia tomorrow for my college reunion, I’m driving down to Jackson Hole on Friday for a long weekend with a certain adventurous, foxy and kind lady – so I am obviously very excited! Expect some beautiful photos of us in the Rockies soon. (And I’ll be on to Paris and Barcelona after that, after a quick stop in NYC to spend a few days with my family)

I’ll leave you with the (slightly edited) letter I sent to my co-workers when I quit my job, to give a little more background on exactly what I’m thinking…

Friends and colleagues,

I’ve spent the last 9 years of my life taking a series of logical steps – deciding to enter undergrad for computer science engineering; interning at Microsoft; accepting a full time position and moving to Seattle; following the Telemetry team through several re-orgs, and gradually expanding my scope of service ownership. As I’ve reflected on this progression over the last year or so, it has become clear to me that this is a unique inflection point in my life and career. The data pipeline service I have owned for the last three years is fairly stable and reasonably streamlined, we’re a few weeks away from finishing the reliability modernization project I’ve spent most of the last year focusing on, and there are many opportunities for new ownership of many services and businesses. The next obvious logical steps for me would be to dive into our upcoming work, or go to a different team and spend the next 5 years learning some complete other part of the business, or perhaps leverage my experience to join some flashy younger company and learn the “agile” ways.

But, I also find myself a young guy with no house, and my family elsewhere happily doing their thing. And a few of my artist and hippie friends have been telling me that there is, in fact, a world out there outside of software engineering, and it is, in fact, pretty great. So, I’ve decided to do something a little more nonlinear – take a step back from full time employment and take some time to consider the world, myself, and what I want my place in it to be over the next decade or more before stepping back in. And in the meantime, try some new things and places, pick up a few skills and habits that I haven’t had the time or energy for in the last few years, and spend some time with close friends who I don’t often see due to distance and regular life commitments.

I am hugely indebted and grateful to the many amazing, brilliant, passionate and dedicated people that I have worked with since I started my internship almost six years ago (that is, all of you). You have taught me so many things, helped me grow so much personally and professionally, and given me so many opportunities to be a part of incredible, impactful work with all of you, far more than I ever expected or imagined when I started here. There have certainly been some difficult and frustrating moments, but I am deeply thankful that I had the opportunity to be here and be a part of this and decided to take it. I have been and will continue to be proud to have been a Microsoftie and think this is truly a wonderful place to work and change the world. I have no idea where I will be in one year or five years – I may eventually try my hand at DJing more seriously, do something outside the realm of software engineering, engineer on a different scale or different place, go back to school, or find myself back here working with all of you with a reinvigorated passion and direction. I would be very happy with any of those outcomes, and regardless I hope my path crosses with many of you again.