Friday, April 1 (no April fools!) is my last day at Google.
My mom reminded me recently that when I started coding at the age of 12, my dream was to one day work at Google. I still can’t believe that this German high school dropout somehow managed to turn that into a reality some 8 years ago, and it’s been everything I hoped for and more.
It might be a cliché, but at the actual moment of putting in my letter of resignation, so many powerful moments and achievements flashed before my eyes (yes yes, I’m not literally dead, but it’s still the closure of a big chapter of my life 😅 ).
Google scale truly is amazing: Saying “yes” to even a seemingly small-at-first collaborative project can turn into big wins for the web over time. Like that time when I thought Chrome DevTools should probably be more web design friendly (producing features like the Device Mode), or when I ran into Malte in an elevator and he told me about his new project AMP and how it might not be a bad idea to have a DevRel team for it (that really snowballed), when I discussed with Ilya and Alberto how it would be nice to hire a bunch of WordPress experts to support the web through the CMS ecosystem (that also snowballed), or when I chatted with my Marketing partner-in-crime Matt about how it’s weird that we have these big DevRel teams at Google supporting developers, but nothing equivalent for content creators (leading to the Google for Creators initiative).
Of course, none of this would have been as much fun without the teams around me: Along my Google journey, I met countless fascinating and goodhearted people (many of whom I now call my friends) and it’s working with them, and all the exhilarating moments we’ve lived through, that I’ll miss the most.
So, what’s next? That last chapter of my journey, Google for Creators, made me dive deep into the creator economy – a space that I’m fascinated and excited about, and where I’ll spend even more time going forward. On a day-to-day basis, I’ve realized that I’ve become too comfortable at Google – I’m ready for my next exhilarating challenge. To use the wise words of Yes Theory, I’m ready to seek discomfort.
Watch this space (or Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram) for an upcoming announcement!
So long, and thanks for all the fish.