One Year Later

About a year ago, I left my job at Meta. I had spent seven mostly wonderful years at the company, and found a delightful niche in audio-focused prototyping for interactive multimedia. Even though I loved this work, my enthusiasm was eventually outweighed by my frustration with months of reorgs, layoffs, and shifting goals. It’s hard to keep moving forward when your professional world is in constant upheaval, and leaving the company felt critical for both my mental health and my continued career growth.

A year later, I look back on my Meta adventures with fondness and gratitude. It’s easier to remember good times than bad ones, and I’m nostalgic for the many fascinating conversations and projects I took on with my brilliant teammates. I miss our camaraderie, our shared ambition, and our confidence that we were building the future. I’m still sad that all this positivity couldn’t last forever, but I now better understand the circumstances that brought this era to a close, and I’ve learned a ton while making the transition.

After months of recovery, exploration, and self-directed focus, today’s world feels so much brighter. I’ve spent time making art, building creative tools, experimenting with AI, and starting an indie software company with a close friend. My vocational enthusiasm is back in spades, and it’s been the thrill of a lifetime to invest a year’s energy into big projects and budding curiosities. A new era is dawning, and it’s so exciting to be furthering my longstanding interests and values while riding a new technological wave.

If you’re interested in what I’ve been working on, you can check out last year’s big project at skbk.cc, and my collection of algorithmic doodles at longitude.studio. Rishi and I are also preparing an alpha launch of our smart journaling app – you can sign up for early access at goodword.ing. Thanks for reading!