This is going to be difficult.

First, allow me to set the mood with some suitable (but extremely stereotypical) background music.

With some very mixed emotions, I have made the tough decision to leave the Operations team at DataSift in the middle of September. I started working here in January of this year, and I have enjoyed it immensely. The team is fantastic: they are very intelligent people tackling some extraordinary real-time problems on a huge scale. The work has been challenging, but so much fun. Everyone has always been extremely supportive and helpful, and ready to offer suggestions or advice.

Despite my short time here, I really feel that I have accomplished something that will make (and has already made) a real difference to the day-to-day work of the developers and the operations team. I’m just sorry that I won’t be able to see the project to the later stages.

Let me say here and now that I didn’t go searching for this new opportunity. It is the only offer that could have possibly pulled me away, and it came from nowhere. I’m not leaving lightly, and I would strongly recommend working at DataSift to everyone I know.

So, what�is�the reason for this bittersweet change?

At the end of September my wife and I will be leaving England for Mountain View, California, where I will soon be starting�my new role as “Release Engineer for Social” for a certain well-known search company�based there.

This is a very exciting opportunity, and we are both looking forward to it immensely. It is going to be a massive change, of course; we will be leaving all of our friends and family here, and�starting a new life in another country. Scary though that is, we will of course make sure we stay in touch with everyone (perhaps via G+ hangouts). Naturally, if any of our friends are visiting the area then please let us know! Unfortunately my dear wife will not be allowed to work while we are out there, so she will have to find things to do with all her new free time…

Anyway, DataSift are hiring! They are not just looking for a replacement Operations Engineer though. There are a number of open positions, both technical and non-technical. Again, I can’t stress how great it has been to work here. Everyone is friendly and welcoming, very knowledgeable, and extremely good at what they do. I honestly can’t think of a single thing that could be improved. The company is rapidly expanding, and it has an exciting future. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with everyone as I will miss them a lot, and I will genuinely be very sad to leave.

Finally, I want to say a special “thank you” to my manager Alex and the other members of the Operations team (Andrew, Gareth, Pavel, and Sam). I’m very grateful for the opportunities I have had here, and I felt like a real part of the team from my very first day. I’ll miss you all.

I honestly think I’ve used up every positive word in my vocabulary to describe my experience at DataSift. Apply. You won’t regret it!