Leaving AOL
Last week was my last at AOL. I decided to take the voluntary layoff package. It was a really great 2 1/2 years but I felt like it was time to move on and do some other things. I met a ton of amazing people and learned a lot. I was originally hired as a developer, which I did for the first year. Then AOL acquired Streampad and I became Product Director of AOL Music which I held for a year and a half. It was definitely a tough decision to leave but I am now looking forward not back.
What is going to happen to Streampad? It will continue to function as it does today. I am not involved in any future plans for it and don’t know what the remaining team has in store for it. It is in good hands though so I am not worrying too much. It was definitely very hard to say goodbye to it. I started working on it in 2005 and for the past 5 years have thought about it every day. I have left other creations behind (at Delicious and Yahoo) and know that it is hard but innovation moves on and new creations take the place of the old.
I’d like to thank everyone I worked with for making it such a great environment. AOL is very different inside from how it is perceived from the outside. It definitely has its challenges, but I believe it is moving in the right direction. I will certainly be cheering it on from the sidelines. I had amazing bosses (Marvin, Julio, Grant) who taught me how important it is to encourage and motivate others. There are a lot of work and life lessons I am taking with me. Goodbye AOL.
