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I have a new job!

Apologies for the radio silence lately — with things in progress I didn’t want to risk jinxing anything. But this afternoon I faxed off a signed employment contract, and I’m back in the world of the employed again!

As of December 10th I’ll be the Network Operations Manager at FreshBooks, the company I mentioned previously. They’re a little startup in Toronto whose product is a Web-based invoicing and time-tracking application, directed primarily at freelancers, creatives, and small businesses. It’s a nice, clean, well-thought-out SaaS app, with a third-party developers’ API, Basecamp integration and more. (You can sign up for a free account which will be loaded with test data if you want to take a look, which I encourage you to do!)

The interview last Monday went really well — it basically turned into a two-hour chat between me, Levi the CIO, and developers Ben and Justin. I like to think the fit seemed pretty obvious to everyone, but it definitely did to me. I’ll primarily be responsible for their application architecture, the server-and-database-side half of things that isn’t developing the program itself, but there’ll be development and customer-facing bits to it as well. I’m really looking forward to going back to a startup. They’ve got about a dozen people right now all in one loft-style office, which is even smaller than e-smith was when I joined them.

And yes, Toronto — which means we’ll be moving in the new year. I’m going to be living out of the CEO’s unused apartment for December, and then hopefully we’ll have found an apartment up there for Jan 1, at which point I’ll be living there with minimal furniture until Candice joins me at the beginning of February. It’ll be a crazy couple of months, but we’re pretty excited — no, really excited — about how it’ll all turn out!

Rich

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17 responses to “I have a new job!”

  1. does this mean we have to drive to Toronto for massages? :(

    seriously though – congratulations! now we have a time limit on that drink. when are you off to Toronto for good?

  3. Great news!

    I’m not a huge fan of Toronto, but that’s mostly because Montreal was always closer to me (empirically and metaphysically). I’m certain there’s enough there to keep you and Candice happy. My greatest complaint was always how hard it was to get out of, but that might not be as much of an issue for you two.

    I’m also really interested in the service this company is offering. It sounds like something I really could have used back in my consulting days….

  7. Congrats!
    I was wondering about the Yorkdale photo :)

    Hmmm.. I’m noticing a few Ottawans moving down now. May need to start a transplant group. If only for winter mockery en masse ;P (Hello, I need the army ASAP)

  9. Thanks, everyone!

    Pam: I’m up there on the 10th, then back a bit over Christmas. Candice is still here until the beginning of February. I think she’s already emailed you about getting together :-)

    gcrumb: I’m fond of Montreal too, but we’ve decided it’s a better place to visit than live, between the language thing and the regulatory situation for massage therapists. Besides, Toronto’s really the centre of the Internet industry these days up here.

    Ben: Hah, imagine running into you here :-)

    Gally: Can you blame us? :-) I forgot you were down that way! Yeah, the office is just over on Dufferin below Lawrence so Yorkdale made a good place to stop for a bit when I got into town early.

  10. Hey, congrats on the job. I actually saw their ad on standoutjobs and had considered applying, when I noticed that they were in the big smoke. I could almost see myself move to Ottawa, but Toronto is something else. I’ve become way too much of a Montrealer now, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave. :-)

    Sorry to hear that you’re moving even further away though. Hopefully this will mean you’ll come up to visit more often.

  11. Congrats! And a nice step up, too! I am sure you’ll do wonderfully, using everything I taught you! :-)

    (I don’t like Toronto either, but then the first time I went there, they towed my car for parking legally!)

  12. Chris: Thanks! What I bet it will do is make us plan trips to Montreal, instead of “hey, let’s go to Montreal (for an afternoon/for dinner/just to shop at Rockland Centre and then come home)”. This will probably improve the chances of seeing you guys when we do :-)

    Geoff: Heh, suuure it was parked legally. :-) But yeah, I think there’s going to be some policy geekery in the next little while… dunno where I’d have got that from!

  13. Congrats!

    When I read your post about the job a few weeks ago I figured that you’d make getting the job look easy, and that I’d be looking forward to your arrival and catching up with you over a drink in one of Toronto’s many, many great little (and large) neighborhood pubs and lounges. :-)

  14. Paul: Heh! And yeah, we’ll definitely get together soon — probably in the new year though, the first two weeks are going to be pretty crazy.