This blog is now retired. Please visit my new blog.

Several of my career changes at Red Hat have been announced on this blog.

My first post was written shortly after I became the Fedora Project Leader (FPL), and this blog was set up as a way to have frequent, informal communications with the Fedora community.

After two great years as the FPL, I stepped aside to institute Red Hat's Community Architecture & Leadership team.

Simultaneous to that team growing and finding its place, I had the fantastic opportunity to live in Europe and to give some extra support to that region of the Fedora community. I made some wonderful friends, and we learned a lot about how difficult it is to build and maintain autonomous regional leadership groups in a global community. We're still learning those lessons today, and I'm glad that we're still trying to do a good job at supporting Fedora worldwide.

Back in Raleigh the last few years, the team has expanded from its Fedora-only roots. We've worked to document the theory that is The Open Source Way while continuing to put that theory into practice in both the Fedora and Teaching Open Source communities.

Which brings us to today. I am leaving Red Hat at the end of July, just short of my seven year anniversary. As a result, my roles and responsibilities in the Fedora Project will be changing significantly at the same time. Red Hat's commitment to Fedora has in no way changed, nor has the Community Architecture team's commitment to Fedora.

In addition to Fedora's established leadership team, Harish Pillay is stepping into the management and leadership role that I've been filling. He has already shared his thoughts about this transition, and I have no doubt that the team will continue to grow and be successful under his leadership.

Harish will be looking after more than just Fedora, but Karsten and Mel, along with our interns (Ian, Sebastian, and Ryan) are all still part of the Community Architecture & Leadership team, and they are all great contacts whose Fedora roots run deep.

Red Hat has been wonderful to me, but it is time for a change in direction. I'm off to Seattle in August to join Amazon Web Services as a manager in their Kernel & Operating Systems group. My team's focus is on the overall customer experience of using Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). This includes accountability for the Amazon Linux AMI, working with external AMI vendors, and handling premium support for customers running AMIs.

In my spare time, I will still be around the Fedora Project (most likely the Cloud SIG), so this isn't a goodbye, but rather just a step along a more broad continuum of collaboration. You will all hear plenty more from me down the road.

When I stepped aside as the FPL, I said that it had been an honor to have been trusted with a leadership role in the Fedora community, and that I was deeply grateful to the community for accepting me and giving me an opportunity to lead and to earn respect. Those sentiments are just as strong today. It has been an honor and a privilege to have worked at Red Hat, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities that Shadowman has given me. My thanks to Jim, Matthew, Michael, and countless others within both Red Hat and the Fedora community.