So today is my last day at Alfresco. I guess it’s natural to have mixed feelings at this point, but when I think of all the amazingly gifted people I have met, the things that we did and the fun we had along the way I feel blessed to have been able to have been part of the journey.

Since I joined in 2005 as the ‘website boy’ I’ve travelled around quite a bit (back when that was a thing), had the pleasure of presenting on technical subjects to many people, many of whom were smarter than me but who gave me their time, attention and encouragement, and worked with some hugely talented but humble engineers, both inside and outside the company.

This was the note I sent round on our internal email group the other day

Nearly 15 years ago (which I remember as it was the week before Christmas and the office was almost empty) I started at a small company called Alfresco, after landing a job re-writing the website. My friends told me I was crazy for taking a job with a company with only 14 employees, but there was something about the three people I’d met during the interview stage (4 if you include JN, who I spoke to on the phone a couple of times, though only because he usually picked it up) that convinced there was something in this open source ECM stuff.

It’s usual when writing these notes to give praise to the technical excellence of your colleagues, and of course that is as true now as it was at the start, but what I think marks Alfresco out more is the humbleness of those people and the time that they have for others, whether in their team, the wider company, our customers and partners or the wider community. I strongly believe that other people notice these things, and the success of the company is in no small part thanks to these qualities.

Although some of the faces have changed over the years, the spirit of the company that wanted to do things differently and disrupt things a little, has not. I am incredibly grateful to all the colleagues over that time who have taught me, given me their trust and encouragement or just shared a coffee or a beer, and from whom I have learnt so much. So thank you.

Alfresco is now part of the Hyland family and I’m sure those people who I will miss so much will do well there. For me some new challenges await next week, more on that some other time.