I left Google a month back (and have been doing a little hacking since). I’m told posting your farewell email is all the rage, so here goes:
From: Brian Kennish <bkennish@google.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Subject: My 2,686th, and Last, Day at Google
(Some of those were Saturdays, Sundays, and days I was pretending to be sick.)
Seven years, six jobs, four teams, three offices, and two coasts later, I’m turning in my Google badge. I’ve been getting asked for three-and-a-half years, “Why are you still here?” The answer was simple: devrel.
I’m certain the developer-relations job and team are the best things about Google. I can finally admit: I can’t believe you can get paid to help startups and independent developers build cool stuff — I’d do so for free. The people on this team and those we work closely with are amazingly talented and dedicated and I’m feeling lucky I got to learn from many of you. Most of all, I want to thank Mike for turning this ragtag bunch of misfits into an important and respected part of Google. We’ve come a long way and I don’t know another manager who would’ve gotten us so far.
I wish I could say goodbye to everyone and have hardly had a chance to to anyone. But if I linger, I might end up changing my mind. Please stay in touch. You can get a hold of me by replying-all to this message (my personal address is in the “To:” field). And I’m pretty easy to find on the web now — a year and a half of developer advocacy and I’ve totally pwned the other three Brian Kennishes in Google search results.
