Free agent
I am moving out of state for family reasons and unfortunately management at Nokia feel this is inconsistent with the requirements of my position.
Because of this, I am leaving Nokia. November 19th was my last full day in the Nokia offices. I’m still in Nokia’s employ through the first week of December, but I’m taking vacation and personal days so that I can get everything packed up and ready to move.
It’s been a short stay for me, far shorter than I wanted, but on the other hand I think we’ve accomplished quite a bit. Among many other things, my team has made significant contributions to Nokia’s strongest presence ever at JavaOne and the creation and successful conclusion of the first ever Nokia Tech Days developer conference. I’ve blogged about new devices (my 7610 post continues to draw significant traffic and comments four months after publication) and the wireless industry and technology at large. My team has done its part supporting our partners and developers who have helped Nokia become the #1 provider of smart mobile devices in the world and overtake Motorola in the all important Chinese market. Thanks to everyone I’ve worked with at Nokia and its partners and all the best in your future endeavors.
So what’s next for me? I don’t know. My move is obvious and makes perfect sense on a personal level, but I’m taking a leap of faith professionally. I’m going to take a little time to reflect on my career up to now. I’m going to spend the holidays with my family. I’m going to relax.
And after that, I’m going to come back at full force doing something I love. I have some ideas, but I’m always interested in hearing more: If you have an idea you’d like to discuss with me, please drop me a line. I’d love to hear about any opportunities for which you think I might be a great fit.
Best wishes and happy holidays,
Bill Day
Hi Bill ,
Since I started to work with J2ME , your site was on of the best guide for me. I wish you
luck and I hope we will you see you again in wireless world again. Please don’t forget
to update billday.com
Regards ,
Derya .
Comment by Derya AKAY — 20-Nov-2004 @ 8:13 am
Hi Bill,
it’s a shame that Nokia has put you into the position to choose either life or Nokia, but what the heck - as you already said: a change is always a chance
Anyhow - you were asking for suggestions and ideas for doing something you love. I’m doing this right at the moment: working fulltime for an open source product called “J2ME Polish”. This project seeks to relieve the development for multiple platforms by providing a standarized scheme for dealing with different platforms. It also provides a shiny sparkling GUI which can be designed using CSS and doesn’t require you to learn a new API (since it is compatible to the MIDP LCDUI).
This project is still in its early stage (first release was made public in May 04) and it is double licensed under both the GPL and a proprietary commercial license. What definetely is lacking is having more contacts into the industry/vendors itself. The device-database, for example, holds currently about 150 devices, but the quality of the single entries is quite varying. It would be great to establish an open device database for which the vendors would contribute data as well.
I’ve got loads of ideas ranging from fiddling with bytecode to high-level “consultant” work levels. So if you would like to become part of the project (and/or the company behind it), drop me a line.
But first of all: enjoy christmas!
All the best,
Robert
Comment by Robert Virkus — 20-Nov-2004 @ 8:37 am
Its time that you become a business entrepreneur rather than an employee in any big organization. With knowledge and credentials you have it should not be a problem. Also software industry (specially games) for mobile phones is getting wider by every atomic tick.
May Nokia will require to partner with you, one day… :).
Regards,
Mohit
Comment by Mohit Aggarwal — 20-Nov-2004 @ 9:34 am
Bill,
I’ve noticed that you have leaved Nokia and would like to have some
input, ideas of what to do next.
Let me give you a thing to think about. Imsys Technology have developed
a generic microcontroller that is microprogrammable and reconfigurable
in the field. As a consequence of its inherent design it happends to be
suitable to execute bytecodes at native speed. If you understand what
such a design can do then I think it is a good thing to discuss further.
And yes, it is actually sitting in shipping products or is evaluated by
companies such as Alcatel, Barco, Honeywell, Rockwell Automation and
Sony.
Best regards
Roger Sundman
Co-founder, Imsys Technologies
Comment by Roger Sundman — 20-Nov-2004 @ 9:42 am
Hi Bill,
Remember me,I am the writer of the book ‘Mobile Phone Programming’. I am based in India. We have developed some innovative solutions using J2ME. We have developed among others, software for showing spreadsheets,presentations, news and indian languages on mobile phones. Our software can run even on the cheapest mobile phones. We have the capability to revolutionize the world by helping the IT revolution to perculate to the bottom of the world’s economic pyramid. We would like to get associated with an enterprising person like you to bring the benfits of our software to all parts of the globe.
Saurabh Jain
Author
Mobile Phone Programming
Comment by Saurabh Jain — 20-Nov-2004 @ 11:02 am
hi bill,
I haven’t communicated with u before. Myself is J2ME/Symbian C++ game/application developer and like to work with you (may be through mails only).
I wish u all the best for your next move and happy holidays !!
dotcdotc
Comment by dotcdotc — 20-Nov-2004 @ 11:55 pm
Hi Bill,
I am really impressed with your professional attitude and focus. Wish you great things ahead. Being an entreprenuer I always loved your passion and focus. Hope you will come up with better things going further.
regards
suresh
Comment by suresh — 21-Nov-2004 @ 8:58 am
Hi Bill,
I immensely appreciate what you have done for the wireless community. The position that you have been put into is a tough one, I also made a similar decision a few years ago and although it was tough but it was the right decision at that time. I applaud your courage, commitment and selflessness.
I am hoping that you will keep us posted with your thoughts and opinions on the wireless revolution. I am willing to work with anyone and anywhere and in any segment of the wireless techonolgy, whether it is the application development, marketing, business creation or anyhting else.
Best wishes and enjoy the holidays with your family,
Atif
Comment by Atif — 22-Nov-2004 @ 12:08 pm
First spend time with FAMILY…
I know that Nokia and Nokia developers will miss you
I have no opporuntities at ShareMe Technologies LLC as I am still in stealth mode..and even just got what looks liek a full time day job as j2me developer with a company that is not in competition with my own..I feel storngly enough about the Nokia Smart Phone Platfrom to actually spend money thorugh Nokia’s developer programm to later inlate 2005 come out with actual products
I am sure some idea will come to mind.. if not wait until Ora TDD build framework is out in alpha form for j2me nd see if you can suggst some ideas.. 60% completed thus far I should cvs it up to java.net before year end major holidays or before my Aquaris birthday in 2005..
The ironic thing is moto is in fact North of me not that far away and yet I still Choose Nokia
Comment by Fred Grott — 22-Nov-2004 @ 1:46 pm
Hi Bill,
Wish u all the best for all your future ventures.
Your site billday.com was a real help while I was learning J2ME.
Regards,
viyom
Comment by viyom — 23-Nov-2004 @ 4:04 am
Hi Bill,
I know about you since the launch of J2ME . For me “J2ME” and “Bill Day” are synonymous.
All the J2ME community will greatly miss you . So we are awaiting for your comeback and new ideas
which may result in big leap in mobile technoloy.
Till then enjoy your vacations.
Regards,
Tushar
Comment by Tushar — 24-Nov-2004 @ 9:36 pm
Bill.
I just wanted to tell you that I thought the Nokia Developers Forum was great. As people here have mentioned, you should be leading the way with some new and great ideas… you already have, only under someone else’s name.
Congratulations on making a great decision! Im excited to see what new opportunities will wet your palette.
Anita
Comment by Anita Wilhelm — 26-Nov-2004 @ 1:04 am
Hi Bill,
Good luck and best wishes for the future!
James
Comment by James — 26-Nov-2004 @ 8:56 am
Have you considered Google? Please drop me a line.
Comment by Neal Gafter — 21-Dec-2004 @ 10:22 am
Hi Bill
I enjoy reading you blogs. I wish you the best of luck! I’m hoping whatever you do it is still related to J2ME the knowledge and experience you share with the rest of us is greatly appreciated!
Cheers, Jason
Comment by Jason Lam — 13-Jan-2005 @ 9:30 pm
[...] mended — Bill Day @ 2:06 am
As promised way back in September, I’ve finally found the time for additional interface tweaking and cleanup to my blog and the J2ME Archive. [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » Context specific ads and site tweaks — 18-Jan-2005 @ 2:06 am
Bill,
Hope the search is going well. Had a question for you - which might turn into something if you’re interested in a start-up. We’re looking for a CLDC1.1-compatible class library for decoding mp3’s. Found a beta called javazoom, but still crude. Have you heard of anything? Best,
MG
Comment by Michael Guthrie — 26-Jan-2005 @ 2:12 pm
[...] a simple thing, but hey, it’s been in my to do list for a year or two and now that I finally have a little time, what the heck! JOOTT!
Comments (0)
Commen [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » Finally added a favicon — 3-Feb-2005 @ 2:54 am
[...] Yes, this is all obviously a blatant marketing maneuver to sell more Nseries phones, but who cares if you win, right? I’m going to enter some photos right now. (I guess there’s another perk from my job change last fall…) | Permalink | [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » ‘See New’ global cellcam contest — 5-Oct-2005 @ 9:46 pm
[...] Sun and Nokia didn’t give me a lot of free time, but they did give me travel. So I did my best to squeeze in a camera or two and take as many pics as possible while out and about in the big beautiful world. [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » Flickr badge photo fun — 20-Jul-2006 @ 2:27 am
[...] I have accepted a position as a Product Manager for Digital Reasoning Systems, Inc. (DRSI). While the company is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, I’ll be able to work the majority of the time remotely, much better in line with family commitments than my previous full time position. [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » New horizons — 10-Oct-2006 @ 10:05 am
[...] And my favorite bit as a former employee and current NOK shareholder: Nokia owns half of the smartphone market and was responsible for 42 percent of PDA and smartphone shipments during the first part of 2006. [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » Smartphones left PDAs in the dust — 16-Oct-2006 @ 4:05 pm
Bill -
Where are you relocating to? Give me a call to catch up and see if I can help out.
Best,
Shawn Vallejos
======================
Shawn R. Vallejos
Sr Executive Recruiter, Mobile
The Bliss Group, Inc
office 303.468.2400
direct: 720.251.4147
fax 303.468.3754
Shawn@TheBlissGrp.com
Skype: shawn.vallejos
YahooIM: shawnesnyc
======================
Comment by Shawn Vallejos — 13-Nov-2006 @ 1:47 pm
[...] wish I’d had the chance to meet Jan while I was at Nokia. Maybe we’ll cross paths on our travels. In any case, his talk is highly recommended. Digg [...]
Pingback by BillDay.com » What we carry and the art of delegation — 23-Oct-2007 @ 7:44 am