So long, and thanks for all the fi(nni)sh…
Even when a 3 year detour is taken into account, 11 years is a long time to spend at any one company in these days of serial job-hopping. More than half of my working life has been spent at Nokia, and while there have been a fair share of rough spots along the way - I still consider my decision to join an unknown company from a little-known country back in 1998 to be the best choice that I ever made. Even my decision a year ago to leave a then-thriving HTC to return to my roots is something I do not regret. But today, as the grim restructuring reaper taps upon the door, my time at Nokia comes to an end.
Since finding out that I, along with other colleagues who I admired and relied upon every day, would be casualties of Nokia’s understandable need to “sharpen its focus” and cut costs, I have spent a lot of time reminiscing on the unbelievable ride that I have had the privilege to take. In that time, I saw phones shrink from loaf sized bricks that delivered less than an hour of talk time (yet were still wonders to behold) to Zoolander-miniscule handsets that could get lost in a pocket. And also to witness a progression of technology from when musical ring tones and alphanumeric displays elicited oohs and aahs to where a phone with infinitely more processing power and memory than my first Nokia-issued laptop can be labeled as “woefully underpowered”.
And I saw all of this from a single vantage point. That’s the equivalent of having a ringside seat at Ford from the concepting of the Model T to the advent of today’s hybrid electro-cars. Hell, that’s understating it - it’s more like being part of the progression from the Model T to the flying car.
It’s hard to overstate just how amazing the experiences that have been afforded to me truly were. Nokia allowed me to visit three continents, traveling north of the Arctic Circle and south of the equator. I jumped in a frozen lake and survived (twice), experienced every variation of the sauna, and rode snowmobiles under the Northern Lights. I met three presidents, actors, musicians and sports figures of varying levels of talent and fame, and even Bill Gates during the era when Nokia and Microsoft were still fierce rivals fighting over the direction of the mobile Internet. (How things change!)
But most important to me are the people with whom I have worked over the years. In the early days, Nokia was a small, motley crew of hard-working, hard-playing folks who lacked fancy degrees and impressive resumes - but who gave everything they had every day to take Nokia from an unknown entity to a world-leading force. These were the true pioneers of our industry, and I am honored that I was able to play a small role in their accomplishments. I have worked for people who shared with me the knowledge and tools that have allowed me to get to this point in my career, and have worked side-by-side with people who have become friends that mean more to me than they will ever know.
Even at this moment, pink slip still firmly in hand, Nokia is giving me an incredible opportunity to hit the reset button. For the next few months I am just going to step back and enjoy life a bit. I have a feeling that this break will turn out to be yet another amazing gift that Nokia has given to me. And that is why I don’t feel a drop of anger or bitterness. Instead, I am simply grateful for the experiences that I have had and the people I have met along the way.
