What Tom Did Next
Next month I'm joining Google, where I'll be working as a Product Manager in the London office. I'm super-chuffed; can't wait to start.
It's going to be quite a change. I'll have a boss for the first time in a dozen years, and be working inside in a far larger company than ever before. I'm looking forward to both those things, along with the other classic attractions of Google: a large group of extremely talented colleagues, the opportunity to work at a global scale, and an ambitious breadth of purpose.
Between now and then, I'll be handing in my dissertation and finishing what's been a fantastic year at the Sussex University. I've really enjoyed the Master's, even more than I expected to: it's been a chance to refresh and put in some practice in a few familiar places (software engineering, HCI, web apps and services, and business and project management), spend some time revisiting a theoretical side to CS which I've long lacked (computability and complexity theory), and think about a few completely new subjects (adaptive systems and pervasive computing). Plus, working on a brace of (mostly) self-selected projects has been extremely liberating; I've scratched plenty of itches. At some point I plan to post all my project work here, on the off-chance that you're interested or might find it useful.