Moving to New York City

For several years now I’ve felt that, at some point, I’d like to move to New York City. I visited the city for the first time in 2009, and I was just taken. Its history, strength, character, diversity, and cultural wealth captivated me.

Still, there was something else. I had just recently discovered the Scala programming language. I’m a polyglot programmer but I’ve spent a lot of time on the jvm. When I was exposed to Scala, my first reaction was merely: “Wow, this is cool!” And then the paradigm shift began as I inadvertently embarked on a mind-altering journey into the world of functional programming. It’s been frustrating, illuminating, continuous, and it just keeps going.

But I digress. One of the reasons that I’m moving to New York is that there are many bright, passionate people that make up a vibrant community of programmers; functional and aspiring-to-be alike. It is a place where exploring concepts with others is easier; a place where cross-pollination of ideas and paradigms common. What’s more, there are companies building great products that are harnessing this energy (like the one I’m joining). I’ll be making the switch from full-time Java to full-time Scala, and while I’m new to the company’s industry, I’m no newbie to Scala. I’m full of an excitement laced with a bit of healthy fear, and I can’t wait to start.