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20070118 Thursday January 18, 2007

The Adventure is Over After 1 year and 7 months, the big adventure is over. It was a great ride with lots of really cool people. As of Tuesday, operations at Virtuas have ceased to exist and everyone was let go. It's not a big surprise - most of us knew it was coming. I won't go into the details of why it was shutdown because I don't think it's that important. Suffice to say, it was a great job and I really enjoyed working with the folks I did.

So what does this mean for me? What's next?

I hope to go back to doing independent consulting like I was before Virtuas. When I was doing my own thing, I never had to travel, earned good rates and enjoyed 40-hour work weeks. That sounds pretty nice after the once-a-month traveling I was doing.

What does this mean for AppFuse 2.0? I hope the release schedule won't change, but it might. I was hoping to get a fair bit done this week, but it's been nuts with the shutting down festivities and the "moving out" drama. With any luck, I'll get a gig soon and I can concentrate on AppFuse development (and relaxing) until my start date.

If you're looking to hire an enthusiastic Web + Java Developer, please take a look at my resume or send me an e-mail. Posted in Java at Jan 18 2007, 09:14:15 PM MST 20 Comments

Comments:

Good luck, Matt. Somehow I don't think you'll have too much trouble finding a gig.

Posted by Thomas Risberg on January 18, 2007 at 10:21 PM MST #

Hey, How coincidental. I had similar adventures lately but probably shouldn't talk about them. Coming to the realization that you aren't going to get paid for the last 4 months of work you've done isn't fun. Cheers to being independent again! :)

Posted by Jesse Kuhnert on January 18, 2007 at 10:23 PM MST #

Jesse - I had that happen to me right after our son was born. The client paid me for the first month, and then didn't pay for the last 2 months I worked there. The company went bankrupt, then eventually sold. We hired a collection agency. I think they took 20%, but I eventually got what I was due - albeit 8 months later. Sorry to hear about your situation.

Posted by Matt Raible on January 18, 2007 at 11:12 PM MST #

Good luck, Matt. Hopefully you were in Spain!

Posted by Niko on January 19, 2007 at 02:45 AM MST #

Good luck with the gig hunting Matt! By the way looking up at the other comments is see IP addresses. Why are they being displayed? Nice for your logs yes, but necessary on a blog? Possibly not. Anyways, good luck and hope the transition is smooth - with maybe a few days break for skiing - smile.

Posted by Bruce Scharlau on January 19, 2007 at 05:37 AM MST #

Bruce, the IP addresses are shown if you don't enter an e-mail address. It's a spam prevention measure in Roller.

Posted by Matt Raible on January 19, 2007 at 08:27 AM MST #

Damn. Sorry to hear the bad news. Hopefully, you at least got some "walking money." I guess for the time being you are a full-time AppFuse Evangelist.

Posted by Erik Weibust on January 19, 2007 at 09:31 AM MST #

Hey Matt, have you considered "going gonzo" and making yourself one of your clients? You just need an idea for a service that could you could provide. Using your web-app prowess, even a weak idea could bring you extra income since your only significant cost would be your time. You have the skills, now get creative!

Posted by Bron on January 19, 2007 at 01:47 PM MST #

Sorry to hear that, you'll find a new job soon for sure.

Posted by Carlos Sanchez on January 19, 2007 at 08:18 PM MST #

Hi Matt I'm pretty sure you'll find a new gig in no time. in the meantime, maybe you could take a look at this site http://www.hotgigs.com. you could find some extra leads for contracting opportunities... cheers Patria

Posted by Patria Lukman on January 20, 2007 at 02:25 AM MST #

Matt, Sorry to hear that. Why don't you start your own company?

Posted by Muthu Ramadoss on January 21, 2007 at 02:44 AM MST #

Muthu - no need to do that - I already have my own company. ;-)

Posted by Matt Raible on January 21, 2007 at 09:41 AM MST #

Good luck, Matt! Was the business model not working/bringing in the money it needed to? I sincerely hope there's a place in our economy for a company that was willing to contribute to the Open Source community as much as Virtuas seemed to be doing... - Nelz

Posted by Nelz on January 21, 2007 at 04:31 PM MST #

Matt, I'll keep you posted if I hear of any good opportunities, but I'd bet good money you'll find a sweet gig before I do. Good luck! -- Brad

Posted by Brad Swanson on January 22, 2007 at 10:06 AM MST #

Sorry to hear about Virtuas :(. The New York market is pretty hot these days... I hope that you get a gig here :).

Posted by Solomon on January 22, 2007 at 01:35 PM MST #

Too bad it didn't work out Matt. Good luck with your new adventures.

Posted by Eelco Hillenius on January 22, 2007 at 02:30 PM MST #

Matt, In the grand sceme of things, I'm just a kid standing on a giants' shoulders (you would be the giant...) But maybe I can offer you some advice... (heh! for once...) Sometimes things like this happen to good people, like yourself, so that you can achieve even greater things (don't ask me what...but...) Sure it might be a set back in the short term, but I bet in the long run there will be a good reason for all of this that you can't see right now. Stuff like this usually doesn't make sense until you look back on it.

Posted by Andrew J. Leer on January 22, 2007 at 07:09 PM MST #

Maybe you can finally meet me for lunch now! Hopefully we can work together again.

Posted by Steve DeRidder on January 22, 2007 at 09:26 PM MST #

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation Matt. I look to you as a sort of guide on how to tuck and roll as a above-water IT agent. I know you'll weather this one out and be back on your feet in no time!

Posted by Joshua Long on February 03, 2007 at 03:51 AM MST #

WHAT? When did this happen? I thought you guys were all slackin' and just not showing up for work. Why doesn't someone tell me these things? :-) Be good brutha, stay the hell in touch. I'm sure I'll see ya' around the sandbox. Worst comes to worst, you can join Dudney, Filios, Kritter, Em, Hano and me and our prefab igloo construction business. It's a thought! Shalom! -maxi

Posted by Maxi on February 03, 2007 at 06:33 PM MST #

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