I left my internship at Six Apart early for a few reasons, some having to do with mismatched school, work, and project schedules, and one having to do with a new opportunity in my last 60-something days in Japan.
Six Apart is an awesome, awesome company to work for. If you want to be surrounded by really smart people doing cool stuff, you should definitely check them out, and they run a great intern program in San Francisco to boot. They're bloggers making tools for other bloggers, and don't lose focus of their roots or their passion. Once I get this whole "thesis" thing out of the way next year, they'll be high up on my list of places to look for real, grown-up work. I'm especially grateful to Nob Seki, for taking a chance on an American exchange student in an all-Japanese office, the SAKK IT team for putting up with my fumbling learning process, and Doug Roberts, my nobly bearded, generally badass IT mentor at Six Apart US. Looking back on the calendar, I've been with this company for over a year (minus a little break while I was getting my bearings in Tokyo). Christ, how did that happen? Time flies when you're having fun, I guess.
As for the last few months, I'm going to be doing some work for Naked Communications Tokyo, a firm that does brand strategy for international companies in Japan. It's a small office with lots of opportunity to get my hands dirty and take the lead on stuff, and a great chance to learn one of those intangible jobs you're supposed to get after you graduate with a liberal arts degree. I'm on my second week, and I already feel like I've stretched my brain and gotten some good things rolling. Coming from a quasi-techy job at Six Apart, a change of pace is going to be a good transition back into all the (ugh) research and writing next year holds for me.
So goodbye, Six Apart, and thank you. I got a lot out of my year with you, and I'm hoping I left the company, in some small way, a better place than I found it. It's been a fun ride, and in this small geeky world, I think it's not unlikely that we'll cross paths again.
