Moving to Berlin

2008-12-19

A bit more than a month ago, I posted a little something on the reorganization in Nokia Research Center where I work and announced my availability on the job market. This was a bit of a shock of course and it has been a hectic few weeks but the end result is really nice. For me at least. Unfortunately some of my colleagues are not so lucky and are now at risk of losing their job.

In any case, a few weeks ago I visited Nokia Gate5 in Berlin for a job interview. Gate5 is a navigation software company that Nokia bought in 2006. Their software is powering what is now known as OVI Maps and whereas the whole industry is shrinking, they are growing like crazy now and rolling out one cool product after another. Today, they sent me a proposal for a contract. Barring contractual details, this means that I will be based in Berlin from February. This is something I’ve known for a few weeks but having all the necessary approvals from Nokia management and a concept contract is about as good as it gets in terms of certainty. So, since I know a few people are curious what I’ll be up to next year, I decided on this little update.

I can’t say too much about what I will do there except that it more or less matches my Java server side interests and experience perfectly. This means back to being a good old Java hacker which is just fine with me and something I’ve not had enough time to focus on lately (much to my annoyance). Just today I submitted an article and I have one or two other things to finish off in January. After that, my research will be put on hold for a while. That’s fine with me as well. After returning to a research career three years ago, I’ve done a few nice papers but to be honest, I’m not enjoying this as much as I used to.

Of course Berlin is a great place to move to. I’ve been there now twice. I remember thinking the first time in 2005 that “hmm, I wouldn’t mind living here” and when I was there three weeks ago I had the same feeling again. It’s a big city with a rich history, nice culture and lots of stuff to see and do. I also learned that this is one of the few cities in Europe where life is actually cheap. Apartment prices, food, drink and all the essentials in life are really affordable there and of excellent quality too.

Anyway, I’ll be off to France the next week visiting my parents.

Happy holidays