The best job in the world

Tuesday is my last day at Sun. After 9 years, I've decided to move on to the next thing. During these last 9 year I've worked on some really fun projects and worked with some really smart, creative and interesting people. The work environment at Sun Labs is really special and I doubt that I shall ever experience anything like it again. Bob Sproull, the head of the labs believes that the best way to run the labs is to let the researchers work on the things that they are passionate about. Some companies have a practice called 'Friday Projects' where you can spend one day a week working on a project that you find interesting. For us in Sun Labs, every day is Friday.

With this freedom, I've spent the last four years working on the problem of music recommendation and discovery. I've written lots of code, given lots of talks, presented demos, written papers, filed patents, gave interviews for reporters, dined with an astronaut, written lots of blog posts, and listened to lots and lots of music.

I've also made many friends, and saying goodbye is the hardest part of leaving, but I suspect that many of our paths will cross again.

The labs is an extremely comfortable place to be. I could easily stay here for the rest of my working career and be quite happy and productive, but I have an itch to go and try to do something really great. I think I've found the place to go and do it, and so Tuesday is my last day at Sun, and Wednesday starts my new adventure. Feel free to follow along on my adventure.

Posted on: Feb 16, 2009

Posted by: plamere

Category: General

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Comments:

Hi,Paul

Congratulation to your new adventure!

and I have a question about when will Search Inside the Music project be open source? I heard the message last year, and how is the processing? so expected.

Posted by Steve on February 16, 2009 at 09:32 PM EST #

Best of luck Paul. I've been following Duke Listens for sometime now. Will be finished my own research later this year. Thanks for all the great info. I'll be keeping an eye on your new adventure.

Posted by Joey on February 16, 2009 at 09:38 PM EST #

I was looking at my iTunes collection today and thinking "this is like my fingerprint" - did you ever consider the intersection of music preferences and security (authentication)? It would be an easy challenge/response ("did you buy this?" / "do you like this or that?") and way more secure than "what's your home town?" or "mother's maiden name?" - well just an idea - and you probably have a patent for it already! Good luck in your future adventures!

Posted by Kevin Hutchinson on February 16, 2009 at 10:21 PM EST #

Best of luck with the move. Can't wait to see what you are up to.

Posted by Dan Kantor on February 17, 2009 at 12:05 AM EST #

good luck paul!

Posted by james miao on February 17, 2009 at 01:16 AM EST #

Congratulations, Paul. Your desire to do "something really great" is inspiring. I'm excited to see what comes next.

All the best!

Posted by Ben on February 17, 2009 at 10:32 AM EST #

Sounds like you had a wonderful time at Sun! Best wishes to you as you embark on your new adventure!

Posted by David Koelle on February 17, 2009 at 02:52 PM EST #

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