I so rarely talk about work here (hell, I no longer talk here about anything, but ironically there’s a post percolating regarding that very thing) but I do some fairly big work-related news I’m quite excited about that I thought I’d share with the five of you that are still standing (hi mom!).

The Big Lizard

At the beginning of November I start my new job working at the formidable Mozilla Corporation as a senior user experience engineer. I will be mostly handling design, usability, and other yummy experience-related stuff for the various Mozillian web sites, but I may also get an opportunity to contribute design, writing, cross-stitching, and various spices and herbs to other projects as well. Yes, I’m seriously geeked.

A few people that I’ve mentioned this to asked if I was moving to the US, and no, I’m staying put here in Toronto. It doesn’t seem to be a very well-known fact, but Mozilla actually has an office here. There are quite a few Canadians that work for Mozilla here (some of them in very high-profile positions) and I’ll be joining them to ensure that the proper spelling of “neighbourhood”, five-pin bowling, poutine, toques, and other uniquely Canadian things get their dues around Mozilla.

As with many things web-related, this job seemingly plopped right out of the interwebs into my lap after a chance email from Mike Beltzner, Mozilla’s director of user experience. One thing led to another and here we are, with my web site being directly responsible for yet another job opportunity. Who says blogging doesn’t pay?

Take my (previous, equally cool) job, please

As with any new opportunity something must move aside to make room, and my previous user experience / front end developer job with (the very coincidentally named) “HomeZilla” is now open. If you’re interested in working for a new & cool real estate start-up with good funding and a super awesome boss get in touch with me and I’ll hook you up with the details.

What about the Firefox optimized builds?

As for the genesis of this whole opportunity, my optimized Firefox builds, it’s still early days but as far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual. I’ll now have a direct line to people that can hopefully help me figure out once and for all if these builds are actually faster or if they’re just a perfect example of the placebo effect. Also, I will probably look into seeing if I can get my builds blessed by the Lizard as “community editions” so they can be hosted on Mozilla servers.

Onward to complete and utter inebriation

For a total web browser ass like myself an opportunity like this is like some strange geek manna dripped from a giant poindexter honey pot in the sky, and I’m drinking it up and getting rather inebriated on the coolness of it all. The jury is still out whether I get so drunk I make a complete ass of myself, however, but I’m going to enjoy the opportunity all the same.