After seven years, I will move away from the academic ivory tower and into the wild territory of freelancing. Starting with October 1, I will start working full-time at Sw-eng. Software Engineering GmbH.

While research is not Tibet, the past 7 years still was an experience to remember. If nothing else, I got to earn a living without being expected to produce anything sensible.

Seriously, it was fascinating. I spent the day questioning issues that otherwise I would have taken for granted. Add to this that I was surrounded by eager minds that did not leave room for sloppy ideas, and you will get a glimpse of why "fascinating" is the right word.

So, what will I do from now on? I will offer consulting and coaching services in software engineering in general, and I will particularly focus on software assessment^{tiny note}. For a long time I argued that software assessment should take a more prominent position in software development. From now on I will get proactive about it, and I will bring with me the techniques I learnt and developed while in research.

The shift in my day-to-day focus will be perceived in this blog as well. I will continue to talk about presentation, representation and the rest, but I will start adding a flavor of the new things I will encounter.

Among others, in my quest for promoting software assessment I will feature more prominently issues embodied in or related to Moose, the analysis platform in whose development I was deeply involved for the past 7 years. While Moose is a piece of software, the essence of its philosophy is the empowerment of the analyst to control the course of the analysis. Thus, it is a vehicle that teaches that software assessment is a human activity, rather than a tooling issue. And this is one of the messages I want to bring in the practice of software development.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. All in all, I look forward to what is to come, and I would be happy if you will join me on this ride.

^{tiny note} If you want to learn more about the services I provide, please feel free to contact me.