For the past six years, I created an environment where amazing engineers and engineering leaders built Firefox for the desktop and Android, amazing products that deliver on Mozilla’s mission. I’m very proud of everything we’ve done, and I’m proud to have built and been part of a world changing team. We were, and still are, exceptionally motivated and unbelievably talented.  Mozilla Firefox continues to write the future of the Web.

Mozilla’s next endeavor is Firefox OS, and as of January 15, we hit a major milestone, completing the foundation of what will become Firefox OS 1.0.  This project has teeth, and it will be the next amazing product that enables Mozilla to continue pushing the Web forward and protecting user sovereignty.  The project is off to a fantastic start, and I’m thrilled by the progress we’ve made in such short time.

Sometime around 2000, I read Jamie Zawinski’s resignation from Netscape and mozilla.org.   I planned to reference JWZ’s post in my own today; however, I hadn’t re-read his note in over a decade.  The thing I remembered most–before I looked back to find it–was his point in his second paragraph:

When we started this company, we were out to change the world. And we did that. Without us, the change probably would have happened anyway, maybe six months or a year later, and who-knows-what would have played out differently. But we were the ones who actually did it. When you see URLs on grocery bags, on billboards, on the sides of trucks, at the end of movie credits just after the studio logos — that was us, we did that. We put the Internet in the hands of normal people. We kick-started a new communications medium. We changed the world.

His statement above was a big part of the reason I joined Mozilla–plus I’d get to work with great people like John Lilly, Mike Schroepfer, Mitchell Baker, and Brendan Eich. I remember quoting JWZ’s words above to Mitchell in my own Mozilla Corporation interview back in 2006.  To have an impact on the world like that is a once in a lifetime opportunity for an engineer.  Now, I’m in his position of departing (the company, not the project), and my experience is positive and thrilling as I have been a part of changing the world and part of a world-changing team.

I’ve decided it’s time for me to embark on a different world-changing adventure by joining Edmodo as VP of Engineering–the same role I have here now at Mozilla.  This new opportunity is exciting because it has the familiar feel of when I first joined the Mozilla project: Almost the same number of users, it’s rapidly growing just like Firefox, and they have a stellar mission that aligns with my values–something hard to find in a start-up on a clear path to success.

I’m proud of and thankful for all who have joined me on my journey at Mozilla and who have made it a world-changing success.  I’m looking forward to continuing with another world-changing team.  Edmodo’s mission is to connect all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential.  Education is important to me as it’s a big part of my own young family, and knowing that I can improve the world’s educational experience, in addition to my own children’s, is a huge motivator.

I can’t wait to get started.