Mike Beltzner, a product manager/director at Mozilla for the Firefox product, has been around since the release of version 1.5, five years ago. Today he has announced that he will be leaving the company for new adventures.
Beltzner came to Mozilla after working for IBM and while he didn’t know exactly what he was getting into, he says that he has learned a lot about software releases, open source, and the community in general. Everything was new and exciting as he acted as a “lens, focusing the efforts of others in order to burn away obstacles.” In his new position he will be facing the unknown once again, this time at a company called DUG Software. Although he doesn’t get into the specifics of his new role, it appears that it will be similar to his role at Mozilla but instead of focusing on a web browser, he will be helping to create 2D/3D seismic interpretation and visualization tools.
He states that he wishes the project well and promises that he will not be leaving until Firefox 4 is released. Even after that, he plans to stick around as a contributor although in what form remains to be seen.
It’s always interesting to see the two different types of people – those who prefer the familiar day to day routine of a job and those who crave change; bouncing off the walls if things remain static too long. While the former is needed to run stable companies, the latter is what drives innovative ideas in the marketplace, especially in the field of IT.