By Jason Snell
September 10, 2014 10:00 AM PT
September 10, 2014: A Personal Announcement
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
[Originally published on snellworld.com, republished here at Six Colors for reference.]
I’ve been working continuously in what is now called “tech journalism” for 20 years, 8 months, and 7 days. In January 1994 I started at MacUser magazine while I still had a semester of grad school left to go. I haven’t had a day where I wasn’t either a full-time student or a full-time employee of a publishing company since the day I toddled into Kindergarten in the fall of 1975.
Until today, that is.
In early 2012 I took a job in senior management because I wanted the challenge and I had been in my previous job for nearly a decade. It came at a perilous time for my company, and I was the agent of change at a time when the change was often excruciating. The job also took me further away from what I really loved: creating things for an audience.
Last December, after several corporate leadership changes, and with budget cuts looming on the horizon, I decided I couldn’t go on. My newest set of bosses persuaded me to stay give them a chance. So I continued to work and ponder my next move.
Then another leadership shift occurred, the sixth in 24 months. The new bosses were actually my old bosses, and they knew exactly how I was feeling about my job and the prospect of going through more painful changes. To their great credit, they allowed us to end our relationship amicably. I thank them for their support and their generosity. They even asked me to write a final front-of-the-book column in the November issue of Macworld.
Unfortunately, many of my colleagues lost their jobs today. If there’s anything I can do to help them, I will. I have had time to plan for this day, but they haven’t. You probably know some of them. Please join with me in giving them sympathy and support.
So where do I go from here? I have some ideas. I’ve been watching from the sidelines (well, the big-legacy-media-sidelines) as other people in the Apple and tech space have used the Web in innovative ways to get their voices out there and reach an audience. But I’m also trying to embrace the fact that, for the first time in a long time, I don’t know where my career will take me next.
What I am excited about is making things. If it wasn’t obvious, the reason I have poured so much effort into The Incomparable over the past few years is that it’s been a project I could actually make myself, rather than manging someone who manages someone who actually makes something, or negotiating with someone who works for someone who controls all the development resources that are required in order to create something.
Speaking of podcasting, I am happy to announce that I’m working with Myke Hurley and Stephen Hackett at Relay.fm to create a new weekly show. In addition, IDG has graciously granted me ownership of the Clockwise podcast and that show will be moving to Relay.fm.
If you’d like to hear from me about what I’m doing next, feel free to sign up below for my (low-volume, non-spamming, I promise!) mailing list. Or you can follow me on Twitter.
The fall is always an exciting time for people who follow Apple and tech in general. Just yesterday I was at an Apple event alongside my partners in crime Dan Moren, Philip Michaels, and Serenity Caldwell. Today we’re in a very different place, but the news never stops! I am sure you will be hearing from us soon.
And thank you so much for reading what I’ve written and podcasted about over the years. 17 years in one place! It was a great ride. But I should’ve stepped off years ago. So here I go.
—Jason Snell, Mill Valley, California, September 2014
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