Goodbye Brightcove, Hello Infrared5

After much soul searching about the kind of work I really want to be doing, I recently made the decision to leave Brightcove, where I’ve been working for the last year and a half, and join Infrared5.

To some, this might sound like a bit of an odd decision. Brightcove is doing some cool stuff and is poised to take off big in the Internet video market. I have no doubt that they are going to be a key player, if not THE key player in their particular market in the next year and the years to come.

So why would I leave, and just who or what is Infrared5?

Basically, Brightcove has a product. It’s a video player, and the back end to manage content and players. This player and back end have a ton of useful features, and there are some variations and side projects, such as Aftermix, and Storymaker and other cool stuff brewing, but for the most part I’ve been modifying, upgrading, and fixing video players, and working on console pieces to manage these players. The long and the short of it is I am craving some variety. I need to work on some different stuff – smaller projects that I can start, work on, finish, deliver, and move on to something new. Also, most of the work at Brightcove has been altering or adding to a huge existing code base. I really miss the feeling of breaking out a fresh workspace and starting a project from scratch.

Infrared5 is a startup formed by Chris Allen, Rebecca Allen, and Dominick Accattato. Chris and Dominick are, of course, two of the key players in the development of the Red5 project, which is an open source communication server. Infrared5 is a for-profit consulting company, mostly creating Rich Internet Applications in Flash and Flex. Chris, Rebecca, and Dominick are also good friends, and I really look forward to working with them. Overall, I think it’s going offer an opportunity to work on lots of interesting projects. The first project that I’ll probably be working on looks incredibly cool and fun, and presents some awesome technical challenges. I can’t wait to dive into it.

I’ll be finishing out October at Brightcove, and on November 1st I will board a plane with Chris, Rebecca, and Dominick and fly to London, to hang out with Tink, Chris Pelsor, HÃ¥vard Gjelseth, possibly Grant and Bobi, and some of the LFPUG crew for a couple of days before heading down to Brighton for Flash on the Beach.

I do want to say that working at Brightcove for the last year and a half has been a great experience. I’ve learned so much, mostly in regards to the management of a large project, best practices, build processes, team integration, etc. I only hope that I contributed as much as I learned. I’ll miss a lot of the people there, as well as all the free soda, coffee, PopTarts, Cheezits, peppermint patties, M&Ms, and of course, the Friday morning bagels. Maybe I can start to get back in shape now. 🙂