SL Video: "SL23B - Meet the Lindens: Second Life Engineering Team"

 

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From Linden Lab on Wednesday June 24, the "Meet The Lindens" event earlier that day, "Members of the Second Life Engineering team answer community questions in this special "Meet the Lindens" event from Second Life's 23rd Birthday Celebration"

 

Linden Lab Announces New VP of Engineering: Jerome Despret

 

A few days ago on Friday March 13, Linden Lab announced it had a new Vice President of Engineering: Jerome Despret. The Lab stated he had more than 25 years of experience in the gaming industry, " and a deep background in building and scaling large online platforms." He has worked at Electronic Arts and Maxis, where he worked on The Sims Online (a competing virtual world in Second Life's early days), and would continue to work on other "The Sims" games. He would also work af Riot Games, Zynga, and Pantheon Platform,

 

Jerome will focus on strengthening our engineering organization and continuing to evolve the technology behind Second Life, helping ensure the platform can keep growing and improving for residents, creators, and communities around the world. We’re thrilled to have him join the team and look forward to the impact his leadership will bring to the future of Second Life.

 

The announcement in full can be read (here).  

 

Linden Lab Has New VP of Engineering: Andrew Kertesz (Mojo Linden)

 
Since Oz Linden retired in February, his position as VP of Engineering remained vacant for months. Several days ago, it was finally filled. Linden Lab's new VP of Engineering is Andrew Kertesz, or Mojo Linden. He had the following description on Linden Lab's website:

With over twenty years of experience in the games industry, Andrew is an expert at building teams and launching groundbreaking games across genres that push the limits of their respective platforms. His product and technical expertise spans across multiple mobile, PC, and console games, as well as platform and SDK development, web applications, and cloud services.

Prior to joining Linden Lab, Andrew held senior-level positions at Level Ex, Zume, DoubleDown Interactive, IGT, and Microsoft. Andrew has worked on iconic franchises such as Halo, Forza Motorsport, Fable, Crackdown, and Wheel of Fortune. Andrew has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Washington.

It has not yet been announced when he'll be in a meeting or interview in which residents will get a chance to ask him questions. Presumably, there will be one soon.

Kertesz has a LinkedIn page one can read here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kertesz/

Source: Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Oz Linden to Retire

After over eleven years at Linden Lab, Oz Linden, the Lab's VP of Engineering, will soon be stepping down. He made his announcement in the Second Life forums earlier today. He would call his time with the Lab "one of the best career decisions I ever made," and he would not be taking another job but retiring.

About 11 years ago I was working for a big multinational that had acquired the startup where I'd been for several years, and decided I needed a job with more fun and more job satisfaction. I put out the word on my professional network and got a response from a colleague who was a Linden at the time. I interviewed with several people at the Lab (half my interviews were in-world using an account I'd had for some years), and after much thought I joined the Lab as the Director of Open Source. It turned out to be one of the best career decisions I ever made.

My job evolved over the years, but through it all I got to work with brilliant, passionate, and committed people and got to know many residents. I've never worked anywhere that was as much fun (a Linden who returned to SL after some time away said recently that he'd forgotten how often the SL team laughs in the course of a normal day). More importantly, I got to work on a product users really enjoy using and that makes a big difference in the lives of many of its users - for me there's no greater source of job satisfaction.

Some time ago, I reached the point that I could afford to think about retiring but decided to stay to finish moving SL to its new cloud platform. I can't imagine a better last act in my working life than ensuring that Second Life has this better platform for its future growth. Now that project is done (well, except for a few loose ends), and it's time for me to move on to the next phase of my life. 

I want to emphasize in the strongest possible terms: my decision has nothing at all to do with the change in ownership of the Lab; the timing really is a coincidence. If anything, I regret that I have overlapped with them for only a few weeks; in that time (and in the time leading up to the change) I have come to respect and appreciate the skills and energy they bring to the company.

There aren't many jobs that come with a new nickname; this got me one I'll always cherish, but it's time for me to set aside my Linden last name. I leave Second Life in great hands, and have every confidence that it has a great future. 

Oz would say his last day would be Friday February 26, 2021, the last weekday of the month.

There were a number of well wishes following his announcement,  "You'll be missed, Oz. Thank you for everything, and enjoy your retirement." "Thank you for everything you did for us." "He's done more than leave his mark on the grid. Oz has touched thousands of lives in ways he will never know. For that, we are all grateful. And for the ways he has touched my life that I am unaware of, I am grateful." "Just don't COMPLETELY leave us, okay?" "One expressed pessimism, "Not gonna sugarcoat it. This is 100% bad for SL. Oz is one of the good ones."

Jessica Lyon of Firestorm, "Oz! It has been a great honor and privilege to have worked with you the past 11 years. I remember you coming in as a liaison for third party viewers during a time of great chaos in the TPV space. You created order, structure and in doing so, kept the Open Source nature of Second Life alive. You will be missed by many! Enjoy your retirement! You have earned it."

Tonya Souther of Firestorm, "Thank you for being there, for advocating for open source, and for understanding even when we didn't agree. Best of luck wherever you go next, even if it's just a chair by your pond."

 Coyot Linden, "So long and thanks for the fish. It's been great working for you." 

Alexa Linden, "And now I'm crying again... Oz, I can't thank you enough for the mentorship, encouragement and friendship over the last 11 years.  I am so fortunate to consider you family and I am a better person for having worked with you.  I wish you all the best in your retirement!" 

Dakota Linden, "Thank you, Oz, for everything you brought to Second Life and everything you have contributed to the platform. Your experience has been an excellent asset to Linden Lab and Second Life and you will be missed by a great many people. May your next adventure bring you as much satisfaction as this one has and may you always look back on this time with fond memories as we will remember you with the same. Be well, friend."

Perhaps Oz Linden will stick around in Second Life as a regular resident. Wherever he goes, hopefully it will go well.

Hat tip: Panterapolnocy

Bixyl Shuftan