Sorry- forgot to login to reply.

Cool!

I'm very curious what will happen under SM's tutelage. Moving back to Santa Monica, I would guess.

If they can turn MySpace from a catch-all into something which grabs onto a few small niches, then it's definitely got a future.

I wonder how they will handle the translation from a C# sharp into something a bit more maintainable? I'd be surprised if they didn't change their development philosophy, especially considering SM's legacy development philosophy.

Then again- SM has picked up a number of very high-level people from MySpace and FAN, so we'll see if they have enough "hooks" between the two to make it a successful merger.

My father has a theory that you can only be in a career for about 10-12 years before you've learned the vast majority of what you need to know, and it stops being so much of a challenge. Timing wise, this seems about right.

I'm at a similar point, having gone far enough as a sys admin type that I've turned into middle management anyway. On the one hand, business school is a good insurance for surviving middle management, and on the other hand, business school allows me to lever myself into starting up new companies and really hacking corporate structures. So I'm covered either way I jump...

Career wise, jumping into a new field is not for the faint of heart. There's a lot to be thought about.

• Challenge, are you up to it?
• Interest, could you do this for another 10-12 years before it's time to jump again?
• Salary, can you live on the lower salary starting over always brings? This may be OK if your finances are in good shape, but are they?
• Lifestyle, can you support those who depend on you in your new career?

If the answer is yes to the above, then you should not be afraid of change. Without risk, there is no reward, no challenge, and certainly no sense in spending your time on it. However, if any of the above answers are no, then you may need to re-think the change. Of course, this doesn't mean "don't do it," but rather, get everything lined up so that you can (e.g. get a budget together, rearrange your lifestyle, reset expectations, etc). Hope this helped.