At the end of this month I’ll be leaving Fierce.
I do so with decidedly mixed emotions. I’m excited about my next gig, but I’m very sad to be leaving the extraordinary team of journalists and media professionals who I’ve had the privilege of working with here at Fierce. Monica, Ben, Kevin, Scott, Mike, Molly and the rest are some of the best—dare I say it, the fiercest—folks in telecom.
I’ve been working at Fierce for almost a decade, and during my time here I’ve gotten to cover all kinds of interesting things, from the rise of the App Store to the launch of 5G. More importantly, I’ve gotten to talk to all kinds of interesting people about all kinds of interesting things, and for that I am very grateful.
I’ve also gotten to do some really cool stuff, like launch new publications, hire new people, create new products, appear on TV, and develop new live events and trade shows. It’s been quite a ride.
I owe much of this to the many excellent people in the telecommunications industry; it’s a pretty neat place to be. Yes, you can get bogged down in whether edge computing will be a thing, or if T-Mobile and Sprint will be allowed to merge. But if you take a step back, you can see the dramatic effect that telecom and wireless services have had on people all over the world. In the beginning of my career in telecom, people were still debating about whether two-way paging had a future, and whether mobile phone users actually wanted to access the internet (through WAP). Today, people are debating about whether doctors will use 5G and virtual reality to conduct remote surgeries. It’s just astounding.
There’s one final thing I’d like to do, and that’s to thank you, dear reader. Because of you, I’ve been able to support my family as a member of the fourth estate for almost 20 years now. I still get a little thrill every time I introduce myself as a journalist. For that you have my sincere gratitude.
I’ll be moving on to my next gig soon. Feel free to stay in touch with me @mikeddano and on LinkedIn. —Mike