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This project is tricky to write about as there was so much positive and negative emotion involved — a real roller coaster.
Paul Marcos was an engineer on Mail with me and unofficially my mentor. He was a huge reason I joined the team in the first place. When I heard about him leaving Mail, it was like a punch in the gut. I asked where he was going, and he couldn’t say. That’s Apple for you.
Then he said ‘You could come with’. I instantly felt better. I loved Mail, but the thought of an entirely new product from scratch was very appealing.
Note that some of these images are newer versions of Aperture
Interview
When I interviewed, I didn’t know the assembled team had many people on it that I already knew. There was already some mutual respect or at least awareness. That sure helps!
Some of the people in that category were Randy Ubillos and Stan Jirman (co-creators of Aperture), James Dempsey, and Dan Waylonis. I loved the people I interviewed with, but I was hesitant to consider a project where no one would tell me what it was.
My last interview was with Randy, and that helped my hesitation. When the subject of working on an unknown project came up, he said (paraphrased):
I can’t tell you what we’re working on but if you look around my office, you might get some idea.
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