It is incredible how time flies. I just realized that I have been hanging with computers for ten years now. Looking back I'm kind of happy with my achievements. I got two academic degrees, a B.S in Computer Engineering and a M.S in High Performance Computer.
I have worked in many sectors doing different things. I have administered Linux servers, developed ERP systems for wholesale companies, design and developed enterprise mobile applications and location based services for a telco and even build a data-warehouse and a GIS for a distribution company.
Also, I've worked in Academia as a researcher, developing a performance analysis and estimation tool for parallel applications running in Linux clusters and published papers in international conferences.
I also contributed to my favorite open source project, the Linux kernel with 65+ patches pushed to mainline.
But the best of all is that I have finally realized what I want to do, I think I've found my path. I realized that I want to become a full-time FOSS hacker. My experience contributing to open source and working both in the industry and the academia, has showed me that it is near impossible to build proprietary (or academic) systems with the same quality of their open source counterparts.
As Eric Raymond said, "With many eyes, all bugs become shallow". But not only the eyes but also the passion that open source developers put to their work and the high level of scrutiny to the code you post.
Also I see open source as a vehicle to do research, as Dirk Hohndel of Intel said, "open source is the shortest path to innovation".
Also, the possibility that your work will be used by millions of people really inspire me. The good news is that because of my previous work with the Linux kernel, a company offered me a job to work full time as an Linux embedded engineer. That means I will be doing not only Linux kernel development but also Linux user space development and even boot-loader development!
I had to make a huge decision. Today I quit as a researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and give up my scholarship for PhD studies. I had the pleasure to work with very smart people while doing research. I'd like to thank my advisors, Dr Emilio Luque and Dr. Dolores Rexachs and fellows at the Computer Architecture and Operating Systems department at UAB.
But I think my decision is correct given the path I choose.
I will work hard and do my best to achieve all my goals in this new adventure. As Linus Torvalds said "Its no the great ideas that bring innovation, its sweat and hard work"
So from now on expect me to post more about Linux kernel development, embedded systems, C programming and things like that!