I am a firm believer in "anything worth doing is worth doing right." So when given the opportunity to get paid to do that, it's hard for me to say no. Which is why I didn't.
I am happy to report that this is my first week in my new role as Staff Engineer on the TYPO3 core contributors team.
TYPO3 is one of the oldest Content Management Systems on the market, dating back to 1998 in one form or another. In that time it's built up a very loyal following and a robust, active community of users, developers, and contributors. It has also, like any system of its pedigree, built up a lot of code over the years that hasn't kept up with modern practices.
Fortunately, I have some experience in helping to modernize large Free Software projects.
I'm looking forward to working with the solid team already working to improve TYPO3. It will take a bit for me to get my feet under me, but helping a diverse and varied team to add new functionality while reducing legacy code is kinda my thing, so this should be a fun ride.
I will also, of course, still be in and around the PHP community generally doing all my usual community-supporting things, just now flagging for TYPO3 while doing so. Don't worry, the blue shirt and leather vest aren't going anywhere.
One of the things I like about TYPO3 is the core team's commitment to engaging with the broader community and fighting against the Not Invented Here syndrome that plagued most PHP projects of its age. TYPO3's project lead Benni Mack was one of the working group members for PSR-14, the Event Dispatcher spec, and TYPO3 v10 was one of the first CMSes to ship with a PSR-14 implementation.
Working with TYPO3 is going to include identifying even more places where the project can collaborate with other projects through PHP-FIG, and I will likely be working on other PSRs on TYPO3's behalf in the near future. In fact, I've already started making some contacts about a possible future PSR, but more on that when the time comes...
I'll likely continue to be in and around PHP Internals work in the same capacity, where relevant to TYPO3.
See you around the Internet!