now (march 2021)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Like it did for most of us, my 2020 disappeared into a series of similar days.
For the first time in a very long time, I saw four seasons from the same window. At 31 I was forced to settle down. I slept in the same bed for 365 nights in a row.
The good: Developing a (fragile, tenuous at best) routine of taking vitamins and eating enough protein.
The bad: Getting lazy, feet wishing to stay still, creeping fear of change.
I think my family are glad to see me less nomadic, but I can’t unequivocally say I see a benefit.
Relocating, and then not
The bushfires in summer of 2019 really hit me. I began to feel that perhaps Australia wasn't a good bet in the long run. I wanted to build some foundations somewhere that didn’t feel like it would burn before I’m old.
So I found a job in Amsterdam. I quit my very good, possibly career-defining head of design role. I sold all my furniture and was ready to leave in March 2020. Then covid, and the new job rescinded, and I'd already hired my replacement in the job I already had, and I cancelled the scheduled email to my landlord and stayed in Surry hills.
Meaningful work and the Aboriginal Legal Service
And then after 2 months the Amsterdam job un-rescinded. So I worked for them on European hours while living in Australia, spending my evenings doing what turned out to be deeply menial design admin work. 9am standup was at 7pm for me. Imagine having all day to sleep late and do whatever you want! I lasted about 3 months before I got bored and found some work to do on the side.
I worked a few hours a week for Rapido at the University of Technology Sydney - a social innovation unit. They have an incredible mission - bringing a technology consultancy to organisations that couldn’t afford to work with a commercial technology consultancy.
I ran a project for the Aboriginal Legal Service, designing (from scratch) a new platform for one of their most important functions, the Custody Notification Service. Solicitors take calls from police every time an Aboriginal person is taken into custody. This means that person gets legal advice in the moment they need it, as well as acts as some oversight of the policing of Aboriginal people. But since the late 80s, this system has been paper-based, so the data collected in those calls is slow-moving and hard to access. The ALS is missing out on everything they could learn and do with that data.
So with $50k total funding in mind (including for development), I designed something we could do for them. A true minimum viable product - a way for solicitors to enter all the information taken in a call, and for the ALS to have access to all the data in all the ways they need - with any other features stripped out.
I’m most proud of this feature:
Fairly simple - when a client is on the phone, we let the solicitor search their name, and we highlight any ‘red flag’ issues the police should be aware of about that client. I read the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and designed with that in mind. Many deaths are caused by pre-existing conditions, and police stating they weren’t aware of those conditions.
Right now, with a paper-based system, every time a solicitor speaks to a client they’re effectively going in blind.
This feature can ensure the police do know about those conditions, and provides a legal record of the fact they were made aware.
Relocating - in a pandemic
I finally landed in Amsterdam on March 1, 2021 - 11 months to the day from when I was first supposed to.
Some may say it’s an unusual choice to leave Australia during a global pandemic. Time will only tell…
What I’m excited about
🚣🏽 My new apartment in Amsterdam: it was built in 1938, has a bay window with thick green velvet curtains overlooking a canal, and it’s 4 minutes from where Rembrandt lived.
🤫 Experiencing a tourist-free Amsterdam. What a joy. I’m sure it’s setting my expectations extremely high, and when tourists begin to flood back in I’ll be shocked.
📚 Finding new ways to be intellectually stimulated in a world where my residence in a country is dependent on employer sponsorship. Thankful for the opportunity to immigrate. Thankful for the insight into what it’s like, since so many people I’ve known over the years have walked this path.
🎨 My new apartment has a whole spare room, which I’ll make my combined workspace + art studio. I’ll be painting and listening to albums and reading books and overall raising the quality of the content I put into my brain. Less youtube, more films. Less tweeting, more writing. Less malls, more galleries. Less sitting on the couch, more exploring.
Thankful to 2020 for giving me what it did, but I’m happy to be on the road again; even if it’s a slower, quieter road.