September 28th was my last day as a fulltime O'Reilly employee. During my year and half at ORA, I worked in O'Reilly Labs and in IT. Although attached to the Cambridge office, I spent a fair amount of time in the Sebastapol, California office. Although O'Reilly is going through a difficult time right now, I choose to leave to pursue technical writing and sitting on my fluffy butt. In my time at O'Reilly, I got to work with *a lot* of talented people, many of whom the average O'Reilly customer never hears about.
It's inevitable that a company as visible as O'Reilly gets potshots taken at it. While no company is perfect (and yes, I could tell stories ;-), I submit that O'Reilly's heart is in the right place. Many in the company, not just Tim O'Reilly, want to see the Open Source community prosper. It would be nice to see the community return some of the support that O'Reilly has given it during the next few months. This support needn't just be monetary although that will always be welcome. Ask about becoming a technical reviewer. Your comments can help turn a sow's ear into a serviceable pig's ear purse. Tell O'Reilly what topics aren't being covered satisfactorily. If you liked an O'Reilly title, recommend it to your friend.
In any event, I'm glad I got a chance to work there.
