So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
Today, I’d like to announce an important change in my life:
I’m leaving LiveGO and joining grou.ps.
I joined LiveGO (when it was known as MessengerFX) in 2008, just over 3+ years ago. I’ve had many roles there including front-end architecture, backend design, widget and module development, security auditing, project management… and many things that are hard to give an exact definition of — it’s a startup you know.
During my time at the company, I’ve had an excellent opportunity to lead and mentor my team on JavaScript module development best practices, the importance of thinking library independently, important issues to consider when developing a high-performance fat-client single-page web application, why the heck the goddamn memory “leaks“, the importance of keeping things simple and neat, the fact that optimization without measurement is a useless effort, always being skeptical and asking questions, trusting nothing including themselves, the importance of progressive enhancement and graceful degredation,
thinking about the end user first and giving utmost importance to user feedbacks, tips and tricks to make a web application lightning fast 
I think I’ve been successful in my endeavour, and I was able to add value to my company as much as I can. And I’d like to thank everyone for bearing to work with me: (the names below are quasi-random, mostly in cubicle order 
)
I’d like to thank Cihan Topçu for he always managed to look things at a different perspective,
I’d like to thank İlyas Osmanoğulları for he always observed, analyzed and moved with confidence and managed to solve any technical problem with ease,
I’d like to thank Gülistan Turhan van der Linden for she is an excellent business manager and she know how to reflect the true value of the company,
I’d like to thank Niels van der Linden for his ongoing effor to learn Turkish, and also his business insight he’s given and the value he’s added to the company,
I’d like to thank Furkan Öçal, for he has been always kind, calm, friendly and professional, and he know his suff well,
I’d like to thank Seyran Gülnar for she was a great office manager, who can simultaneusly organize a multitude of things,
I’d like to thank İlter Yıldız for he knows how to drink tequila, and also for he knows design patterns by heart, and can trustably optimize any back-end infrastructure to run under high traffic load,
I’d like to thank my name-sake Volkan Vardar for he’s an excellent leader who knows how to keep calm, think reasonably, and find a rational solution, even under the most stressful situations,
I’d like to thank Erdem Erdoğan for his analytical mindset, and his ability to patiently listen to the “infinite energy machines” nonsense for hours, which is a pain in the rear for an “Applied Physics” major,
I’d like to thank Gizem Şahin for she was the best testing lead, who knows her stuff well,
I’d like to thank Kamrul Ahsan for he was a great tester,
I’d like to thank Ercan Çalışkan for his keen design eye,
I’d like to thank Can Gürbüz for his obsession with details, and his ability to use photoshop without a mouse,
I’d like to thank Ahmet Ardal for he is a tirelss developer, knows how to think like an engineer, and he also can stand to write Objective C,
I’d like to thank Gürer Özen for the little chocolate muffins he brought to the office in the mornings, and for his open-source wisdom of course,
I’d like to thank Yusuf, for he is the CEO,
I’d like to thank Faik Uygur his ability to write and compile code without using a GUI, and also for his ability to manage a grid of servers without hassle,
I’d like to thank Fatih Buğan for he can stand Ferit 8 hours per day, and for he is an excellent project lead, and he’s a top-notch engineer,
I’d like to thank Ferit, for he is… “Ferit” — be yourself buddy, no matter what they say; I’d also like to thank him for his creative mindset, that “at times” he comes up with solutions, which fit right into the problem, that no one ever can imagine,
I’d like to thank Fatih Hayrioğlu, for he is the greatest CSS/HTML/HTML5 guru you can find around,
I’d like to thank tosb… Orhan Ekici for his multi-tasking ability, and his thirst to learn and implement new things,
I’d like to thank Gönül abla, for her wonderful sandwitches, and for her ability to look after a horde of crazy and messy developers.
…
Starting next Monday, I will be working at grou.ps as a Platform Engineer, and I see this as an excellent opportunity to learn a lot of things and equally add value to where I am.
Thank you grou.ps for accepting me aboard
I’m sure it wil be wonderful 
!
Cheers,
Volkan Özçelik,
JavaScript Samurai & a fresh new groupie.
