After being absent for more than 18 months (well I did update my last post on January 2014…) it is more than time to blog again!

Many things happened during that time, and not one month passed by without me thinking: “Damned I should really go back to blogging”.

But I didn’t. Because of time and failing inspiration. Still I have a list of things I definitely would want to write about:
– The difference in start-up culture between Beijing and Silicon Valley
– Top 10 things I did in California
– Organizing Makathon and the Maker movement
– What inspired me to become a Data Scientist
– Top 5 mistakes you’ll do when moving to Berlin…

But today I just want to introduce my new self and give a little bit of background on what happens in the last 2 years:

Last year I turned my life around. After a year in Silicon Valley (SV), travelling back and forth every 3 months, I spent Christmas holidays 2013 in Paris with friends and family and realized that… it wouldn’t be that bad to come back to Europe.

At that point I had spent 7 years outside of Europe. And to be completely honest, if I had any good prospect to get a package “awesome job + working visa”, I would have stayed in SV. But I didn’t want to stay at all costs. I wanted to switch career. And I wanted to find a company I was passionated about. Yes, my new dream was to join one day Facebook Data Sciences team. But I knew that would take time. So life pushed me out of the USA and I wonder “where would be the most fascinating place to be for a free-thinker and techie person in Europe”? I asked around and everyone pointed me to Berlin.

April 2014 I set foot in Berlin and found everything I was expecting to find when I first arrived in San Francisco:
– a strong creative vibe everywhere in the city,
– kick-ass infrastructure and transportation system,
– open minded people who don’t try to make you fit in a mould,
– a vibrant grassroot tech scene with friendly community (where sharing is more important than competing).

After 10 months here, meeting like-minded people, old friends, new friends, switching my career into my new passion of Data Analysis and Visualization, joining one of today’s most exciting tech company in Berlin… I can say that heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un long voyage (happy like Ulysse coming back from the Odyssey).. it feels good to be back home.