A little over four years ago, I created a LinkedIn account, which would prove to have a powerful impact on my future career path. I can't remember what it was that prompted me to take this fairly random decision, yet I do remember one of the first job recommendations shown, right after having finished setting up my account: a startup near where I lived at the time, looking for a part-time 3D artist.
Back then, I actually hadn't planned on taking a job. I was already fairly busy with deadlines from all the university projects I was working on, apart from the timetable of my studies making it almost impossible to pursue a job with regular working hours.
Yet I was incredibly curious, as this startup was working exclusively with Blender in regard to the 3D part of the product, which was (and in my opinion still is) a rare sight. I decided to apply for the role, with my initial intention being to only get a rough overview of what the company was doing, and how it was utilising the software. Unexpectedly though, that intention led to what would eventually become my first ever full-time job, as I ultimately took the opportunity.
In retrospect, it was the best possible first job I could have asked for. Especially the fact that it was a startup when I began working there, as I wasn't instantly thrown into the stormy sea of the corporate world. It allowed for very flexible working hours, making it possible for me to work alongside my studies, and I got to be part of a small team of colleagues not much older than I was, with a very friendly and open-minded atmosphere.
With me having been the only 3D artist for the first years, and the company growing significantly, I also got to learn a lot, which was also possible thanks to the freedom the nature of a startup induced. When I started, there actually wasn't a 3D pipeline established at all, with me basically building one from scratch over time. Having never done this before, I spent a lot of my time researching and learning new skills, which was an incredibly rewarding experience. The product was the very pipeline still in use to this day, being one of my proudest achievements. Eventually, I found myself training new 3D artists, overseeing the pipeline and its stages, such as focusing more on developing the product's technical aspects in regard to everything 3D.
Alas, fitting to the course of this year, given it was shaped by change right from the start, 2025 turned out to be a year of change for the company as well. And eventually, I decided to part ways, after almost exactly four years, as a new, honestly unexpected opportunity arose.
The recent company Christmas party we had turned into a big farewell party, with one sentence repeated whenever it was a matter of conversations: this is the end of an era.
And it truly is.
I'm genuinely thankful for the time and this certainly unique experience. Especially these past weeks, whenever I met with former colleagues for breakfast or lunch, we always got to realise just how much had happened in these past four years, and how much fun we had. Every memory leads to us eventually laughing, even those of situations that weren't necessarily a matter of amusement at the time. And I believe this to be a testament to the amazing time we shared.
We were essentially like a small family, spending time together outside the office just as frequently as during work hours. Just this August, for example, four colleagues and I were in Madeira together.
Many of these memories came back as I walked through the office recently, likely for one of the last times, due to an upcoming relocation of office spaces. It almost felt like the final pan through Monica's apartment in the last episode of Friends, except that instead of the yellow frame on the purple door, it ended on the beam in front of the desk where I sat for nearly three years, covered in countless post-its with silly drawings and notes. That beam separated the space a colleague and I shared from the rest of the room, a little nook we called the "creative corner."
To save these notes from the bin, and as a memory for the legendary time there and the countless laughing fits, I actually put all of these notes in a big frame, which I have yet to find a fitting place for in my flat.
It's odd looking back at this year, with it being almost over, and seeing just how much had happened and changed in its course. As I wrote in my last blog post, this year meant the end of many things, and as you see, this affected nearly every aspect of my life, including my career.
Next year is truly going to be a new chapter, almost the beginning of an entirely new story, and I'm certainly curious as to how it's going to turn out; where I'm going to be, and what life is going to look like. Right now, I actually have a hard time picturing myself in a year, given how much is in the queue for 2026.
But perhaps it's a good thing going into it completely blind and with no expectations, other than being open-minded to whatever is going to happen.
I hope you, dear reader, have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate), and wish you a happy New Year. Considering how difficult 2025 has been for nearly everyone I know and connected with this year, I hope 2026 will be better for all of us.