Edit, very important!: I made an idiotic mistake and the headline makes it look like this happened because of Opera Software. The truth is that I have a genetic condition and the stroke happened by chance at the time I was hired at Opera. The following problems were caused by further progression of the illness which tends to elaborate in your mid-20s, just when I was hired at Opera. Before this happened, it was unknown to me that I had this condition.
First of all: Everything I say is my own opinion and do not reflect on Opera Software.
June 2007 I was hired by Opera Software after I've had two summer internships with them during my studies. The 10th of August 2007 I had a TIA, what is also referred to as a mini-stroke right after work on a Friday, while us colleagues we were having some beers. I was taken to the hospital where I stayed four weeks. Anne Christiansen, being a sort of "well being manager" for the employees, visited me often during this time, bringing stuff I wanted, flowers, colored balloons with get well messages on them, etc. I had to admit it really spruced the bland surroundings up. During this time, Jon S. von Tetzchner lent me a 3G modem since there was no Wifi at the hospital (I had to promise I wouldn't do any work with it).
It was at this time I started using Reddit after a colleague of mine made a post about me there, linking to a comment I made on Slashdot. Reddit was probably about the size of what Voat is now at that time, and the post made it to the top of the front page. I became a Redditor since then and now I'm about to become a Voater, moving on from Reddit. Times change, but still history seems to repeat itself.
For 6 years I went with a heart that became worse and worse. I clamored onto work with a 20% position there, but the last 2 years I don't think I was even doing that. I became a "repeat offender" at the hospital, so much that the doctors told me I didn't have to go to via the emergency ward first, just go straight to the hospital since they always passed me on anyway. It was also found in 2009 that the reason for the heart disease was a rare muscle disease which weakens certain muscles. I can still walk today, but only on a flat surface since it's mostly my skeleton holding me up. I can't climb stairs and if I stumble I usually fall to the ground, where I need help getting up. I have a wheelchair that I also use, but as long as I can walk, I'll continue to do so whenever practical even if it hurts a bit. I suffer from chronic pain now and with a small limp, a cane and strong painkillers, I'm sometimes referred to as "Dr. House" by my friends :P
In April/May 2013 (I can't reveal the exact date), my phone called and it was the surgeon informing me they had a heart for me. I followed the plans I had made with my family, called my brother so he could inform the others, and then packed a bag of clothes and took with me the most important thing ever: my laptop. You might laugh, but seriously - a form of entertainment while you're going to be bound to a hospital for several months is important for your mental well being. I learned this during the interim time, since my first "visit" in 2007, I had spent over 4 months in total staying at hospitals.
I've moved back to my home town now where all of my childhood friends still live and my parents. Life is much easier here, i.e. parking is much easier than in the capital, and friends show up to help if I need anything. They are all awesome people and true friends.
Addendum: Why do I make an AMA here instead of Reddit? Because I move here for the same reason a lot of you do, I don't like the new direction Reddit is taking. Voat needs original content. I also had a brief exchange with @Atko back in march where he asked if I could hold it here, which I said yes to, so here I am holding my promise.
I'll answer questions as long as they come, apart from when I need rest, which might be a sudden hour or two pause, so don't fret. Mod verification is coming.
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[–] 1848131? 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
opera is that bad, eh?
[–] Gordam [S] 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
I hope my post didn't come out that way. It's still a great place to be as far as I'm aware. I haven't been in the office for about 18 months now, but you were given a lot of freedom to do your tasks. They bent over backwards for me and I wasn't the only one that got help from them in a difficult time. I remember one of our guys from Romania went home to his sick mother for a bit over a month and assumed he would have to take vacation time or leave without pay, but Opera paid him his full salary.
[–] ximian 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
sorry, it did sound that way! but i always thought that Opera is awesome
[–] ximian ago
"but Opera paid him his full salary"
Pretty cool opera did that. great companies, small or big care for their employees and dont lose them even if they are out of the company.
[–] ximian 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Opera has an awesome mail client, why did it not go forward with it, or advertise and monetize it somehow ?
[–] Gordam [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Again this would be a change in management. I cover that part in the link, but for the specifics of the email it didn't have any use in the new strategy, so it was fased out. Jon's new browser Vivaldi will include an email client just like old Opera did, but they're currently working on it.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] Gordam [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I feel your pain.
Much better. I don't have to feel guilty over not performing my work duties as I'm now going 100% disability instead of 80%. I have hobby projects going on, and the reason those work is because there's no time pressure to finish them. If I need two weeks because I suddenly feel ill, there's no dev that's getting in trouble because something he's relying on isn't getting finished in time. That's mainly why being in a large company pose a problem now. I can still do something, but I'm so unreliable because of my health that it basically has to be just me.
[–] 1848177? 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago (edited ago)
Why has Opera abandoned everything that made it unique, and settled for being Chromium?
Also, did Opera hire a lot of expats, and did they have trouble settling in Norway?
[–] Gordam [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I don't have any privileged information on this bit, so I'm both free to say what I know here, but also don't take this as gospel (add to that I haven't been there for quite some time)
This was a decision made by the new management after Jon S. von Tetzchner left (he didn't leave by his own choice, by the way. It was a decision made by the board). Lars Boilesen is the new CEO and while he's a nice guy, he has a very different perspective on the business plan than Tetzchner. Opera is getting much more involved with advertising for one. They're using the knowhow of the browser and surrounding technology to support that business, for instance the compression that happens on mobile devices when you use Turbo, use some parts of the engine to read the full webpage and strip away a lot of clutter (that would be wasted bandwith). Opera also sell services to carriers, and I'm pretty sure I can't say which, but I have written code to read and summarize logs for Turbos performance for a large US carrier.
[–] Gordam [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
This was a while ago, but I have no indication it has changed. About 50% of the employees at the Oslo office was non-norwegian. Some had problems getting settled, but mostly it went fine because after the first initial bad experiences that happened, Anne Christiansen which was responsible for bettering the well being of the employees (Culture manager, I think her title was?), made sure that people knew which differences you would meet. For instance, if you came from India that you were prepared of just how cold it could get, and made lists of big and small things, such as making sure you had a warm jacket with you for when you landed at the airport (Gardermoen).
She's now working at Jon's new business Vivaldi, a browser to capture the spirit of the old Opera. They're located in the US now, in a large house (or mansion perhaps?), decorated much like a normal house.