From Monday, I'm going full-time at The Next Web

It's hard to believe that I've been writing at The Next Web part-time for 18 months. When I started, it was just a way of writing about technology for a larger audience than I could get at my old personal blog. Since then The Next Web has grown unbelievably and it's been a pleasure to be part of the excellent team of editors and writers there. So, I was thrilled to recently be asked to join as part of the full-time team.

Yes, as of Monday I'll be a full-time tech blogger. To say I'm looking forward to it is an understatement - the amount of stories I've been unable to cover due to time constraints has become increasingly frustrating in recent months and it will be great to get my teeth into new challenges.

However, it does sadly mean that I'll be leaving the brilliant team at Marketing Manchester, where I've been Digital Content Editor for 14 months. It truly has been a pleasure working there. I know people almost always say nice things about the workplace they're leaving but seriously, from my first day there I felt totally at home with a group of people who are hard-working, positive, on my wavelength and who love Manchester. I honestly haven't got a bad word to say about the place. Heck, when I handed in my notice I actually went through a kind of grief process and I've never experienced that before when quitting a job.

Looking forward though, I'm really excited about sitting down at my keyboard on Monday and seeing what happens. In particular, my 'beat' will be startups from across Europe, online media (digital publishing, IPTV etc) and web/mobile apps so feel free to get in touch at martin[at]thenextweb.com with any news tips or story pitches.

[Image credit: Valeriana Solaris]