Hopes to help create next-generation dev tools

Joe Hewitt, a well-known software engineer who has worked on early versions of Firefox as well the iPhone Facebook app, has left Facebook to pursue independent ventures along the lines of his previous project, developer tool Firebug. He calls Facebook "the best employer I ever had" in a post on his blog, and said "I wish more tech companies operated like this."

He mentions that he worked at Facebook longer than he had ever worked at one company -- about four years -- and called his time there "like having my own startup, but with a paycheck instead of ramen." His departure was very amicable, though his time at Facebook was not without some controversy.

In 2009, Hewitt abruptly quit working on the iPhone Facebook app, citing a "philosophical opposition" to Apple's review process for apps. He also had to deny rumors in 2010 that he and former Google Chrome OS lead Matthew Papakipos were developing a Facebook-branded phone.

His farewell post expresses his pride at working for Facebook, where he "had the honor" of knowing that millions of people -- including his own parents, Hewitt says -- use his apps. He makes numerous references to his work on Firebug, a powerful web-development tool which continues to be supported by other programmers. He compares the current development environment -- which is racing to embrace newer technologies such as mobile apps, the cloud and HTML5 while still using tools developed for earlier systems -- to the climate when he decided to create Firebug.

Hewitt makes no firm commitments on what is next for him, but expressed his satisfaction when helping coders solve problems and work more efficiently, and says he's going to pour himself "into understanding the needs of modern developers and designers, and creating software to fill those needs."

By Electronista Staff