Today, we announced the opening of Firebase Beta to the public!

It’s been a few months since I joined the team, and it’s been one hell of a ride. Working at a start-up was everything I imagined it would be, and more. I can easily say that I’ve never been as productive as this before, and that there’s a lot of joy in putting a product that you played a critical role in building, out in the world for every one to see. The best thing about working in a small team who are all in the same room is the speed at which everything moves. It took me an evening to implement Persona support for Firebase, but it took even lesser time to get the feature out to our users. That’s when I learned that the amount of time elapsed between making something and shipping it can play a huge role in motivating me, and I suspect many other developers feel the same way.

Last night the entire team was in the office until midnight, polishing and tweaking everything to make sure we were ready for today’s release. Bugs were found and fixed in minutes. We even managed to implement an entire feature that we decided was important to have. The dedication and caliber of my colleagues continues to amaze me.

The real reward, however, is when I talk about Firebase with other developers. The response has been overwhelmingly positive - from veterans I know at Mozilla to folks who are just learning JavaScript at Meetups. The look on their face when they first understand how Firebase works, that ‘aha!’ moment, is priceless. A few moments later, you can almost hear their mind sprinting through the possibilities of what they could make.

We have an excellent product, and now is the time to spread the word and help people build amazing things with it. 2013 is going to be a fun and challenging year!