BEST SOFTWARES AND TECH UPDATES: Latest Tech News

How to use freelancers to launch your business

0 freelancers, Latest Tech News, Tips/Tricks 3:53 AM

How to use freelancers to launch your business

This article is part of DBA , a series on Mashable about running a business that features insights from leaders in entrepreneurship, vent...

Find more »

NFL star Patrick Willis is thriving in retirement as a Silicon Valley tech worker

0 Latest Tech News 3:47 AM

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
CAMPBELL, Calif. — Close your eyes and picture the life of a retired <a href="http://mashable.com/category/nfl/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;">NFL</a> superstar. Maybe you envision a moveable feast — private jets, exclusive parties and beautiful companions. Maybe you see something quieter, day after day in the backyard watching the grass grow. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Patrick Willis' life after retirement resembles neither. One of the greatest linebackers in modern NFL history, </span><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Willis made the Pro Bowl in seven of his eight professional seasons. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5;">Then he shocked the football world when he walked away from the game in March 2015 at age 30. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Now Willis' life is — well, probably not at all what most NFL fans would expect. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Monday through Friday, Willis commutes to work at a Silicon Valley office park. He's got a list of favorite lunch spots nearby. Sometimes he takes video calls from home, or instant messages with colleagues after hours. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Like so many people who share his age range and geographic area, Willis now works at a tech startup. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Willis picked cotton as a kid in Tennessee to help support his family. He and his siblings later moved in with a basketball coach to flee an abusive, alcoholic father. But sports — he was a two-time collegiate All-American at Ole Miss before the NFL — offered salvation. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Now Willis sees something different in the business world. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
"People always told me when I was growing up that if you want to be something great, you have to be this physical specimen that can jump up to here and all that," Willis told <i>Mashable</i> in an interview this week.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Seated in a conference room at the office of <a href="https://www.opensourcestorage.com/" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Open Source Storage</a>, his new employer, Willis still sported the bulging physique of an NFL star. But dressed in tan pants and a black T-shirt, his outfit could have been that of any other Silicon Valley tech worker. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
 "For me, this is an opportunity to be able to tell young kids that you can be more than just a physical specimen to be great," Willis said. "I'm a person that can't speak about something until I've done it myself." </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">But Willis' remarkable story of empowerment and reinvention might not have happened this way at all. It begins with a chance encounter between Willis and a Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose journey has much in common with Willis' own path to the NFL. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Forged by his tough childhood and propelled by prodigious athletic gifts, Willis became an instant star for the San Francisco 49ers after the team drafted him 11th overall out of Ole Miss in 2007. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
He racked up 950 tackles for the Niners, plus 20.5 sacks, eight interceptions and 16 forced fumbles. He terrorized opposing offenses from sideline to sideline, all the while acting as an on-field general for the San Francisco defense. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
This February, <i>Athlon </i>ranked Willis the 22nd-best linebacker in NFL history — a plaudit that's double impressive when you consider his career lasted half as long as those of some other players. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Then in March 2015, Willis shocked the world by retiring after the 49ers hastily called a press conference. </div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
He was only 30 years old, but Willis' rationale was simple. A career of injuries made him worry his elite days were behind him, and he didn't want to sustain more longterm physical damage. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
“Honestly, I pay attention to guys when they’re finished playing, walking around like they’ve got no hips and they can’t play with their kids. They can barely walk,” Willis <a href="http://www.49ers.com/news/article-2/Patrick-Willis-Explains-Decision-to-Retire-from-NFL/c0afb6ec-0923-4e91-9bef-be7a984990e4" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">said</a> in his farewell press conference. “People see that and they feel sorry, but they don’t realize it’s because he played a few extra years.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
“For me, there’s more to my life than football. It has provided an amazing platform for me to build on, but it’s my health first and everything else just kind of makes sense around it.”</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
What the world didn't know then was the wheels had already been put in motion for Willis' next step. </div>
<h2 class="h2" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: justify; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
Parallel paths on different tracks</h2>
<figure class="image" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; display: table; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px 0px 50px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><div style="padding: 0px;">
<span class="lightbox-expand"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m!d20e" style="color: #00aeef;"></a></span></div>
<div class="microcontent-wrapper" style="clear: left; margin-left: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!d20e" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4LzczL2UyZjU4Mzc1ODNhLmU1MTJiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/a91f48a0/2e4/e2f5837583ae4f86ba0613d655745898.jpg" data-url="" style="background: rgb(246, 245, 241); height: 0px; left: -47px; opacity: 0; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease; width: 30px;">
<a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-facebook facebook" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #3b579d; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-twitter twitter" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #2daae1; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-google_plus google_plus" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #f02f16; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-pinterest pinterest" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #bf1e25; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a></div>
<img class="for-lightbox" data-caption="Niazi (second from left), Willis (right) and the Open Source team." data-credit-name="Sam Laird, Mashable" data-credit-provider="custom type" data-fragment="m!d20e" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4LzczL2UyZjU4Mzc1ODNhLmU1MTJiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/a91f48a0/2e4/e2f5837583ae4f86ba0613d655745898.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="1920" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4LzczL2UyZjU4Mzc1ODNhLmU1MTJiLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/a91f48a0/2e4/e2f5837583ae4f86ba0613d655745898.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 625px;" /></div>
<br />
<figcaption class="image-caption" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); bottom: -1px; color: #dddddd; font-family: ProximaNovaRegular, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2rem; left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; max-height: 100%; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.5em 1em; position: absolute; right: 0px; transition: max-height 0.2s;"><div style="padding: 0px;">
Niazi (second from left), Willis (right) and the Open Source team.</div>
</figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Eren Niazi's career arc is one of those classic Silicon Valley fables. He grew up in the area, but dropped out of high school and didn't attend college. He did odd jobs like washing dishes to get by. He lived out of his car for a period as a teenager. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
"Apple's Steve Jobs Would See Himself in Tech Pioneer Eren Niazi," squawked a headline on<i><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/story/12722957/1/apples-steve-jobs-would-see-himself-in-tech-pioneer-eren-niazi.html" style="color: #00aeef; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">TheStreet</a></i> two years ago. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Gradual grinding and bold ambition helped Niazi get a foothold in the tech industry. He began on the business side for Fry's Electronics and Circuit City, then launched Open Source Storage in 2001 while still in his early 20s. He was later pushed out of his own creation, but then relaunched it in 2013. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Niazi and Willis, both extremely successful men from different fields, also happened to live in the same Silicon Valley neighborhood. Several months before he retired, Willis was recovering from a surgical operation when Niazi spotted him wrestling to move bags from his car to front door. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">"Usually when people walk up to me, they kind of already know who I am and have some motive," Willis recalled this week. "But he just insisted like, 'Let me help you with that.' Then he just took off. I thought it was cool."</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Niazi wasn't being polite or nonchalant, though. He doesn't follow sports and has never been to a 49ers game. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
He simply had no idea who Willis was. <span style="line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
As the two neighbors got to know one another more, Willis found himself impressed by Niazi's rags-to-riches story and tech-industry success. Niazi, in turn, was impressed by the traits that made Willis an NFL star, as well as the player's curiosity for life beyond football. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
About two months after he announced his retirement from the NFL, Willis signed on full-time with Open Source Storage as a board member and executive vice president for partnerships. </div>
<h2 class="h2" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 1.27; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: justify; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">
He's got the LinkedIn page and everything. </h2>
<figure class="image" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; display: table; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px 0px 50px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><div style="padding: 0px;">
<span class="lightbox-expand"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m!2e5b" style="color: #00aeef;"></a></span></div>
<div class="microcontent-wrapper" style="clear: left; margin-left: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!2e5b" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzk0L1dpbGxpc0xpbmtlLjU1YzA3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7365fc03/bda/WillisLinked.jpg" data-url="" style="background: rgb(246, 245, 241); height: 0px; left: -47px; opacity: 0; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease; width: 30px;">
<a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-facebook facebook" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #3b579d; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-twitter twitter" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #2daae1; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-google_plus google_plus" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #f02f16; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-pinterest pinterest" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #bf1e25; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a></div>
<img class="for-lightbox" data-credit-provider="custom type" data-fragment="m!2e5b" data-image="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzk0L1dpbGxpc0xpbmtlLjU1YzA3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7365fc03/bda/WillisLinked.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="984" src="http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzk0L1dpbGxpc0xpbmtlLjU1YzA3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7365fc03/bda/WillisLinked.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 625px;" /></div>
<br />
<div class="image-credit" style="color: #777777; float: right; font-size: 0.9rem; font-style: italic; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 18.75px; margin-top: 12px; max-width: 625px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: margin 0.2s; width: auto;">
</div>
</figure><div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 1.5;">Hearing Willis and Niazi discuss their working relationship — after years of watching Willis deliver bone-crushing NFL hits — is surreal. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Here's Niazi: "A lot of guys come in with a big ego, but Patrick’s not like that. He's just a total pleasure to work with."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
And now Willis: "It just felt like, a lot of times in my other occupation, it was all about you as an individual. Here, I'm part of a team in a little bit of a different way."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
Unlike the many apps and games that have made technology a popular phenomenon, Open Source Storage is a behind-the-scenes player. Basically, the company provides storage and infrastructure solutions to other companies. (Niazi's original iteration of the company worked with Shutterfly, Friendster and Facebook, among others.) It currently has about 60 employees, some full-time and some on contract. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
When Carrie Pendolino, the company's current vice president for marketing, applied for an opening last December, both Willis and Niazi interviewed her. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
"Then I came home and my husband and son were like, ‘Uh, do you know who that<i>was</i>?!?’” Pendolino recalled recently. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
It's a situation others can likely relate to; Willis is involved in interviewing most of the company's prospective hires. </div>
<figure class="image" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; display: table; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin: 0px 0px 50px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><div style="padding: 0px;">
<span class="lightbox-expand"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="m!6c41" style="color: #00aeef;"></a></span></div>
<div class="microcontent-wrapper" style="clear: left; margin-left: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="microcontent-shares" data-description="" data-fragment="m!6c41" data-image="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzc0L2JiOTQzYjlkMWZkLmE0ZjBhLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7af1b95c/35f/bb943b9d1fd9499ca809e1f12296d3a2.jpg" data-url="" style="background: rgb(246, 245, 241); height: 0px; left: -47px; opacity: 0; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 0.25s ease; width: 30px;">
<a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-facebook facebook" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #3b579d; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-twitter twitter" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #2daae1; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-google_plus google_plus" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #f02f16; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a><a class="social-share microcontent-share-badge network-badge network-badge-pinterest pinterest" href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/patrick-willis-retirement-tech-open-source/#" style="color: #bf1e25; display: inline-block; font-size: 3rem; height: 30px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important; position: relative; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -9900px; transition: color 0.3s ease; white-space: nowrap; width: 30px;"></a></div>
<img alt="" class="for-lightbox" data-caption="Hey there buddy, workin' hard or hardly workin'?" data-credit-name="Sam Laird, Mashable" data-credit-provider="custom type" data-fragment="m!6c41" data-image="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzc0L2JiOTQzYjlkMWZkLmE0ZjBhLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7af1b95c/35f/bb943b9d1fd9499ca809e1f12296d3a2.jpg" data-micro="1" data-width="1920" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE2LzA1LzE4Lzc0L2JiOTQzYjlkMWZkLmE0ZjBhLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTEyMDB4OTYwMD4/7af1b95c/35f/bb943b9d1fd9499ca809e1f12296d3a2.jpg" style="border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 625px;" /></div>
<br />
<figcaption class="image-caption" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); bottom: -1px; color: #dddddd; font-family: ProximaNovaRegular, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2rem; left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; max-height: 100%; overflow: hidden; padding: 0.5em 1em; position: absolute; right: 0px; transition: max-height 0.2s;"><div style="padding: 0px;">
Hey there buddy, workin' hard or hardly workin'?</div>
</figcaption></figure><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
He still works out, and he fishes sometimes, too. But that's Willis' life these days: A full-on Silicon Valley tech worker. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
He watched some NFL highlights this past season — his first away from the sport — and caught bits and pieces of random games here and there. But he really hasn't followed football much since retiring last year.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
"I don't want to rest on what I've done and let that keep me from doing what I want to do," Willis said. "I'd rather be reading something or diving into something and trying to figure it out." </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
The former all-world linebacker lightly tapped the side of his head at the conference table.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
"I still respect it," Willis said of pro football. "But my mind is past it." </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;">
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em; text-align: justify;">
<em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>
</div>
<script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

<br />
<ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7165642049838572" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="7665805841" style="display: block;"></ins><script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script></div>

NFL star Patrick Willis is thriving in retirement as a Silicon Valley tech worker

CAMPBELL, Calif. — Close your eyes and picture the life of a retired NFL superstar. Maybe you envision a moveable feast — private jets, ...

Find more »