Don Campbell

Age: 33
Company: Interwoven
Position: Partner Solutions Management
Hometown: Dearborn, Michigan
Education: BBA in Computer Information Systems from Eastern Michigan University
Marital Status: Married
Children: An 11-month-old daughter named Abigail
Years in Silicon Valley: almost 2
Hours at Work Each Week: 65 to 70
Email Messages in Inbox: 933
Frequent Flyer Miles: 90,000 on Northwest, 24,000 on United, and 8,000 on American
Lunches Eaten Out Each Week: 1 or 2
Hours of Sleep a Night: 6
Monthly Rent: $1,650 (for a two-bedroom apartment in Mountain View)
Commute: 10 minutes
Monthly Cell Phone Bill: $200
Items in His Silicon Valley Time Capsule: "The purple Yahoo! car that drives around the valley, and the dotcom job advertisements that are shown before movies at the theater."

If Silicon Valley, teeming with VC cash and startup momentum, is the new economy incarnate, then Dearborn, Michigan, rusting under the weight of a century-old auto industry, is a fading photograph of the old world of work. Home to the Ford Motor Company since 1903, the Detroit region is built upon winning traditions and trusted strategies. Business runs like clockwork there -- especially in the computer-systems department at Ford, where Don Campbell began his career a decade ago. "The first program I worked on was older than me," Campbell says. "I quickly decided that area of Ford wasn't right for me."

For the next seven years, Campbell migrated from one internal division to the next, loyally scaling his way up the corporate ladder and amassing skills that he hoped would transfer to a more nimble, cutting-edge company somewhere down the road. In 1998, Campbell found Interwoven, a software-development company in Sunnyvale, California, that had forged a relationship with Campbell's team in the e-commerce department at Ford Credit. "It occurred to me that if I wanted to go anywhere in an auto company, I had to be an engineer or a finance person," Campbell says. "I liked Ford, but it was time to move on. I wanted to work for a company whose main products and diving forces were built around my passions: software and computers."

The moment Don and Sue Campbell accepted Interwoven's job offer, life changed drastically. The young couple traded its $640 monthly mortgage payments for a drastically smaller apartment in Mountain View that cost $1,650 a month to rent. They also learned that Sue was expecting their first child. "We knew my mom wanted grandkids pretty bad, so I felt guilty when we found out about Abigail after moving to California," he says. "But we make a huge effort to connect the family across coasts. My mom has come out five times since Abigail was born."

Since moving westward in July of 1998, the Campbell family has seen considerable progress in the working world around them. When Don joined Interwoven -- perhaps best known for the brand new BMW Z3s it offers to incoming engineers -- the company boasted 40 employees and a ramshackle headquarters in a refurbished apartment complex. Today, approximately 290 people work at Interwoven, which issued its IPO in October 1999 and now resides in a posh office complex off of Highway 85. As Interwoven's success has escalated, so has the speed of life for Don and Sue Campbell.

Up early with Abigail, Don usually arrives at work between 8 and 9 a.m. Though he makes an effort to eat dinner with his family each evening, the devoted father spends most nights between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. checking email, drafting white papers, and writing briefs on his laptop and DSL line. As Interwoven continues to add more clients and to prove its mettle as a viable startup venture, Campbell says he expects life to accelerate even more, but he hopes to never lose site of the truly important things in life: "Family is extremely important to us. We will always make time -- and a guest bed -- for them in Silicon Valley."

In the following Fast Company interview, Don Campbell provides an outsider's perspective on work, family, and the future in Silicon Valley:

Would you want your daughter to begin her first job in Silicon Valley today?

In one sense, yes because it's the most exhilarating and rewarding environment to work in. At the same time, I had previous working experience and a solid relationship with my wife when I arrived in Silicon Valley. I knew how to manage the stress to some degree. I know how good it feels to be part of something spectacular, but I fear that Abigail would have trouble managing such a large degree of stress in her first job.