‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things”

Yes, the time has indeed come.

After 22 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, 3 days, I’ve decided to leave Microsoft.

Yes,  you’ve heard correct. It’s time!

My time with Microsoft started way back on 1991, in Canberra, as a Systems Engineer. I was the first technical guy in a small team of 4 people. I got to Canberra after I had followed a girl (who I had met in Melbourne) all the way to Canberra., That girl became my wife, and over the journey we’ve spent time in Seattle, Sydney, Seattle again and ultimately Melbourne, which is where I started. Funny that.

The career summary looks a bit like this

Along the way we had 4 children who have grown up immersed in all things Microsoft – they all have their Nokia Lumias, and Windows 8 tablets, and love their XBOX, I don’t think this will change in a hurry.

And then, there’s my other family – the awesome evangelists I hired, the community members who helped spread the word of the Microsoft platform – from .net, hailstorm, silverlight, to windows phone, windows, windows azure, and everything else in between.

Thank you all for making my Microsoft time very enjoyable and not feel like just a job.

This week also sees TechEd on the Gold Coast – and while I am there, we recorded the 100th episode of Frankly Speaking with my good friends Andrew Coates and Michael Kordahi, where I speak with the guys about my time at Microsoft. I had fun recording the session

I now have a chance to look around, smell the roses and find that next great job that isnt really a job which I can commit my heart and soul into, just like the last one.