New and interesting challenges
First of July I’m starting @ Microsoft Norway in the Developer Experience (DX) team. My official, on the paper, title is Technical Evangelist - which might sound scary enough. But in reality it’s a multifaceted position ranging from sure enough evangelism in the sense of talking about Microsoft products and promotoing these, to advisory for clients, community work, blogging and more. My particular role will be geared towards the cloud; Azure, but I will be sure to keep in touch with the entire stack - as I really love keep on top of things. I spend a lot of time in front of the computer both work and non-work related, so I’ll be sure to keep up.
I’ve worked closely with Microsoft since 2001, since 2008 I’ve been a Microsoft MVP and at times its felt like I’ve been an employee without having the privileges an employee has. So when my new boss said to me a couple of weeks ago; “Welcome home..” - that is the feeling I actually do have.
The timing for me is perfect, both on a personal level, professional level and seeing all the cool things that really excites me that is going on at Microsoft these days. I’m bursting with joy for how Microsoft has turned around and really looking forward to engage more in the coming years with this.
How does this impact other things. Well, I’ve had a company on and off since 1997 called Dolittle. At first as a way of picking up freelance work and the last few years more focused. I am closing down the company. Keeping the brand though, with domains and all, but putting it to sleep as a company. For other things, the opensource projects I’m involved in; Balder, Bifrost, Forseti and more. I’ll keep on working on them when I have a chance. Maybe not as focused as before, as I’ve had the pleasure and luxury of being able to maintain the projects at work for the last few years. They’ve been with me for years and are babies to me, so it would be hard to let them go. Besides, they serve a great purpose for me in keeping up with the whats going on the world of development. I am a developer after all and if I am to do a good job talking about it, I need to maintain my knowledge.
I’m super excited and honored to become a member of the team. Really looking forward to it.