Home is where the heart is

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Over the last six years,  a lot has happened in my life and it's taught me a 3 simple things.

1.  True friends and your family are worth their weight in gold,  never take them for granted

2.  Enjoy life as you never know what's going to happen.  Don't worry about what could happen,  live about what IS happening!

3.  At work,  do what you love and that well being will flow into the rest of your life

When I think back on my career over the years,  my best times have been those where I am doing a job I enjoy with friends I have the fortune to also work with.  In all of my jobs this has been the case at some point,  but the place I felt this the most was my time at Microsoft.  Even when I have visited Microsoft campus since leaving in 2009,  the place always seemed alive and changing all the time,  and over the past four years the company itself has started on a transition to devices and services from its traditional business of software.  It's a change long over due but this itself got me thinking.

Anyone who has had a quick read of my blog will know that after being a Microsoftie for a number of years,  I embraced the  world outside of Microsoft and dived right into the Apple ecosystem,   a refreshing change from a world of Microsoft and enjoyed it for many years.   A year or so ago however came Windows 8,  an opportunity to play with a Windows 8 phone,  the iPhone 5 and an impulse buy of a Microsoft Surface.  It all changed from there.  Around the same time, the XBOX One was announced and some elements were so radical that it was too much for some gamers to accept,  Windows Phone is gaining market share and although its not anywhere near Android,  its gained 3rd place.  Office 365 and other cloud apps are selling really well and changing the way Microsoft and its partners work. Finally there is Surface,  a device that might not fly off the shelves but shows me one thing,  Microsoft is once again taking risks and challenge the norm or 'die trying'.  That's the Microsoft I loved working for!

Today I start my first day back at Microsoft,  working for the company I respect,  working with people I can relate to, doing a job that from what I know so far I will love.   As I write this,  I feel the same excitement as I did when I started Microsoft in 2001.

'Change the world or go home' Hugh MacLeod once wrote.  Microsoft is one of the places I think I have the best chance of doing just that!