And With His Inbox Down to Just 4 Items, He Left

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After two years of running the Exchange MCM and MCA Programs I am moving on to something new.

The last two years have been exciting, challenging, and funny as can be at times, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I'm sure the role I'm moving on to do would never have been open to me had I not run the programs, and so all round it's been a great experience.

What am I most proud of? Lots of things, but those that come to mind as I type this are;

  • Meeting as many candidates and members of the MCM and MCA communities as I have been lucky enough to do. Meeting new people is great, particularly when they, for the most part, turn out to become great friends and acquaintances as so many have.
  • Teaching people something about that product that is Exchange Server. Exchange really does rock and being involved in teaching new skills, and certifying and sending out into the wordl skilled consultants and engineers to work on Exchange is a great feeling
  • Creating a new curriculum for Exchange 2010 - In the last 6 months we have updated all the content that needed updating, and in the last month delivered it for the first time. And it went great.
  • Moving to the US with my wife and children - Moving a family is a big deal, moving them to the other side of the planet is a very big deal, but we did (And Microsoft really helped so it wasn't like I carried it on my back or anything...) and we have settled in really well. I bought me a 5.4 L V8 vehicle, so I'm all set.
  • Landing a terrific job in the Exchange Product team and starting in my new office on exactly the day as I joined the company, 5 years on. Yes, today is my fifth anniversary and I find myself in Building 32, surrounded by the people that write and make Exchange happen.My new role is as a PM in the Customer Experience Team, dealing with customer and partner escalations, helping get feedback from our customers back in to the product, and re-writing the storage calculator so the answer is always 7. Nothing else, just 7. Unless you want Site Resilience. Then it's 14. It easy really, I don't know why Ross makes it all so hard.

Thanks to everyone that helped MCM become such a success along the way, and I know we will continue to work together in many ways.

By the time I finished this, my inbox filled up again with new stuff. Exciting stuff, so here we go then...