I've Changed Teams... And Jobs!

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So this Wednesday just passed I started my new job with the Windows Azure (formerly known as Red Dog) team.

"You've changed jobs already!?" I hear you mumble. Well... yes. Let me explain'afy (can we still use Bush'isms?).

So I used to be in the .NET Services team, in the role of Senior Product Manager. Product Management at Microsoft sits inside of the Marketing discipline, and is focused on telling the story of a product and supporting the sales process through messaging, positioning, etc, amongst other things (see the link to the Microsoft career site above).

However, my background has always been in development; I started my career as a software engineer, and moved through the design ranks into Architect roles, and then into Team Lead and Management roles. When I first started looking at opportunities in Redmond, I didn't really pay much attention to the titles, and as I had worked as a "Product Manager" in previous jobs where the responsibilities were purely product engineering related, so I put 2 and 2 together... and kind of ended up with 3. But we had a bunch of work to do leading up to PDC, so I dug in for the ride and must say, had a great time being part of the whole PDC/Azure Services Platform announce experience.

But as is the absolutely wonderful aspect of career growth at Microsoft, if you're not in a role that suits your skills and passions, you're free to move, any place, any time. So that's what I did.

So I did a lot of soul searching, and realized that the opportunity to work on Microsoft's cloud operating system, with some of the most amazing engineers and thinkers of our time, was just too good to pass up.

My new role as a Senior Program Manager will enable me to focus my efforts on how we design and deliver new versions of Windows Azure, ensuring our development efforts meet our customers' requirements. I'm already loving my new job, spending time with our Architects and Developers, going deep into how Windows Azure is built, from the hand rolled version of Windows 2008, to the Fabric Controller and Storage systems, to even seeing how we code and build an operating system environment!

I'll make sure I keep a good journal of interesting experiences through the eyes of a geek in coding wonderland on my blog. ;)

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