Well, the big news that has been keeping me awake at nights is that last Friday I resigned from Edenbrook. I didn't want to post anything about the change until I get some feedback from the powers that be - the last thing I really wanted is for my bosses to learn that I've resigned from my blog. That's almost as bad I think as resigning by phone text message. There's been complete silence from them though, which is strange, and it has been confirmed that they got it, so now I can speak.
I'm sad to be leaving Edenbrook, but it was coming and they knew it. It's all part of my family's move back to the US in the New Year and you regular readers will know that I mentioned that a long time back. We're still waiting for an official date to have my visa issued but have been told it should be within the next 2 to 3 weeks. In the meantime though the stars and planets aligned and my new company (as in the company I own) has landed an opportunity with it's first customer doing just the sort of things I always wanted it to do: SOA and eXtreme Programming. Better yet, it landed this opportunity with an English company with US Offices. This is a great opportunity for me to get the comapny moving, and to move into two fields that I'm passionate about. Better yet, with the US Dollar as weak as it is, it's a fantastic opportunity to get a nice strong financial foundation under my family to kick us off when we do make the move.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and conversely there are pretty nasty downsides to even the brightest scenario. In my case the big downside is that Heather and Ethan will be leaving the UK first and I'll remain to finish up the contract until July. The best case, which is also the worse, is that I get 5 months here alone with no family around me except for my dad and no time for anything outside of work given the long hours I'll be doing on the job and of course on the books I'm working on. Still, it's for a very good cause and I just have to keep focussed on the future. Strangely enough we'd worked out that I would probably fly to the US (providing the visa works out) on July 18th. My good friend Joanne Rowling then very kindly announced that she'd see to it that I'd have reading material on the long flight over, and will release the next Harry Potter book two days before I leave - so it's all good.
As for Edenbrook, as I said it will be sad to leave. This is the longest role I've stayed in since 1992 and I've had the opportunity to meet and work with some good people. Looking back there were areas that I wish I could have achieved more in, but the pressures within a small consultancy will always tend to push those areas that generate cash in the short term and so I've had to focus on those things when asked. I've also learned a huge amount from working with them, and in fact from working with Avanade. Together Edenbrook and Avanade pretty much represent my first ever foray into the world of proffessional IT consulting. It will also be my last. Don't get me wrong, neither company did such a bad job that I now despise the word consultant. On the contrary, Edenbrook in particular really defined just what consulting is all about for me; demonstrating technical excellence and delivering on it. But, I can't say I ever truly bought into the whole "We are going to ship you here so that you can earn us this HUGE amount of cash per day while we pay you less than a small fraction of it, but aint it cool that we're all working together to make a better company" career pitch. It's just not me.
Anyways, here's to the future. A future where, hopefully, Code Shapers (that's the company name, at last I can publish that at least - no website yet, bear with me) can teach the naysayers that there is a lot more to SOA than just calling Web Services, that contract communication is the future, and that eXtreme Programming is definately the best way of getting there.
10:18:01 AM 
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