I know things have been suspiciously quiet here for a while now. That was because the biggest news going on in my life was something I wasn't able to talk about publicly... I left Dell!

After almost 7½ years working in and around Dell.com, I finally decided it was time for a new set of challenges. There was a time a few years back when Dell was an extremely dynamic, very goal-oriented place to work, which suited me just fine. But Dell has doubled in size since I joined, and while there was a time when I got to work on a range of problems, there are now enough people to cover all the bases, so my job focus became narrower and narrower.

As someone who is very driven in his career, this seemed like a slow death to me - to coin the old phrase "knowing more and more about less and less". I did't see how I could grow my career that way, so I decided it was time to move on.

My new job is a total 180 from all of the limitations of my position at Dell. I am now a Principal Consultant at Neudesic, a Microsoft Gold Certified & Managed Partner headquartered Southern California. I am currently based out of Irvine CA, though we will be moving to Phoenix around mid-year, which will be my permanent post. In my new role I am working with a number of Neudesic's clients in the area, helping them with their existing Microsoft-based solutions, or helping them define and build new ones, particularly as they relate to ASP.NET and WinForms techologies, but also covering best practises around use of generics and other .NET 2.0 features.

The past 6 weeks have been mayhem at Chez Saxon, getting the house cleaned up and cleared out ready to go on the market. We already found a buyer and signed the contract last week - its amazing how everything has aligned all along the way.

While I am sad to be leaving Dell behind, I am leaving Dell.com in the hands of a really strong team. I know you guys will continue to do things that blow me away!

And if you are in the SoCal or Phoenix area or even beyond, and are looking for help to plan, design, develop, deploy or extend a Microsoft solution, be it BizTalk, WCF (Indigo), Microsoft CRM, ASP.NET/WinForms, SQL Server/Analysis/Reporting ... whatever it is, Neudesic can help. We have some of the best folks in the business in the Microsoft technology space. And me :)

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8 Comments:

Stoopid Dell... Lemme know when you go to Venice Beach and put on your skates...maybe i can check you out on their webcam. Enjoy! from Mr. Hines
	By Anonymous, at 1/19/2006 6:54 PM
Change is good, embrace change...life moves on and other such inspirational crap ;)
	By Rich, at 1/19/2006 8:18 PM
Just heard Steve, hope this move ends up being a good one for you.
	By Demetry, at 1/20/2006 2:46 PM
Steve-0 you need to detail for me just how sweet is was to leave them hanging high and dry, the shock and surprise, the sweet sweet vengeance for the Matt and Randied among us! Mr. Hiñes
	By Anonymous, at 1/22/2006 12:16 AM
Best of luck!
	By John, at 1/22/2006 4:06 PM
Ex-FlxMaster: Well, I do not work with you or talk to you ever, so I feel akward (not really) wishing you the best and all... I guess I always counted on you (and everyone else) just sorta being where I left you, so that that memory could stay preserved unchanged, if that makes any sense. Mmmh... good luck with everything. By the way, I figured out a lot of stuff you were talking about - and it required absolutely no work... I just learned to let things be and role with it. The head finally incubated everything it had been churning on and allowed me to see me. And I am digging my consulting job more than ever. The change and the people are really good - and fun. :) Thanks Steve. - Bobby
	By Anonymous, at 1/23/2006 6:21 PM
*sniff* Very happy for you bloke but we miss you. Coffee will never be the same again. Even the coffee shop girls have asked where you are. :P Will come visit soon. :)
	By Melissa, at 1/27/2006 10:03 AM
Rock on! JZ
	By Anonymous, at 2/01/2006 9:30 PM

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