Thursday, September 4, 2008

Moving On

Today is my last day as a Technical Consultant with Compuware Corporation. I have enjoyed the almost 3 years I have spent with Compuware in Nashville. I had the opportunity to work with several companies and developers on a variety of applications. So a friendly farewell to Jerry Baker, Dan Dugger, Amy Boegh, Jeanne Waskiewicz, Austin Meibers and all the consultants who make Nashville hum. It's been great!

Where am I going?
Well, geographically I am staying put. I have taken a position with Telerik as a Developer Evangelist. Telerik is one of the leading 3rd party control vendors for ASP.NET, Windows Forms and more. I expect this to be an eye opening experience as I have never worked in the products sector. Even more, this is a totally different role from traditional development, so I expect some challenges.


How will this affect my community involvement?
I hope this move will serve to enhance my contribution to the community. I will have more opportunity to blog, speak and perhaps some more creative endeavors. Most important, Telerik recognizes that the devLink Technical Conference is an independent event and understands my desire for it to remain so. So other than my hope that they will be a regular sponsor, my ability to work on devLink will be unchanged.

What are you going to be doing?
The Developer Evangelist role is different for each company, but I can say that I will be doing at least the following:
  • Coding - Yes, I will still be coding. I have to stay current on the latest technologies and be up to speed with Telerik's controls. You cannot do that by reading books, well maybe you can, but I absorb more information through action.
  • Speaking - I will be speaking more than in the past. Now I can actually travel a little farther without spending my own money. My wife is happy about that one.
  • Blogging - I have tried to post more regularly lately anyway, but this will ensure that I am blogging on a consistent basis. I hope to share some of my experiences not only with Telerik, but also whatever technology I am working with at the time.

Of course, I am positive this is not all I will be doing. I will try to share more as I traverse my new role. I need to update my LinkedIn profile so that is enough for now.

6 comments:

JoeStagner said...

Congrats John - Telerik is an awesome company !!!!

Elijah Manor said...

You will be missed at Compuware. Best of luck at Telerik. Your new role sounds exciting!

Gabriel Sumner said...

Congrats John.

Louis Davidson said...

As an author, I definitely agree with: "You cannot do that by reading books, well maybe you can, but I absorb more information through action."

Best example of this is when people read about technology and take exams. Passing the test is one thing, actually figuring out what to do when things go wrong is where learning comes from. Heck, it is probably the most fun part about writing is solving the problems that come up when writing examples.

Best of luck in your new job

Cory Swindle said...

Good luck with your new job John! It really sounds like a great role for you! :)

Joe Webb said...

Congratulations, John! From the sounds of it, I think you'll excel at your new role.

Joe