A Dutch Life

Since leaving Microsoft I have discovered that those on the outside actually have to buy their own phone (Shock! Horror!). This comes with two problems, one obvious, one less so.

1. I now have to pay for my own phone (and contract, but that is another post)
2. I now have to choose exactly which phone I want.

At Microsoft we were always supplied with standard issue HTC, and while the first Windows Mobile based models were a disaster, the more recent ones were actually pretty good. The last one I had looked like this:

It’s was a pretty good phone and with the slide out keyboard you could type emails and text message at impressive speed. The problem however was that you could not do any typing, like writing a text message, with just one hand.

Now I dont bring this up to brag, I’m sure a lot of people can text one handed (a lot fewer one handed, riding a bike, carrying 3 bags of groceries and having to ring’your bell to ensure a red bike riding tourist gets out thje way) and this of course is a very very useful thing to do. 

So, faced with having to buy my own I looked around at the “Blackberry” style which have a “full” QWERTY keyboard in miniture. I wanted to get the Blackjack after reading about Omars experience, but the battery life issues scared me off and I have not yet seen a commitment to upgrade them to Windows Mobile 6.

The store around the corner had an amazing deal on a Treo 750, and while not all reviews I found were glowing, there were some people who seemed really happy. I also found a statement from Palm which said they would be upgrading them to Windows Mobile 6. So I jumped, it looks like the picture just off to the right.

I have to say it feels pretty weird to own a Palm given their history, one which had them with their Palm Pilot locked in battle with Windows CE, but after a couple of weeks of use I’m really pleased with it. Sure it’s is a little bigger than a lot of phones this style, but the size is in a way convenient, fitting in your hand very nicely. The keys are superb, I’m very quickly up to a typing speed which is beyond the “Nope, this is just too frustrating” stage.

The battery life is not brilliant, but then again I do a lot of data “stuff” (will explain in a future post) and it still does the minimum which means it lasts a whole day. One thing that is clear is that unlike HTC, Palm has rounded a lot of the edges that you find in Windows Mobile by including their own software. Normally this would fill me with fear, but they have been really smart and subtle about it. Examples of this include the SMS Reader which groups your text messages, sent and received, by recipient. I never want to go back to the old folder based model!

You can also see their long experience with hardware shining through, its very easy and fast to go into flight mode, and switching the phone to silent is done via an actual switch, as in one that you move with your finger.

Palm has also just launched a blog, about time, should be interesting.

I will be heading to London on Saturday, have a flight that gets me into Heathrow at 11:35am. Lots of people to catch up with, thinking I’m just going to park myself in my beloved Notting Hill for the afternoon with the hope that I can catch up with as many people as possible. Suspect the plan will be the same on Sunday, I know, very predictable.

I’m flying out to Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. If you are around, would love to have you buy a poor unemployed beer lover a drink. Give me a call, mail me, or IM me.

My first really, really, really beautiful weekend in Amsterdam. Right now I’m sitting at my computer desk with my window open, watching a steady stream of boats file past. Spent yesterday on the banks of a canal with cheese, olives, wine and crackers. Today we rode around in the sun, in search of the perfect beach, failed, but the recovered with a nice cafe and cold beer.

The view from my apartment last night:

Apologies in advance for any sentimentality, I’m not usually one for it, suspect the view I have as I type, being my beautiful sun lit Amsterdam canal, is having an effect. <grin>

Microsoft has never been just a job for me, it has always been the place where I dreamed I would work. I have to admit that this does feel a little weird to say now, after 9 years and as a very serious 30 year old, but believe me, when I was a 19 year old kid without the stamina for studying at University, working at Microsoft really did qualify as a dream. I actually still have the letter I wrote to Microsoft when I was that 19 year old chasing his dream, it was addressed to Chris Kelliher (Microsoft Australia, GM) on September 10, 1995, and here is it’s opening sentence:

“I powered up my first PC 9 years ago at the age of 10. Naturally I was immediately introduced to the name Microsoft. It was at this exact moment that I chose my career path. I wanted to make a career out of technology, and I wanted to build that career at Microsoft.”

Despite a member of my clan (Elizabeth McPherson) replying to me from HR, I simply got one of those “we will keep you on file” letters, which was actually all the encouragement I needed! After a couple of pretty lucky turns I came across an advert from Microsoft in Adelaide’s Saturday paper, I still remember the feeling of excitement, “Microsoft in ADELAIDE!”. I wrote my application that morning, a letter I still have, and here are a couple of choice quotes (dated December 7^th, 1997):

“There are a number of factors that make me an ideal applicant for this position. A standout, and something that I cannot over emphasise, is my desire to be a part of Microsoft. This desire has existed since 1988, when I first turned on MS-DOS 3.3 and every move I have made since has been made with Microsoft in mind. Your advertisement asked if I was passionate about a career in IT, I’m passionate about a career with Microsoft in IT.”

“I cannot convey my excitement at the prospect of continuing my career with Microsoft. It would be there that I could progress unrestricted, full of confidence in the products and services I would represent. I feel that my ability to understand client needs, my desire for greater responsibility and commitment to excellence will make an invaluable addition to the Microsoft team.”

I really was quite enthusiastic! <grin> Lorrin Maughan called me soon after for a chat on the phone, I think at some stage it turned into an interview. She must have thought I had a nice phone voice as I was soon after in a meeting with Rick Clise, he must have liked my tie, because soon after that I was Adelaide’s first Microsoft intern, or T-Dash as they called me. As a result my dream came a whole lot closer. I often wonder what I might have done had Microsoft not come through, I was certainly going to be heading over here to Europe, but the opportunity to work with people like Mike Seyfang, Rick Clise, Chris Blake and Ian Brennan as closely as I did, when I did, was really my making.

Of course the internship was just a year, the next, and even more exciting step was getting that “blue badge”. This meant a move to Melbourne, and a huge step up. It was made possible by another amazing group of people including Steve Jackson and Ralph Garbers, both of whom really placed a lot of faith in me. I was actually only in the Melbourne office for 2 years but it looks much longer from here. There are too many people to name, but it was probably the most fun I had in my career, as evidenced by the mates whose houses I’m free to crash at whenever in town, even some 6 years later.

Getting to London involved taking Darren Strange out for beer every time I bumped into him at a conference. Not sure how big his tab got to before he finally managed to swing an opportunity for me. It was a pretty big call on his part, taking a young Australian SE/TS and looking to chisel him into a consultant. Of course Microsoft was incredibly supportive of the move, as they always have been, practically encouraging me to see the world at their expense. I underestimated both how hard moving country is and how hard consulting is, but guys like John Hooper and Maurice Magnier kept pulling me along. Of course I made more mates in the UK, many of whom will be drinking beer with me in Vegas in a couple of weeks for Jessica Grubers wedding.

MCS is hard folks, like really hard. It’s one of those things I never really felt natural at. It is certainly good for you though, and for me, 3 years of goodness was enough for a lifetime, so I moved into support. It also completed the software “Circle of Life”, pre-sales to consulting to support. It came with a great title “Rapid Response Engineer” and was a great role, I traveled to countries I never thought I’d see, including Lebanon, Israel, Estonia, Oman and Saudi Arabia, over 100 trips in just over 2 years. Simply awesome. Then life got in the way. I had originally planned to leave Microsoft about now anyway, heading back to Australia, instead I met Petra. Moving to Holland has been a great decision, moving back to MCS, for me, was not. Despite the great team here, the fantastic customer projects, my heart just wasn’t in it.

In the words of Steve Ballmer “I love this company”. I’m leaving purely for a change. Microsoft is still the only place I could ever imagine working and I’d never say I won’t be back, in fact I almost hope that one day I will get the opportunity again. Of course I’m not sure that even I could be that lucky. One of the problems with getting your dream job so young is that you don’t get the chance to try anything else. I’m leaving now, while I still can (really, I’m getting old!), to try other things, just to see if there is anything else out there that I just might be good at. I’m keeping an open mind, there are certainly no guarantees, but I’m going to play around in the web arena, consumer facing, I have some ideas. I’m also going to look at my options around starting my own consulting business. Of course more than all this, I’m going to relax, going to read, going to ride my bike, grow tulips and spend just a little less time in my inbox.

Anyway, I have had just the most amazing 9 years, thanks for everything, see you soon,

Daniel McPherson
Senior Consultant
Microsoft Consulting Services, Netherlands
Email: danmc@microsoft.com
Blog: http://www.point2share.com