Today was my last day.
Microsoft was a great experience for me. Whatever it was, it was well worth it. I’m twice the engineer I was before I started my contract and if I had it to to over I would.
I’m eager to start my new job on Monday. It will be nice to be a hands on Admin once again. The best part is that it’s less than 5 miles from my house. Better on the gas tank and close to old friends.
I’m leaving my contract position at MS a little early. I found a FTE position at a company a few miles away from my home that made my decision to leave MS an easy one.
My last day will be June 15th.
I can not stress how much you learn contracting at MS. I learned more every two days than I ever learned in an MS class.
Contracting is not for everyone, and you need an extra thick skin to contract at MS.
Like all things ,you take the good with the bad . Given the chance to do it over I would do so in a heartbeat. Any network admin that has the means to do so and is really serious about kicking his or her knowledge into high gear should try to do a contract cycle at MS.
It is a humbling experience. Even the brightest superstars at a huge company will go to MS and have to work harder than he’s ever worked before just to be mediocre. The level of talent is that high. Before you know it though, you pick up skills and you start surprising yourself at the level you understand the products.
Anyway, being an orange badge / dash trash has its benefits and its down sides but I know I’m lightyears ahead of where I was before my contract started and it was worth it.
The good
http://www.wisebread.com/8-good-reasons-to-become-a-contractor
The bad
http://www.computersourcemag.com/articles/viewer.asp?a=780&z=26
http://www.computersourcemag.com/articles/viewer.asp?a=781&z=26
The new job is great. I work with a lot of very nice, very talented people.
Every day I learn more than I used to learned in months as a “day-to-day” network administrator.
This is a very exciting time for me and I’m happy to trade most of my free time for study and research in order to have my technical skills grow as much as they are now days.
It only took about a day at the new job for me to realize that everything I’ve ever been taught about network administration was only the tip of the iceberg.
After 5 years at my current job I’ve decided to venture into the unfamiliar, to challenge myself to something greater, to get out before the soul sapping power of my workplace leaves me a hollow shell of a human being.
Not that I don’t like it there of course.
You’ll never guess where I’ll be filling an open position.
