Yesterday I was notified of my job being eliminated along with 799 of my colleagues, including my teammate and friend Woody Pewitt in San Diego.
I find it fitting that I make my way out in what looks to be the last wave of layoffs, the only one of such scale in Microsoft’s history. When I joined in June of 2001, I was part of the last wave of hiring before the dot-com bubble bursting took the wind out of technology’s sails for a while. Bookends pretty nicely for me.
(Side note: My hire date was the day when Microsoft’s stock hit it’s absolute highest… not the day you want the strike price set on your stock options. :)
Why me? Reallocation of resources to better align business priorities is what I’ve been told. My team (Developer & Platform Evangelism) has been increasing their focus on the Bay area in particular, and has been moving headcount there from other areas in the West. For example, two teammates in Phoenix (one of them my friend Rob Bagby) are leaving Microsoft on their own; both their spots have already been shifted to northern California. Portland (where I’m at) and San Diego (where Woody is) are not as much on their radar… I assume if our headcount still exists after the layoffs that it would be allocated in a similar fashion. Or the jobs might just be gone, I just don’t know at this point. (I do know they’re not hiring for these positions in the places where people have left.)
Being at Microsoft for the past 8 1/2 years has been a great experience for me and I’ve learned a lot, both as a development consultant but particularly in my later role as a developer evangelist. The position has felt to me like an entrepreneur in training; I had my own part of the business I was responsible for, and it was largely up to me how to accomplish my goals… but at the same time it’s not like the whole company would be going down the drain if I screwed up. :) My career, which had been purely technical up until that point, was now focused on people, relationships, and the challenges of engaging a very intelligent community that at times could be less than friendly (for good reason in some cases). I loved it.
So what’s next for me? I’m taking off the training wheels and going into business on my own. I will be providing training and contract dev work, plus nurturing a few crazy ideas on the side. I’ll announce more as soon as the dust settles. I was reluctant to do something like this in the past, but now I feel ready for the challenge. And thanks to the severance package I received, I can actually afford to do so!
In closing, I’d like to thank Microsoft for the best job I’ve had, and for enough runway to hopefully get the next one off the ground. They have been good to me and I wish my teammates and coworkers the best. They were always my favorite part about the job… do stay in touch, you know who you are. :)
me@jasonmauer.com