March 27, 2008
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11 years
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1859 hit(s)
On Monday, I had my 11-year anniversary at the Evil Empire. In the way of calendars, my first day as a so-called blue badge was also a Monday, which the newly hired get to spend at NEO -- new-employee orientation.[1]. AFAIK, there's no corresponding old-employee disorientation. You're on your own for that one.
 In DevDiv, aka Developer Division, the tradition is that on your anniversary, you bring a pound of M&Ms for each year you've been there. Fortunately for me, because Easter was on Sunday, on Monday morning there were terrific sales on pastel-colored M&Ms. (Also, on chocolate bunnies, yay.) I've had several bowls of different types of M&Ms outside my office for the last few days, replenishing them as the supply runs low. My cross-hall neighbor tells me that it's been a popular stop, and I've seen people slow down and scoop up a handful as they pass. Even so, it's a lotta lotta M&Ms, so it'll be a while before they're gone. And not a moment too soon, coz having that much candy that close at hand ... well, not so good for ye olde balanced diet.
I sent email around notifying my extended divisional brethren of their chance to score some M&Ms, and of course why, and got some nice emails back. One theme was "wow!", which I interpreted to mean "Wow, you've been here that long?" The time, she has flown, but I guess it's a respectable number of years to have stuck it out, so to speak. One of the newer writers asked whether I had absolute seniority on the ASP.NET documentation team, and after a minute of cogitation, I had to acknowledge that yes, I believe that I am indeed the old man of ASP.NET User Education.[2] Dang. I don't know how many people are officially on the ASP.NET team these days -- several hundred? -- but I do remember when the entire team would meet in a conference room. Not surprisingly, most of the people I worked with in the old days have either moved on or have moved into stratospheric levels of manangement, most notably Scott Guthrie, who was recently declared a VP.
I have a unique position on the documentation team, inasmuch as I'm an editor but I've been on the team longer than anyone, plus I used to be a writer on the team myself. I'm not a particularly smart guy, but even I, given many years' exposure to the product, have managed to pick up some information here and there about how ASP.NET works. The slow and modest but steady accretion of this knowledge can make me look, from the perspective of comparative newcomers, like I really know my stuff. Thus a lesson about the benefits of sheer persistence: given enough exposure to something, you will learn about it. A diluted version of the 10,000-hour theory.
I also got a slightly different reaction from a few people, along the lines of "Why are you still here?" From some POVs, it's a fair question; some people who started not terribly long before I did, or even after, are retired (or "retired"). If miniMSFT is to be believed, there's no shortage of opportunity out in the world. If I look down the length of the corporate ladder, I'm standing on, um, the bottom rung. Number of people reporting to me: zero.
Ah, but that's the thing: I'm having a great time. There's a sweet spot where your interests and your responsibilities and your expertise come together, and that's where I'm at. What's not to like?
I suppose that it's unlikely that this fortuitous co-incidence will last forever, maybe not even for all that long. But while it does, I'm quite happy where I am. Don't sign me up for another 11 years just yet, but I should be good for a while yet. :-)
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