This blog has been abandoned since I left Microsoft New Zealand in 2010 to pursue the pastorate by studying in Los Angeles at the Masters College and Seminary.

By old and abandoned, I mean no longer maintained.  Images will be missing, links may be broken.  This blog is provided “as is”. Apologies for the inconvenience.

If you want to stay in touch, I have a blog at http://da.rryl.me that I maintain.  You can also find me via the links in the post below.

Thanks for your interest in this blog and I hope that while it is still up you find it useful.

Just a quick note to say that after more than 5 1/2 years at Microsoft I’m moving on at the end of this year.

Working at Microsoft has been a blast – certainly the best employer I’ve ever had, and I’ll miss the great people here.  Wherever you go, you won’t find a better calibre of people – either professionally or personally.  Microsoft is a great place to work.

In my time I’ve been part of an award winning DPE (Developer and Platform Strategy) team, an award winning BMO (Business, Marketing and Operations) team and the international Microsoft subsidiary of the year.  Its hard to think you could work in a better place, with better people.

However, my path is changing, and not only am I leaving Microsoft, I’m also taking a bit of a departure from IT. In the new year I’ll be starting studies to change from IT to become a church pastor.

This isn’t a snap decision by any means.  I first considered this about 16 years ago, but the timing wasn’t quite right.  Its something I’ve reconsidered every few years since then, and now, after more than 15 years in IT the time is right to make the move.  So, next year we will start studies here in Wellington via distance learning, then mid year we expect to be moving to Los Angeles to attend seminary.

To all you out there, that I’ve enjoyed working with over the last few years, I’ll miss you all.  I hope you’ll stay in touch via facebook, linked in, twitter or email.  The NZ IT community rocks, and it has been a joy to work with you all!

I’ve also set up a page where I’ll be chronicling the journey from tech geek to Bible geek.  Feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed there or subscribe via email, posts will also be posted to twitter and facebook (dont you just love social spam?).

Officially my last day in the office is Christmas Eve.

*Update* Staying in the Wellington region for the first half of 2011.