They say 7 is a lucky number. I really wanted to wait until I could say 7, but I can’t.
So
x = (((23 – 1)(b) )-a)/b
Where a = the only even prime number and b = the smallest number with exactly six divisors.
This denotes the number of years with my current employer (Quick, somebody check my math :)).
At heart, my ultimate dream is to produce music and do soundtrack work and make a living doing that, but realistically, I have to have a backup plan 🙂
If my music desires never fully pan out and come to fruition, I have to ask myself:
“What would make me happy and at the end of the day provide me with the feeling that I accomplished something amazing!”
The whole reason I entered into the field I’m in is software development, and it’s something I’ve missed doing full time for a very long time. I don’t want to wait till I’m over the hill to wait for making such a dramatic career change. It’s not fair to my family or me. I’m not getting any younger, and I don’t want complacency to set in only to find out years later I did not accomplish in life what I wanted to.
Therefore, January 5th 2007 will be my last day of employment at Microsoft and Life 2.0 will begin. I have accepted a position as developer for Barracuda Tools, a division of English, Bleeker and Associates. You may know them as Mindsharp. Mindsharp specializes in Training and Education in SharePoint. I’ll be working for their tools division to develop value add in tools and technologies for SharePoint.
Yep, that’s right….Not too far away from my roots 🙂 I get the best of both worlds…continuing to utilize SharePoint, but following my passion of development full time against the platform.
I’m nervous and excited about my new opportunity, but I’m extremely pumped about the challenge.
Over the next few days, I’ll be migrating my technical posts from my MSDN blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/krichie to here. I’ll keep the majority of indieOpolis related music posts at http://blog.indieopolis.net, but this blog (http://blog.krichie.com) will be solely about me.
The upcoming week for me will be extremely busy and stressful, and I’m sure it will be very emotional too. I didn’t come to this decision lightly, and a ton of prayer and discussions with my wife occurred before I made the decision.
I hope that the followers of my blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/krichie will follow me along here. It’s going to be a fantastic ride!
– Keith Richie
Keith Richie 
Good luck with the new job Keith, and keep up the good work on the music.
good luck, and waiting to see some useful tools!
Holy crap! Leaving the mothership? Well, Todd and co. (or Bill and co.) are a great bunch and you’ll do well there. Awesome to see Barracuda resurrected and looking forward to new stuff from you.
Hey, just think a few months and you can become a MVP again 😉
Wish you all the best and loads of success in your future assignments 🙂 There is no doubt that I’ll be watching this space for your new postings.
Congrats Keith and welcome to the team!
Congrats and good luck!
Luis.
Wow! Gasp..shock..horror..and total admiration!
Follow your dreams and fulfill your ambitions Keith.. good on you..I wish you well.
Regards
Mike
God bless you on your journey through this life. I have always been and will continue to be a fan of your dreams becoming your realities as far as you are concerned.
You are a good spirit and with a beautiful soul. May your life continue bountiful.
Mike S.
Vita est Brevis, follow your dreams. A job is merely a means to pay the bills. Very rarely does one find a job that they truly love and enjoy!
Keep writing those Sharepoint utilities. And….. there is no such thing as too much T.D. 🙂
Wow! Congrats Keith.
tk
Hey there buddy! Sad to see you go! And I just got used to using KRS(Keith Richie Says) articles! Sorry to see you leave us and I bet many more people here at MS will miss you as well! Best wishes in life, I will keep an eye on you!
James
Congratulations, Keith.
Glad to see you following your dreams, wish you all the best in your new and exciting opportunity.
-Roger
Hey Keith,
You will be well missed…I wish you all the best.
Ur buddy Tom.
Congrats Keith!
-ssa
sharepointblogs.com/ssa
Congratulations Keith, and best of luck in your new venture.