Thanks to those who reached out and expressed interest in me.  For the many emails on LinkedIn, for the calls that came in on the days following my blog post saying I was a free agent.  I know it’s a bit unorthodox to just say your last day is this Friday and expect the potential market to come to you, but that’s how it worked out this time.  I had a number of very engaging conversations mostly this time around about consulting and services.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 years since I left Microsoft and went out into the big lonely world to make connections with user groups all over the world and to leverage my experience to help connect people and build communities all over the world.

It’s worked out and mostly by design that I’ve really been able to see many sides to the Internet Ecosystem and especially as it relates to SharePoint.  Let me give you a recap of my career up to this point.  While 13 years in SharePoint may seem like I’ve let my skills go, I think it makes sense when you lay it out.

95-97 HTML Client Web Design, Training and Network/Desktop Management | Education

97-98 Server Side Development and Database Design | VAR (Netscape Oracle Sun Reseller)

98-99 Web Test, ALM N-Tiered Deployment and Tier 2 Web Support | Microsoft Contract

99-00 Web Server Administration, Web Application Engineering and Database Infrastructure | ISP/Hoster + Telecom

00-03 SharePoint Global Operations, Ops Management, and Engineering | Microsoft

04-05 Technologist, Architecture, Technical Writing | Microsoft

06-08 Product Management, Marketing, Social Media | Microsoft

08-10 Speaking, Social Media, Evangelism, Product Marketing | ISV

11-12 Management, Vision, Strategy, Enterprise | EPG Customer

13- Business and Solution Consulting, Speaking, Product Design, Marketing, Pre-Sales | SI Consulting

When I left Microsoft my biggest hopes were to really reach out to the customer and connect.  5 years later I have seen many sides to the software that Microsoft produces and it’s been a fascinating world.  On the partner side it was fascinating to see and understand the needs of where software could and needed to be enhanced.

Now in this new world I have a great opportunity to connect with small and large customers all over the world to understand their needs and put together frameworks and solutions that address these needs. 

In the company I’m joining, I will have a UI/UX team, a product team that can help me build SharePoint apps, a solution team that can build organization and business value frameworks and do work for hire, and finally a team focused exclusively on consulting needs of the customer.  My role is broad, and due to my diverse background, a bit complex and difficult to explain, because it’s across all of that and more…  I expect to have my hands in everything. 

What should my title be?  SharePoint Evangelist or Managing Director or Principal Consultant

Will I be traveling?

I’m doing the keynote at the SharePoint Summit in Quebec on Apr 15-17 next month!  Hope to see you there.

Yes, I will be doing as much global travel as I was in my last job.  I’m calling it now 4 big trips per year.  I fit in a couple in the in between time, and plans are to have 3 more this year.  Ultimately those trips are laying out like this…

• Northern South America – Sharing the Point Tour across Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Surinam, and more.
• Iberian SharePoint Conference (Spanish Speaking Spain) + Central Asia Community Building + Amsterdam Connections
• Slovenia + Community building in Equatorial Africa

You can see how my global connections are filling in based on the community building and outreach…  Would be interesting to line up SharePoint licensing and SharePoint communities to this map.

(Reach out on twitter @joeloleson or facebook if you are in one of these regions and can host us or want us to come to your area.  I’ll be posting the links to register once they are available)

I assume I’ll be doing more domestic events than I was in my last job, but my wife wants me home on more weekends, so that may mean less SharePoint Saturdays.

Will I be able to review designs, governance plans, and give guidance on mobile, upgrade and adoption strategies?  Big YES!!!

I’ll also continue working on this blog and the newly launched TechAds Network.  I’m starting my plans to upgrade the blog to Office365 and SharePoint 2013.  I’m partnering up some design friends.  More to come on that front.

Let’s call it the the slow reveal.  I’m giving my new company a chance to finish their website redesign, but I’ll be sharing those details about the company I’ve joined that’s a 100% SharePoint Consulting company based out of Bellevue, Washington very soon.