After about 3 months, I am set to rejoin the ranks of full-time employment.  I have agreed to become the Product Development Manager - Hardware and Devices at a great company that creates Electronic Medical Records software and integrates lightweight medical devices with various hardware components like tablet PC's as well as various software components like charting software.  I will be responsible for owning the hardware and device development process, which means I will drive out the requirements from our internal clients and work with our hardware and procurement teams to deliver the solution.  Technically, I will be developing the integration points between the devices and the various components.  So, it is really a good marriage between my technical background and my business background.  This is something that I have been patiently hoping to find and am very blessed to be joining the incredible team there, including Rich Steinle, who hired me, and Tony Dicuffa, who I have worked with in the past.

My first day will be the first of May.  The only downside is that the office is located in the Arboretum area so I will be joining those who battle Mopac every day.  I am hoping to work out a schedule that will allow me to come in early or later so as to avoid the mad rush hour. 

There's much more I could write but I'll stop for now.  Next week, I will be tackling a long list of "stuff" that I'd like to get done before I start working again.  One of them will be reflecting over the past few months and might include a blog entry or two. 

I don't have much time to give the details right now but....I got a job!!!

The job has been going well so far. Adjusting to programming in .NET has been a bigger adjustment than I was expecting, mainly because I have come in halfway through the project so I am building on top of what others have been working on for the past few months. So, not only am I having to learn the new technology but I'm having to get used to some others' styles of coding. That's part of it though. It's great to be working with a great project team for a really good (small) company.

I did make the mistake one night of calling Jan, my wife who happens to be the office manager and does most of the HR stuff, "mean HR lady." She was bugging me to get her my insurance information and I've been dragging my feet admittedly. She didn't take the joke like I meant it. :) So now, I refer to her as "nice HR lady," because she takes care of my benefits...if you know what I mean.

I got a new job!  I am starting as a senior developer next week at Duration Software, which is a small consulting company here in Austin.  It also happens to be the same company that my wife Jan works at as the office manager.  For the first year at least, I will be working on a .NET project at TxDOT.

After working two years at Guaranty, I feel like this is a good time for a change.  It will be a welcomed challenge to dive into more of the .NET world in something that will be a bit more in-depth than the stuff I've been doing.  I start next Wednesday.