I am no longer just a SQLskills Insider, I am now a SQLskills employee. I have accepted an offer to join an incredible team of SQL Server professionals and continue growing in my SQL career.  I am very excited to be working with some of the best in the industry and a bit nervous to leave a job I have had for the past 17 years.

I started with my current day job employer 17 years ago and have served numerous roles there. Working for this employer has been good for me. I have grown so much in my IT career, had the opportunity to attend lots of good training, travel, and work with state of the art technology, lead teams of technical people, manage multiple teams of technical people and meet the woman who became my wife. It has been a good ride, however I love working with SQL server and have found the only way for me to really continue increasing that skill set is consulting.

I am super blessed to have been a part of Linchpin People for the past 2 1/2 years. During that time I have been able to work with an awesome team and be able to work with numerous customers helping to solve their SQL related issues. In working with Linchpin People I grew to love being able to work in various environments and help people with complex issues.

I have shared with friends for years that the next logical move for me would be full time consulting. The past two years has solidified that for me. I have been asked by so many people over the past few years why I am still at my day job. Honestly, the place is a good place to work, during my employment for several years we were listed on Forbes top places to work. In 1998 we were listed as #1. When people would make those comments I would joke and list out the attributes of what the job would have to consist of to get me to leave. Well, I am leaving so you can safely assume that my dream job found me.

As luck, fate, destiny (chose your word) would have it, I ran into Paul Randal at a social event and we started catching up on the past year. During the conversation Paul said some things, I said some things and after some follow up conversations I was accepting an offer to become a SQLskills employee. <how awesome is that>

It will be sad to be leaving behind friends at my day job and to be leaving Linchpin People, however I have not been able to wipe the smile off of my face to be having the opportunity to live out a dream of becoming a full time consultant and taking my skill set to the next level.

I would like to thank Andy Leonard, Brian Moran and Mike Walsh for all their support over the past few years. Their love, support and mentoring has helped me grow into who I am today.

Read Paul Randal’s post announcing it here.