In March of this year, I celebrated 10 years at Magenic. I blogged about it and called out values and reasons for staying (Ten Years and Counting …). Now, I am writing to talk about my departure from Magenic. I can start by saying the decision to leave was neither quick nor easy. As I noted in my previous post, I really liked working at Magenic and still have nothing bad to say about it.

So, let’s get on with it. As of Friday, October 3, 2014, I left Magenic and am starting a new opportunity at Pragmatic Works. It is only fair that I talk about my decision and some of the reasons behind it. In my March blog post, I focused on three areas that kept me at Magenic. For me to make the move I did, I had to see that these three areas must be covered by Pragmatic Works as well. So, being a research type of person, I asked friends who were currently employed at Pragmatic Works and, in particular, one consultant who had also worked at Magenic. Would Pragmatic Works measure up in Family, Opportunity, and Appreciation? Based on what I learned about it, yes. I think both companies provide much of what I look for in these three key areas. So, why the change? After taking some time off, I realized that I wanted to pursue more of Microsoft’s cutting edge BI, data, and cloud technologies. Magenic has always been a cutting edge company, but Microsoft was moving in directions that did not particularly align with what Magenic does in these areas. (For the record, Magenic’s pursuit of Microsoft’s cutting edge application development technologies is excellent.) This is where Pragmatic Works comes in. They do a lot of work with the latest advancements in Azure, Power BI, and SQL Server and which gives me more opportunities to work on those tools to deliver great customer solutions.

The interesting part for me about the entire process is that I truly think I would be happy at either company. With over 10 years of service and over 15 years of history with Magenic, I am sad to go. I have made many friends over the years and I truly enjoyed the opportunities I had to influence people and careers as a Practice Lead. I wish Magenic and the team that I left, only the best. Without Magenic, I would not be where I am today.

That being said, I joined Pragmatic Works because I believe that I will be able to say the same thing about them in 10-15 years.

Thanks to everyone at Magenic for all you have done and the friendships that have been made.

Pragmatic Works team, let’s get started. I am ready to open the next door of my career.