I'm very happy to announce that I'll be joining Infragistics soon. Officially, my first day will be May 15th; however, I'll be going to the Alabama Code Camp to represent them next weekend (4/22). If you're in the Huntsville area, you should definitely check it out; there are tons of great speakers and sessions lined up. (Mine's not up there yet as it is still undecided which of the ones I submitted I'll be doing.)
Anyhoo, I'll be working for Infragistics as their Codemunicator, a title that they let me coin because the position is kind of a blend of things. Codemunicator is a portmanteau, as you might guess, from "code" and "communicator." It sounds like it'll be a lot of fun; I'll get to do a number of things that I enjoy--writing, designing, coding, and even the occasional speaking from what I hear. And I'll get to work with great guys like Jason Beres (noted author and INETA speaker), Devin Rader (also noted author and ASPInsider), and others whom I've had the pleasure to meet.
Plus, some other really cool peeps are not far away, like DonXML (MVP and XML extraordinaire), Scott Watermasysk (Mr. .Text himself, ASPInsider, MVP, etc.), Doug Reilly (author, ASPInsider, MVP, etc.), Terri Morton (author, ASPInsider, MVP, etc.), DotNetDude (author, INETA speaker, MVP, etc., though I hear rumors of his not being long for the area), and I'm sure I'm not aware of or forgetting others and/or not getting all of the accolades right (that's my official apology if that's the case). So all I'm saying is it's a really cool area for .NET experts and ubergeeks. :) Hopefully we can all get together occasionally for dotNetMoots of some kind.
Of course, this change in employment constitutes a change in locale for me and my family. We'll be moving from sunny Tampa, FL up to Princeton, NJ (right near East Windsor, home of Infragistics HQ). I'm sure a lot of folks think such a move is crazy, but the wife and I are not especially keen on the six-month summers down here in Tampa. We both grew up in cooler climes that have all four seasons, so we're actually looking forward to having them again. That's not to say that the Tampa area doesn't have lots to recommend it, most notably family, friends, and mild winters, but we still feel this is the right move for us.
We've heard a lot of good stuff about the area we'll be in, both from folks who live there now and who lived there in the past. Apparently, the whole "armpit of the US" epithet only applies to the Newark/Elizabeth area (in the NE near NYC), and having flown into and out of Newark and driven by Elizabeth, I can believe that. (No offense to anyone who lives there and likes it!) But central NJ is actually quite nice from what we saw when we toured the area a bit and from what we've heard. It's about an hour by train from NYC and Philly, not far from some mountains in Pennsylvania, and not far from the beach and Atlantic City, so we're actually looking forward to it a lot.
All in all, we're pretty psyched about the move, and I'm especially juiced about going to work for a great commercial software company like Infragistics. They still have openings, so if you think any of them sound interesting, let me know. I'd love to have more good people come on to work with us. If any geeks or ubergeeks live in the area and read my blog that I don't know about, give me a shout out. I'll be helping Jason Beres et al pump up the NJDOTNET user group, so join and come if you're in the area. You WILL join and come! <waves hand using Jedi mind trick>
TTFN!