On March 17th 2023, I announced that I have retired from Microsoft, and that after 20 amazing years in the US, we’re leaving and returning home to the UK!

This is a bittersweet moment:

On Leaving the US

We have enormously enjoyed meeting a multitude of amazing people from across the US and from all around the world - the Seattle area is an amazing multi-cultured melting pot.

We’ve enjoyed the staggering landscapes of the Pacific Northwest - from living at the base of Mt. Si in the foothills of the Cascade mountain range, to the scale and beauty of Mt. Rainier. From the the craggy Oregon and Washington coastline littered with beautiful coastal towns like Cannon Beach, to the incredible waterways and islands of the Puget Sound & San Juan Islands. Taking a boat-trip out into the sound and seeing pods of Orca in real life is truly awe-inspiring!

It has genuinely been an honor to have lived here. Thank you to EVERYONE we’ve met along the way.

The Lure of Home

But for many, us included, the desire to return to one’s country & culture of origin can grow quietly and somewhat unexpectedly over time.

When we first moved to the US, our kids were then 5 & 1 years old. They’re now both in their early/mid 20’s and have flown the nest, starting their lives as adults - an incredibly exciting time for them, and for us - and we don’t want to witness their experiences from afar. Similarly, other members of our family are traversing the twists and turns of life. Some are at the later stages of their journeys, and alas, for some, their journeys have ended - we’ve lost 3 close members of our family in the last 3 years alone! Being 5000 miles and at least 15 hours travelling away from one’s family who are in need of help and support is difficult, at best.

So, 2 years ago, we started investigating and planning for an eventual return home. We carefully considered & monitored our professional, personal, and financial situation:

  • We’re in a good place professionally - Clair had risen to a senior role at Tableau and had completed the final stages of merging her division into Salesforce, post-acquisition. I had just wrapped up a large project delivering Windows developers the platforms, tools, services, and devices they need to build Windows apps on and for Arm-powered devices. So we were both at the end of one phase, and considering what we do next
  • We’re in a good place financially - over the last 30+ years, we’ve worked REALLY hard, taken a few carefully considered risks but have saved and invested wisely, and are financially independent
  • We’re in a good place emotionally - we’re ready & keen to return to being closer to family and friends, and are ready for a new adventure and a change of pace
  • We found & bought our “forever-home” on the England-Wales border, in between Ross on Wye and Monmouth

And so, as our goals & plans coalesced, it emerged that now is the perfect time for us to return home to the UK, to enjoy being closer to our kids, family, friends, etc. and enjoy a significant change to our pace of life.

And before some of you point out, yes, the country we left 20+ years ago has changed quite a lot since, and yes, has its own share of issues and challenges, but we’re keen to be able to participate & contribute in our own small way.

On Leaving Microsoft

Making the decision to leave one’s place of work is rarely easy, especially when you’re doing well, having fun, and love working with the people around you.

This is DEFINITELY the case for me - choosing to leave Microsoft was difficult and is bittersweet!

While we’re excited for our new adventure in the UK, I am going to really miss working at Microsoft. The company has been such a major part of my life and career over the last 30+ years and since returning in March 2016 I’ve been having the best time of my career!

I’ve helped deliver Windows’ Subsystem for Linux (WSL), driven a major overhaul of Windows’ command-line, delivered Windows Terminal, and helped drive & deliver a wave of platforms, tools, services, and devices to enable developers to build apps & systems on and for Windows, just as easily as they can for x64 - and much more in between.

I honestly don’t know what I could have done next to top this! Therefore, I guess it’s good that I am leaving now - on a winning-streak 😜

THANK YOU, ALL!

But most importantly, I’ve worked with many genuinely amazing folks - colleagues who’ve leaned-in and helped, contributed, guided, mentored, advocated, supported, and allied when it wasn’t necessarily in their immediate best-interest to do so, and who’ve helped me in innumerable ways: I owe much to many and am eternally grateful to you all. THANK YOU!

And my thanks extends FAR beyond Microsoft, deep into our ecosystem of communities and partners. To everyone who’s discussed any of the above features/technologies with me on Twitter, GitHub, Reddit, Stack Overflow, email, in-person at events, and more, THANK YOU! Your feedback, your questions, your issues and asks have all been enormously valuable and shaped the features/products I worked on, and helped me improve as a person. THANK YOU ALL!

So, what’s next?

Since announcing my “retirement” I have been overwhelmed by the many wonderful messages of congratulations, support, and the most common question “what’s next?”

Good question!

I use the term “retirement” loosely as I have no immediate work-plans. Perhaps I’ll really enjoy being “retired”. Perhaps I’ll start something new? Perhaps I’ll want to throw myself into something that I am passionate aboute and that I feel I can deliver value to. Who knows? But that’s the benefit of being financially independent - it buys one flexibility, options, and most importantly, time.

I may even get time to blog more often, and about more varied and interesting subjects about which I am passionate - technology, software development, the environment, personal finance & investing, startups, business, etc.

Let me know in the comments below if you’d like me to write about anything in particular 😜