That's all folks... The end of (another) era

So that's it... It's my last day at Mando Group.

I've done my last presentation - on the Mando Common Platform, the development of which has effectively been the chronologue (is that the right term?) of my career here. ..

I've made the entire programming and support team be late back from my leaving lunch...

I've finished my exit interview with Ian Finch, making sure that everything is ready for my departure...

I've put the leaving cakes on the kitchen table - and watched the rush to get to the Black Forrest Gateaux...

and finally I am clearing my desk and my PC.

It's a strange day - I've made a big emotional investment in Mando, so part of me is a little sad, but I'm very much looking forward to the challenges I'll meet at In4Tek, so another part of me can't wait to get out of the door!

It's been a great couple of years, and I hope I've contributed to Mando's continuing success.

Th... Th.. Th... That's all folks!

Another day, another presentation

Well, that one went well! I've just finished giving a presentation on "Exception Handling and Logging in .Net" to the Mando programming department. A couple of the guys from Angel Solutions came over too, and seemed to enjoy the talk.

Of course, there was a little pressure to restructure so as not to have to rely on the background that the Mando guys have with the Mando Common Platform, but I think the presentation benefitted from it. Certainly it was a first for me to actually code hands-on in front of an audience!

I'm hoping that these presentations for Mando (and now Angel) will be the start of my raising my profile in the wider developer community. Am I ready to talk to the Manchester VBUG group yet? Not sure - but I do feel I'm getting closer! Maybe next time I won't forget the using statement when I use an external library!

Just as I'm leaving...

Just as I'm leaving Mando, Heidi finishes a characture of me! I'm going to use it on my profile, but you can see the full version here. How lifelike is that!