The rumors are all true. May 19, 2008 will be my first official day as an employee of Microsoft. Specifically, I will be joining the Visual Studio Team as a Program Manager.

This month marks five years since I joined the (then) fledgling CodeRush team at DevExpress as an outside contractor. (I later became a full employee in September of 2003.) The years seem to have passed quickly, yet we've accomplished an incredible amount with CodeRush and Refactor. It feels like just yesterday when Mark and I were doing our first proof of concept work for painting via managed code on the decidedly unmanaged Visual Studio editor. Yet today, we're shipping products with blazingly fast productivity boosts, more than 150 refactorings, and stunning next-generation UI. After five years, I still feel that CodeRush and Refactor are, hands down, the best Visual Studio productivity tools available.

I'm leaving quite a bit behind to join Microsoft. DevExpress is an amazing company to work for. If any readers are looking to work for a cutting-edge company at the top of its game, I recommend applying. At DevExpress, I've developed some strong friendships that are difficult to leave. Obviously, we'll keep in touch and see each other at conferences, but we won't be working together anymore. Ray, Julian, Kevin, Oliver, Courtney and Mehul will be greatly missed.

I'll especially miss working with the IDE Tools team (a few members of which are pictured below). Contrary to popular belief, Mark and I don't make up the entire IDE Tools team. In reality, it is staffed by some extraordinarily intelligent programmers—all of whom have been blessed with the ability to deal with Mark and myself.

One couldn't find a more talented group of people.

But scarecrow, I'll miss you most of all¹.

Regardless of the garlic (viewable in the picture above) that you constantly hang over yourself to ward off vampires, the last five years have been the most enriching of my programming career. To say that "I've learned a lot" is a gross understatement. You truly are a visionary and an inspiring person to work for (with). From you, I've learned that presumed impossibility should never be a barrier to invention.

As much as I love DevExpress, it's time for a change. The company is in a really healthy place, and my leaving should cause minimal ripples. I think that I have a lot to offer in the IDE space at Microsoft, and it's a good time to move on.

In addition to leaving my current job, I will be moving to Seattle. For the next several months, my family and I will be going through the stresses of relocation. Is anyone interested in purchasing a charming two story, brick, four bedroom home in Toledo, Ohio?

¹Hillary Flammond, Top Secret!