Grant Holliday

Last Friday I handed in my resignation from Readify, my last day is Friday 26th October. Readify has always done everything right by me and I’m not leaving because of anything that’s happened or happening in the company. I still consider them a top employer with some exceptionally talented people that are really on the (b)leading edge of .NET and Microsoft technologies.

I’ve been with them for two and a half years and I’ve been engaged with a wide variety of clients. I did a brief (intense) stint as the IT Manager before returning to consulting in August this year. (The good news is that I haven’t had a migraine since then.)

Why?

I left mainly for personal reasons. Life as a consultant can be lonely. Sure, you have a whole company of smart people at your fingertips via email/phone – but when you’re engaged with a client for extended periods of time, it’s easy to feel disconnected from your peers without the daily face-to-face time. The other reason is independence. Opportunities come and go, and without a level of independence that you control it’s hard to take advantage of them.

What are you going to do now?

I’m going off on my own as an independent TFS consultant. Initially I’ve taken a 12 month contract at a place in Canberra as a ‘TFS guru and build master‘ (you might remember them from the lock-note at TechEd).

Of all the TFS sites that I’ve spoken to, these guys are the only ones having significant frustrations. My goal is to make a difference. There’s also a great team forming with members from the Canberra VSTS community, so it’s a chance to interact socially as well as professionally.

Frequently asked questions

• Q: Is Readify suffering from growing too fast too quickly? A: No, I don’t think so. If anything, it’s not being able to grow fast enough.
• Q: What happens to Readify’s hosted TFS offering – TFS Now? A: Nothing at all – Readify still has top TFS consultants that will drive the product forward.
• Q: What happens to OzTFS and the Canberra VSTS User Group? A: I’ll still continue running these and being an active member of the wider VSTS community.
• Q: What happens to the Readify Bloggers OPML? A: It will be orphaned unless somebody puts their hand up to look after it.
• Q: Hey, why don’t you come and work for us? A: Sorry, not right now. Let the dust settle.
• Q: Didn’t you interview at Microsoft? A: Yes, back in July. Unfortunately I didn’t make it through the tech-screen. However my wife and I have decided to stay-put for at least 12 months before considering it again – it’s still something I want to do.

Is it the right decision?

At this stage, I don’t know – it may not be, but I hope it is. All I can do is give it my best shot and see what happens.

Thank you

Lastly I’d like to thank everybody that I’ve worked with during my time at Readify. This is not the end – it’s almost certain that we’ll cross paths again in this industry. Please keep in touch.