Moving On
As you probably know already, I’m leaving
Data Connection Metaswitch Microsoft after 32.5 years. No, I’m not retiring, unlikely some lazy folk; I’m off to a new job in central London, helping the UK by keeping my taxes rolling in, etc. Exciting times.
My official leaving drinks are on my last day, Thursday May 19th (Kings Head from 5pm) – but I also plan to hit the pub after work on Wednesday 18th (Crown and Horseshoes from 5pm if weather looks nice) – so please come along and see me off then if you can’t make Thursday – you may even get a free drink on me!
As a bonus, I hope (transport back from Isle of Wight permitting) to make an appearance at the Genotin Road opening (?!) party on 27th. Dancing might happen…
Testament of Andy
I thought about writing “A Complete History Of My Life And Times At DC/MSW/MSFT”, but I ran out of ink. So instead, here are some random highlights.
1989: As a young, slim, full-head-of-hair chap armed with a double first in advanced punting from Cambridge University, I landed a job at Data Connection. To stop HR getting bored before the MSFT takeover, I got them to send me my old personnel files, which prodded a few memories.
- My “sell” in my DC application form appears to be identical to what I recently sent out when job hunting. And my acceptance letter to Ian Ferguson includes this line: “I enjoyed talking to you and your associates and (in retrospect?) the interview process”. This makes me wonder if I have changed in any way at all over the last 30+ years. Ah well, if it ain’t broke…
- I started on a massive £13K salary. I think I paid off my huge £500 overdraft and bought a CD Walkman to celebrate. (Youngsters: that’s like Spotify, but with more plastic. Oh, and an overdraft is like a student loan but massively smaller and cheaper and less annoying).
- My rent in the company house was £40 / week. Mind you, at one point I did have to share a room with someone who had a sword; other housemates included someone Annoyingly Good At Sport; a practitioner of writing amusing notes about the heating controls on yellow stickies; and someone expert in making Tofu squeal in pain when cutting into it.
1990s: Quite a lot of fun.
- I realized that my current wife was The One when in a packed Leicester Square cinema - watching Total Recall, feat. Arnie - an excellent date movie BTW - the whole cinema heard her burst out laughing (LOL?) at the squelching noise made by a baddie running over the machine-gunned corpse of an innocent bystander on the escalators. Happy days.
- A number of company outings to Courcheval, Corsica, Corfu, Crete, (La )Manga, Monaco, Marbella and some places beginning with other letters. Featuring not-very-inclusive drinking, food, dancing, and assorted near-death sailing/skiing experiences. One time I took the helicopter from Nice to Monaco, “which was nice”.
- Ian Ferguson mentioned Capital Exit at least 3 times. Maybe more.
- I went to over to visit MSFT at some point. Here’s my entry badge
2000s + 2010s: Seriously, this really feels like just one decade to me now. How did that happen? Still, I do remember some more fun things.
- Barcelona – where our hotel room was so fancy that we couldn’t work out how to turn the lights on/off. Bit like the “switches” in Genotin Road?
- Rome – where Aunty Doreen disappointingly failed to get me an audience with the pope.
- Portugal – where I particularly enjoyed the “I wonder if everyone is still alive at the end” scuba trip.
- There was some work too. Something to do with phones and such like; and I ran a team doing something with pests and border control. Its all a bit vague.
2020s:
- I went into the office a lot. Where were you all?
Xmas 1989-Xmas 2019:
- Quite a lot of dancing. Who are the (Dad-)Dancers of the Future I wonder?
Random Numbers:
- According to my old GDPR-friendly DC Directory scrape, there will still be 28 pre-1990 Data Connection employees left at MSFT after I depart. Well done!
- I think I “managed” over 50 people over the years, of whom more than 30 are still at Microsoft, many now in high places. I always said I was a rung on the ladder of success…
And finally
- I will miss some of you a lot, quite a lot of you a bit, and will only cackle in glee at getting away from a very select few 😉
- It has been fun. Long may the “all in it together” spirit of the place continue!
- There is a possibility I may be seen frequenting the hostelries of Enfield for some years to come - please do say hello!
Have fun!
Andy
P.S. See https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-kilpatrick/ if you want to contact / stalk me 😊.