It’s unexpected for two reasons. First, they approached me. Second, and perhaps more surprisingly, because they’re a predominantly Microsoft shop. I’ve spent the bulk of my career working with anything but Microsoft languages and technologies. Now, I’ll be diving head first into the world of Windows, C#, ASP.NET and SQL Server. While my historical emphasis on non-Microsoft technologies has been deliberate, I’ve never considered myself a technology bigot. In this case, the opportunity to work with for a strong, growing, locally-headquartered company doing interesting work that is close to my heart is more valuable than any sense of technical religious purity. Plus, after spending 2+ years writing more ColdFusion than I had ever dreamed of, working in C# should be a downright pleasure.

That is not to say that I’ll be abandoning my LAMP-ish roots. I’ve still got plenty of side projects to work on using Java, Python, PHP, etc.

The other consequence of this decision is that my available time for freelance work going forward will be significantly reduced (I’ll be updating this website accordingly in the coming days). That said, I’ve traditionally taken on side projects and I expect to continue that tradition.