It feels like a sprint, not a journey

As I sit here at SeaTac, thinking about what I have to get done this week while in the air and on the road, the thought popped into my head “yes, but remember that it’s a journey, not a race.” Unfortunately for many of us, the journey is a series of sprints. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. I rather enjoy my job, I have a great team, I work in a fantastic corporate culture where people are able to share ideas, and where an individual can take an idea that they are passionate about and run with it. I’m speaking more on the fast pace of the SharePoint space in general, and how the growth and adoption is driving all of us at break-neck speed.

My advice to anyone in college thinking about careers in computer science, information systems, or even business management – learn SharePoint. The common thread across every vendor and integrator I speak with is that – simply put – they cannot find enough people fast enough to keep up with the pace of demand for their products or services. There is no recession in the SharePoint space, only growth. So for those of us who have been in the SharePoint space for a few years, the workload is heavy right now. And that’s a good thing. Having run my own companies, I have seen feast and famine. I prefer the feast.

On this sprint, you’ll find me presenting at SharePointFest Chicago tomorrow (July 27th) in a vendor track, discussing Administration (ControlPoint) and Migration (Davinci and FileLoader). From there, I am heading to SharePoint Saturday New York (7/30), where I’ll be presenting twice: first, my session ‘Mastering SharePoint Migration Planning,’ which is geared toward PMs, Business Analysts, and the Admins and developers who need to know more about planning (whitepaper coming any day now), followed by a vendor session on governance best practices using ControlPoint. Looking forward to both events, followed by 2 days at home before the next sprint. Good times.