In case anyone doesn’t know, I’ve changed employers and career! Short version: I left Microsoft (who previously acquired Metaswitch) and now work for Ourea Events. Long version: read on…
25 years in software engineering
Half a lifetime ago in 1998 I joined Data Connection as a graduate software developer. At the time it was a company of just over 100 employees. In 2009 it rebranded as Metaswitch Networks. In 2020 we were acquired by Microsoft (by then we were about 850 employees swallowed by a 250,000 multi-national behemoth).
I’ve spent over 25-years in many roles: software engineer, engineering manager, software architect, product manager, and most recently technical program manager at Microsoft – all without another job interview! I feel immensely proud – and also privileged – to have had the opportunity to work for these companies, and alongside some fantastic people. I was particularly lucky with job security through Covid when I know many others struggled.
Time for change
Then this summer Microsoft decided the business resulting from the acquisition wasn’t working out and decided to stop development on several new services we’d been working on (like Azure Operator Insights which I’d helped bring to market). I along with several hundred colleagues were informed our roles were at risk of redundancy, which was confirmed after a 45 day consultation period.
I saw many different reactions to this news. Lots of shock, denial and anger. Gradual acceptance. Like the stages of dealing with grief. Since then I’ve seen dozens of great colleagues employ a growth mindset, land on their feet, and find new employment in a wide variety of roles and companies.
I have various feelings myself about how it came to this. In theory the acquisition made sense. Our companies shared values of caring for and investing in employees, with strong technology innovation, and the telecommunications industry was poised for a shift to the cloud.
However, firstly, telecommunications is a highly regulated and in general slow moving industry and we failed to sell enough operators on the move to the cloud and Microsoft’s AI-powered vision. Secondly, integrating acquired companies turns out to be extremely complicated and distracts from new product development and innovation. Lastly, I think we didn’t help ourselves. Metaswitch had an amazingly tight culture with very high retention / low employee turnover for the industry. Great traits in some respects, but I think some people clung too closely to that (small wonder, as many like myself hadn’t known anything else since graduating!) and struggled to accept and fully integrate into a new company when we were acquired. The people, processes, and ways of doing things. I saw resistance to change manifest itself in many ways (including fully embracing new hires from a period of growth soon after acquisition). Some advice that I heard from a colleague is to treat acquisition as if you actually left your old company and joined a new one – wise words in hindsight.
(Note: the above views are entirely my own.)
For me personally I had some hints something was coming, so it wasn’t a complete surprise (although the day we were officially told our roles were at risk was one of the most surreal). It was surprisingly refreshing. 25 years in any industry is a great innings, and I was already wondering whether I wanted to spend another decade or more in the same industry, working in front of a computer most of my days (when not overloaded with meeting requests), and in a company with a very demanding performance culture. The consultation period and subsequent notice period on garden leave gave me plenty of time to reflect (as well as finish various jobs around our new home…).
Ourea Events
When this was all on the horizon I went on a run with my great friend and mountain marathon partner, Shane Ohly. I’d shared that my role at Microsoft was at risk of redundancy, and he’d talked about where his business – Ourea Events – was at and his future plans and aspirations. A month later we went for another run in the Howgills, which turned into an informal 3 hour job interview! He had someone else leaving, there was a gap for someone with my skills, and I was super excited by the prospect of working together.
And so at the end of August I joined Ourea Events as Business Manager. That has me involved in most things that aren’t event operations themselves: business processes, strategic partnerships, contracts, HR, IT and also managing those handling finance, marketing and customer support.
The first 100 days
It was in at the deep end. Three days in the office with induction and handover, then straight to the Dragon’s Back Race. This was a fantastic opportunity – I hadn’t been there long enough to have any individual responsibility, so was lucky to rotate round many different parts of the event – seeing site operations, race control, catering, support points, info point, camp team. I was blown away by the level of equipment, logistics and planning that goes into professionally organised races such as this – a far cry from even the biggest UK orienteering events I’ve known.
Since then it has remained busy, particularly as we prepare to grow in 2025. We have the return of the iconic Skyline Scotland at the new Nevis Range, and recently launched the SheRACES Trail Series (the UK’s first female-only trail running series) and Tea & Trails Ultra. Meanwhile we are offering the same professional medical and response services that we enjoy at our own events to other event organisers under the Shelter Stone brand. This is all alongside maintaining exceptional standards in the rest of our portfolio of races: Cape Wrath Ultra, Northern / Lakes / Dales / Moors Traverse, Great Lakeland 3day, Buttermere Skyline and Kendal Mountain Festival trail run and ultra.
In 2007 when we first moved to Durham I started working from home (before it was really a “thing”!) with weekly trips to HQ in London. Even for 18 months while we lived in Paris I was getting the Eurostar most weeks! That ramped down after Covid to a couple of days every couple of months. But now at Ourea Events I’ve come full circle, and I’m back working in our small office just outside Kendal. Initially I was apprehensive about this, but found I really enjoy the office environment and working closely alongside my great friends and colleagues.
I’ve also gone down to 4 days a week which I highly recommend! It isn’t so much 4 vs. 5 days working, but the fact the weekend is 50% longer!
2025 is going to be a busy year. New races. New partnerships. Continually striving to set the standard for professional event organisation, staging iconic races and delivering outstanding participant experiences. Super excited.
Final thoughts
I want to thank to the 100s of fantastic people I’ve worked at in Metaswitch and Microsoft. Some amazingly talented people, with real drive and energy to uphold the highest standards, but also to care for each other, especially when times are tough. I wish them all the best in their future careers, wherever they land (and I was excited to see the recent news that the original Metaswitch assets and remaining people had been sold by Microsoft to Alianza, and I hope that works out).
Also thanks to Ourea – both my colleagues in the office, and wider Ourea community of contractors, volunteers and regular participants – for welcoming me! Here’s to a great 2025!
