Have you seen a grown man cry?

2025-09-01

Have you seen a grown man cry? Well, I have. In the bathroom stalls of Microsoft in the Seattle Port main campus. Let me tell you how I ended up crying in a bathroom as a grown man. Not a joke, literal tears! However, this story is what taught me how the power of persistence can have a positive impact in your life, if you stick to it. Turns out that because Artinsoft, was working with Microsoft on creating the migrator from VB6 to VB.NET , I ended up being sent to Seattle to do a presentation in front of multiple Microsoft developers, they were called the 64-bit Champions, that were working on the adoption of this NEW platform called .NET, in conjunction with the adoption of 64 bit processors–an initiative by Microsoft, Intel Corporation , and HP (now Hewlett Packard Enterprise ). Part of the adoption process was to move software and databases to 64-bit computing and we were tasked with creating the labs and delivering them all over the world. We worked for months creating the content and were ready to present, but the night before our Microsoft contact learned that the way SQL Server worked changed completely, which was the part HE was presenting. So he did the “natural” thing, and instead of updating the content he gave me his deck and said “you present this tomorrow”. Of course things went like #@$#@. A 64-bit Champion (MS FTE SME) raised his hand and said “that doesn’t work like that. I am in the SQL team. You did not prepare well”. And the heckling started. This guy basically kept at it until he destroyed me to pieces (was it necessary?). That’s how I ended up in the stall, in my mid 20s, with a few tears thinking that my life had just ended. I had never felt like that… not even with a girl! But I kept pushing through, updated the content, got a second chance and traveled all over the world (literally all over -> https://lnkd.in/e94BuQg7 ) to many Microsoft Technology Centers, teaching people how to adopt .NET and 64-bit computing! For you senior devs out there. Never destroy a junior. Help them. You never know the back story. And for you juniors, keep going forward. Sometimes life gives you a second chance. And that is how I got started in the learning and development space!