I am proud to announce that I have joined Telerik.

2011 has been a very exciting year for me so far.

1. I was awarded the Microsoft Silverlight MVP.
2. I was renewed as the DZone MVB.
3. I was awarded as a GeeksWithBlog Influencer.
4. I won the CodeProject Windows Phone 7 Competition.
5. I’ve been invited to speak about Silverlight at UserGroups as well as several major conferences such as SSWUG, CodeStock and devLINK.
6. My first e-Book on Producing and Consuming Silverlight in an OData application was published.
7. I’ve been asked to be a technical editor for two Silverlight Books.
8. I started a UserGroup that was XAML-focused called “All About Xaml”.
9. I’ve been featured on a ton of podcast including: Windows Phone Dev Podcast, Dream-in-Code, SSWUG SelectViews and several others.
10. I was awarded the WindowsPhoneGeek Valued Blogger.
11. I was accepted as a CodeProject Associate and Mentor.
12. As well as created 69 blog post on XAML technology on michaelcrump.net.

… but the thing that I’m the most proud of is Telerik offering me a position at their company.

For the back story, I have been involved with Telerik for several years. I know a majority of their staff in the USA as they have sponsored my UserGroup as well as my “Monthly Silverlight Giveaways”. While working with the staff at Telerik my respect for them has only grown stronger. I feel like I’ve joined the “big leagues” now and I am very honored that they would have me. So, I will be joining Telerik as a XAML Evangelist starting 9/12/2011.

So, I know you are probably wondering what this mean for my blog? Well nothing changes at all. I now have even more time to help developers by creating screencast, blog post and speaking engagements. Yes, I will be blogging about Telerik products as I usually blog about whatever I am working on. But, I wouldn’t blog about a product that I do not believe in 100%. I will still deliver the same blog post regarding everything XAML that everyone is used to reading. I feel that everyone benefits from this.

If you see me at an event, be sure to stop by the booth and say hello.

P.S. I just noticed after looking at the stats by Justin Angel, the Telerik WP7 SDK is the leading WP7 3rd party control manufacture and the 18th most used WP7 3rd party controls (including the free ones). Very cool stuff, indeed.