Hi All

I haven’t written in a while because I’ve just gone through the storm of changing jobs! Yippee! No, I did not leave VMware. I moved from being a Core Solution Engineer to a Cloud Partner Solution Architect, or sometimes I just use Cloud Architect.

By the way, it is NOT easy to change or get another role within VMware. I don’t care if others found it easy. I did not. You have to be qualified, aggressive, work outside of the box, and interview well. In other words, you have to slay it. I shouldn’t have to say this but sometimes, a few of you need it in PRINT.

Why? And why this position?

Simply put, personal growth. And personal growth can mean several things. To me, it meant pushing my boundaries.

I will be forced to be technically more proficient on VMware’s cloud offerings and this allows me to really get my technical button mashing going.

It also meant going from a direct sales model(where I’m in front of end customers discussing tech and strategy) to indirect sales model(where I will be essentially training the trainors). Some also refer to this as going from direct sales to the channel side. I’ll be helping VMware partner companies get up to speed and deliver VMware’s cloud portfolio, in particular VMware Cloud on AWS. An architect is not someone that sits in a closed corner without human interaction drawing visio diagrams all day. We are out there talking to people about how to solve business infrastructure challenges together.

Working with technical folks with better VMware chops than me is going to be challenging in and of itself.

I do not know the stack completely.

I do not know the partners.

I don’t hold a VCDX.

I will not be better technically than the people I’m providing guidance to.

What I do know is that I know VMware as an organization well and I’ll be able to help my partners navigate our products, company, and help them be successful. Ultimately, that combo is a win-win situation.

I remember very clearly when I started at this company, a senior leader came to the orientation and said something along the lines of “You are in control of your career here.”

I have thought of that line often. I hope you do too because it’s a reminder to me that I don’t want to sit still. I don’t want to take what I have for granted. I want to continue to be relevant. Cloud skills are clearly  coming into focus today and it’s a new path. I want to be a part of the future of technology and I believe this is one of those paths. Not the only one! But one of them.

I know a few of you out there are skeptical of these reasons and you are right. There’s more behind my story but the rest is pretty much just big company drama that we all encounter in some form or another in our jobs.

Am I scared? Oh hell yeah. And I’m doing what it takes to “get the job done” and that is part of the challenge and growth. I usually don’t learn much until I’ve faceplanted at least a few times.  My colleague’s, friends, and everyone around always rallies on my side to encourage me and it’s this support from all of you that gives me strength. I’m afraid of never trying and seeing how far I get. I like to raise the bar on myself continuously. I do say this very seriously: my success is the direct result of everyone that has been there for me through thick and thin. This is a very serious area about career growth. I made a turning point nearly a decade ago when I realized that my success was dependent on others and having a real working relationship with my direct and indirect team members was the real skillset. I’ll explore this more another day but it was this skillset that ultimately brought me to my current position.

To end, I’m super excited to be a part of this new team within VMware. Fear and excitement are mixed together when you start a new journey but that is what makes life interesting and fun. This new side of the business will introduce me to even more people in our industry. Perhaps one day, our paths will cross!