Last week I published a blog post detailing my shift into code and development. One very important thing I purposely left out was “What am I going to do with it?”.
For the past 7ish years, I’ve been dealing with infrastructure and operations. Things got complacent so I wanted to learn some new skills on the other side of IT, programming and software development. To be clear, I don’t plan on becoming a full-time developer because that would essentially mean starting my career over from scratch. Instead, I want to do what I call “Full Stack IT”. I can configure networks, build virtual farms, deal with storage, do that thing called “cloud”, script, and hack code with varying front-end & back-end languages. My code is “good enough” to get the job done. :)
If you’re thinking I plan on creating my own software startup and selling it to Google for $200 million… well, maybe one day.
Next week I’m beginning a new role with EMC as a Developer Advocate. I’m very excited to be joining a new team with the likes of Clint Kitson, Jonas Rosland, and Brian Gracely. Our team is tasked with a few different goals in mind.
- Be Open. Drive the advocacy for Open Source to EMC culture.
- Be Innovative. Publish code snippets, modules, and applications that demonstrate how to develop against product sets within the federation.
- Be Vocal. Figure out what developers want from EMC and influence internally. Participate at various conferences to be an influence for EMC externally.
In my last blog post, I noted that there was still one site that I was designing that I was waiting to announce. Even though it sort of made its way out on twitter already, I’m glad to say that my latest site design will be going through more changes and re-vamps and will be the project home for EMC CODE (Central Onramp for Developer Enablement). More logos, site layouts, projects, and links will continually be added over time. You can also start following @EMCCode on twitter!
I’m very excited to begin the next phase in my career with a broader set of skills. After all, software is king.
As I begin my final week at VCE, it’s good to reflect on what I’ve been a part of. This month (October) marks my 4 year anniversary. I was hired back in 2010 by the current CTO, Trey Layton, as a vArchitect/SE for Service Providers. Over the next few years I would have a multitude of different managers, job roles, and co-workers as this “start-up” moved from 200 employees to over 2000 in that short time.
My college fraternity had a saying, “The effort you extend will be returned a thousandfold”. I’ve been responsible for some great things with VCE that is accompanied by countless hours of engineering, WebExs, presentations, whitepapers, and travel. VCE has returned it’s value and helped me grow tremendously as a professional. I have been able to learn from the very best from my time here. VCE has also rewarded me with some great friendships along that way. You know, like the co-workers you would actually hang out with on the weekends. I feel very blessed to have been a part something great that still has more momentum to bring change to the IT landscape.
Be on the lookout for some cool things coming from EMC CODE!