Nickapedia- abstract your problems away -

Self-reflection is something I don’t do very often. I tend to focus on the next impossible goal and not look back. But, these last few weeks I spent a lot of my time looking back. I have been thinking about what a great run I have had so far here at EMC.

If you would have gone back in time and told me (relevant post : Fear and Atmosphere) that I was going to do some of the things I did in the last 1 ¾ years I would have thought you were crazy.

To be honest, when I first joined the vSpecialist team I was scared to death I would fail. I was so far outside my comfort zone going to work for a pre-sales organization with a major vendor that I didn’t have a really good idea what my job would be exactly and if I could do it.

Fast forward to now and I am sitting here typing on my Mac and thinking of all the impact that the vSpecialist organization has enabled for me. I have been able to move the ball with vAppliance and Virtual Storage hackery. I made a rap video extolling the tenacity of my group (which was watched by the CEO). I spoke at my first conference session (VMworld). I was able to help do things at both EMCWorld conferences that were never done before (VPLEX demo /Labs). And I released a ton of free tools that helped enable my community.

I also had the privilege of learning, working, and having fun next to the coolest group of men and women there is. I have made a great many friends and will always consider my run as a vSpec as a turning point in my career.

But, this post isn’t about success itself. It is about knowing that sometimes you can do great/fun things by stepping out into the unknown.

So having said that, I am excited to announce I will officially be leaving the vSpecialist organization. I have accepted a position with the EMC Office of the CTO as a technologist working with the Advanced R&D team. My new role will be as a part of the team attacking the new challenges around cloud and helping EMC be ahead of the curve in providing value to this new paradigm.

This is a bitter-sweet change as I am leaving the vSpecialists where I have a strong personal connection. I will be leaving my Tech Enablement buddies and no longer working for the management that made me who I am today.

But, life is about change and growth. And this decision is based around that goal. I had a great many choices (which I won’t share here) and making this decision was one of the hardest I have had to make. Yet, ultimately moving to the Office of the CTO is going to challenge me in a way I have never been challenged before. In my original logic I decided that EMC was a great opportunity to develop and this move is a continuation of that goal.

From a blog/community perspective this blog will no longer be as dedicated to purely VMware tools/gadgets (though it will include those also). 99% of what I am going to be working on will be confidential. But, the work will allow me to expand and comment on newer technologies and broader cloud-computing topics.

I want to thank the vSpecialist organization from my peers to my management for the incredible run and helping set me up to where I am going. I will never forget what an amazing experience it was to work with such an awesome group. I also want to thank those who provided insight and wisdom in this decision (You know who you are).

Life is full of safe and scary choices. Sometimes the scary ones pay off the most. You never know till you try.

Wish me luck.

.nick