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EMCWorld 2010 : A Week to Remember

June 5, 2010 By 7 Comments

Even though EMCWorld has been over for a few weeks I still wanted I get this post out telling my experience. I have been so busy that I just now got this finished.

I have not had a very long career. In fact compared to most of the guys on the team I belong to, I am the newborn calf quivering on shaky legs. But, I can say that I have had a pretty exciting one so far. I have never been short on challenges and deadlines. And I have always been surrounded by incredibly skilled people (especially now). That said, without a doubt, EMCWorld 2010 was the pinnacle of my career so far.

I really do not know how to recap everything. In some parts I am going to feel like I am bragging (which I hate to do). In others, that I am taking credit for what is essentially just good timing. But I feel this experience needs to be shared and I will try my best to keep it simple. This is longer than my normal posts so I ask your forgiveness ahead of time.

Really, a combination of events built upon each other starting with VMware’s Tech Summit. I got invited by Chris Horn (a newly married guy now) a fellow vSpecialist to help him build the lab with Stephen Spellicy, Tee Glasgow, and Brian Lewis. The idea to use the Celerra VSA for this was not mine; but it was through this first exposure I started down the road in creating the Celerra VSA UBER edition.

To help with the Tech Summit labs I created the new UBER VSA, wrote lab control PowerShell scripts, and built most of the VCenter stuff within. Because there were issues related to some bad hardware I volunteered to show up early to Tech Summit in San Francisco and make sure everything was up for when the crew that was going to run the lab arrived.

Arriving early ended up being a good idea but with a team effort the labs went perfectly.

Because of my help with the TechSummit labs I got asked to help with the VPlex demo for EMCWorld. This started out with just ironing out some issues. Next thing you know I am taking ideas from Chad and Stephen Spellicy and turning them into monitoring tabs and plugins to automate the demo.

For weeks up to EMCWorld I was furiously coding away trying to make everything perfect. I must have performed over 50,000 VMotions on the VPlex. I even wrote a program that would do an entire teleport of 500 VM’s from one site to another, collect statistics on timing and performance, and then move them back. This would run continuously allowing me to test different aspects(tune) and ensure stability.

I left TechSummit early, got home, changed the clothes in my suitcase, and hopped a plane to North Carolina for a week of training. And from training I went straight to EMCWorld.

It was on the plane to EMCWorld that I had the idea to create something that allows the audience to see the teleports happening in real time. I ended up writing a C# WebApp that used AJAX to pull metrics from the vTeleport plugin I wrote and update asynchronously to a vCenter tab. By the time I landed in Boston I had the WebApp running perfectly. I used another application I wrote that simulated the vTeleports to code against since I could not access the lab equipment (it was in the loading dock at EMCWorld).

I arrived at EMCWorld a couple days before the big day (Monday Keynote) and wrote the UI for the new monitoring tab. After the equipment was live on stage, I loaded everything up (with Spellicy and Chad standing right by).

And it worked. 500 VM’s VMotioned in ~20 minutes, all live on the massive high-def screens on stage. The plugin worked. The teleport logic worked. It moved quickly. And my new monitoring tab looked perfect.

I can’t remember anything I have ever done working on the first try so I was beside myself in excitement. In a moment I will always remember, Chad turned to me and said “Nick, you are a freak. You know that?” Coming from a Master of technology like Chad Sakac you can’t get greater praise.

Fast forward to Monday @ 2:00pm… Pat Gelsinger, the new COO of EMC, was getting ready to walk out and introduce the world to the V-Plex. I was on the front row sweating bullets with Chris Horn and Stephen Spellicy on each side giving me encouragement. Behind me were three rows of my vSpecialist team- all arrayed in their cool shirts and representing what has to be the best group of technologists in the world today.

We were supposed to have a recorded video to use if something horrible happened. But we ran out of time to record it and Pat is the kind of guy who likes things live.

So here I am, sitting on the front row of an EMCWorld keynote. I am so new to this team I am not even through new hire training. And the COO of EMC is about to give a presentation on what is one of the most powerful technologies to be released by EMC, ever. This keynote demo is riding on the fact that:

  1. My plugin runs correctly
  2. My backend code executes the teleport workflow correctly.
  3. The vCenter and ESX servers do 500 VMotions without issue (and inside 22 minutes)
  4. And my WebApp is able to grab data and display it within vCenter without a hitch.

I am at this point thinking: “This is either one of the greatest moments of my career- or the moment I decide to switch to something else to do for a living.”

A few minutes later the moment of truth came. Chad joined Pat out on the stage. Chad talked about how cool it would be to move running virtual machines between datacenters and across storage resources. The main screen displays the VI Client console. He right clicks on the Datacenter. Moves down and selects the “vTeleport” option. And then he clicks on “Teleport to Hopkinton” (VM’s were in Boston). Now I knew that it takes about 10-18 seconds before VM’s start moving (inventory, location logic, etc). Chad knew this too and as they chatted for a bit about what was going to happen as I held my breath and I think almost all the other vSpecialists did too.

And then it happened. They started moving just as they were supposed to. All of a sudden I started getting slaps on the back and arms from my team as I stared up at those huge screens and thought: “Wow, it worked.” Chad and Pat moved on to talk about the use cases and progress. But for me, all the work and late hours had come to fruition. I was exhausted mentally and physically from the last month but absolutely overjoyed that all that work had paid off.

That moment was not mine. The team knew what I did but, that moment was a watershed for a lot of people in and outside of EMC. Virtualization is a core part of the future and the vSpecialist team as a group is uniquely staffed and positioned to make this future a reality. All I did was demonstrate in my small way what my team is capable of in many many different ways. That moment was for my team.

There were several other moments that I will never forget:

Later that evening the vSpecialists as a team were meeting at a restaurant for dinner. I had headed back to the hotel to change and literally passed out on the bed exhausted. I awoke with a start about 50 minutes later and realized I was late for the dinner.

I texted a buddy that was there telling him I was on the way and hopped in a taxi to the restaurant. As I walked up the stairs into the dining room I saw my team occupying two very long tables across the room. As I started to walk across the room, I was just some punk geek who overslept and felt like a heel for showing up late. And something happened that has never happened to me before. The entire team stood up and started clapping and cheering as I walked towards them. I didn’t even know how to react so I just hustled to my seat and sat down while looking embarrassed. I think the moment I realized they were cheering me, as I stood in the middle of that big room, I almost cried (yeah call me sappy). To be honored is one thing. But, to be honored by a group of people you hold in the most respect is something entirely different.

Later that week in our team meeting Chad thanked me for my work on the Celerra VSA and VPlex demo. I got rewarded with an iPad and another standing ovation from my team.

All the time I am thinking to myself: “Two years ago I walked around EMCWorld and would have never imagined anything like this could happen.”

So there is my story of one of the greatest weeks of my short career. I can’t imagine working for a better group of people or a company that is as well positioned to take me places. It is amazing what a great product, a great team, and a little luck mixed with some good old fashioned hard work can do.

Couple things I want to clear up since I get asked:

The vTeleport plugin used at EMCWorld was actually quite simple. There is a *real* plugin in the works (which I have seen personally) which is actually quite awesome. Mine was a way to demonstrate what is coming. I am turning the code I used for this into something quite cool for the VMware community (free cool tool). Look for it before VMworld this year.

The VPlex demo was REAL. There was no video and no net. Everything was live. Having probably done more VMotions on a VPlex than anyone outside the people that created it, I can say this; it is awesome and is almost too easy to forget it is even there.

It would be really cool if you could share your own stories of similar awesome moments you have had. Feel free to leave a comment or link to your own story. And thank you to all who attended EMCWorld.

.nick

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Change is good : Fear & Atmosphere

February 5, 2010 By 24 Comments

This post is a big deal for me personally. It is the first public acknowledgment of a major change in my life. This blog post will be about me announcing this change; but it will also be about why I am doing it and what lessons I feel can be learned. I had a good boss for three years who had a funny saying I think fits here. “The only thing stopping you is fear and atmosphere.” Every time I pitched an idea to him that he was okay with, he would say those words. What they basically mean, is that the only things between you and your goal is your own fear and the air between you and getting started on it.

I feel those words really fit for this change. As of today I am announcing that I have taken a position with the VCE team(vArmy) at EMC as a Senior vSpecialist. It was a decision that was exciting, terrifying, and complex all at the same time. I was already a huge fan of both Chuck Hollis and Chad Sakac. After meeting my local team and getting a taste of the vision and drive to change the way datacenters are designed for the better; it was an easy decision to make. All that really had to be done was figure out how I could muster the courage to leave my home (current employer) where I have spent over 50% of my career.

For those that don’t know me, I have been on the customer-side of things for my entire short career of six years. To move to the provider-side will bring a great number of challenges and opportunities; which for me is the number one reason I have decided to make this change. I am a bit dramatic and sappy at my core. And so I will sum up the real reasons behind the decision through my eyes and hopefully encourage you in some way to continue or regain the passion for what you do.

1.  Challenges Develop Passion

From the moment I got my first IT job I knew I what doing what I was meant to do. I enjoy it so much it is ridiculous. Whether I am working a major project or writing a small script, the minute I see it come to fruition I am as happy as a dog with two tails. For me overcoming challenges results in a strong Passion for technology and what it can do. And over the years I realized something; Passion is infectious. When you care about what you are doing either people around you will start to care also, or they will get the heck away from you.

For me, the secret to Passion in what you do, is never being satisfied with the just what you are doing. I have been surrounded by incredible people who have been more skilled that me in every facet. My reaction to this was simple, follow them around and figure out what makes them so awesome and learn how to do it yourself. Be positive, be a sponge, be part of the team. My Wife (who is awesome BTW) can tell stories about me starting a job, realizing that I didn’t know everything I needed to, and then spending 4-6 hours a night reading and studying till I was over-prepared. Those moments of realizing I am lacking start a fire in me to take things to the next level.

By taking this position I am intentionally moving myself from the top man on the totem pole to the lowest man on the rung. With great people like Chad Sakac, Scott Lowe, Stuart Miniman, John Avery, Ed Saipetch, Dave Graham, Chuck Hollis, Christopher Kusek and my incredible local team here in DFW; I am but a small speck in comparison. I will never reach my full potential until I knock myself down and surround myself with wiser and stronger people. For me, taking this position sets me up to really grow as a person and IT professional over the next phase of my career. Even better, this move will encourage my already strong Passion for virtualization and truly agile infrastructure.

2.  The World is Changing (or at least the stuff it runs on)

I saw this the moment 4+ years ago when I was first introduced into enterprise datacenter virtualization. It was edgy and a little difficult to grasp but, there was one core thing I came away with - this is going to change everything. I went on to successfully do so many things with virtualization using VMware technologies and defined myself as a professional. The funny thing is that this is still just the beginning. Virtualization of computing resources utilizing a robust hypervisor is just the first step. With the new partnerships like vBlocks and move towards abstraction of layers in storage, networking, and security, information technology is soon to change forever. Not everyone sees or believes that yet but enterprise architecture will be molded by these changes, mark my words. At my core I see this future and more than anything else I want to be a part of helping make that happen. EMC has invested a enormous amount of money and vision and are redefining themselves as a company to be a part of this change. This position is the perfect opportunity to become a part of something great.

3.  I Am The Warm Little Center

In my current position I make a huge impact. Across business or technology lines I play a major part in both decisions and accomplishments. My current employer has been incredible to me in so many ways. There have been tough times like: four different CIO’s in three years, losing close friends, and insane workloads. But, I feel nothing but love and gratitude to my current employer.

However, there is one problem I will not escape. At the end of the day I can’t make them one penny. I will never be a part of the profit center in a company that is a consumer lender. I readily admit jealously at seeing product owners or risk analysis folks who make direct contributions to the revenue and growth. While I am an important aspect of the company and make those warm little profit centers successful and on schedule; I am never going to be where I want to be.

This all changes for me at EMC. Not only will I be able to contribute to the revenue of such a great company; but they will have the tools, materials, and career advancement opportunities that I would never have access to otherwise. I get to become a part of a warm center and I would even venture that with this particular team, this is really the hot boiling center of things to come.

 

Fear & Atmosphere

Even with all these reasons this has been a very difficult choice. I feel at home at my current employer. I know so many amazing people that I have worked with there. My life both personally and professionally has been improved for the better by my experiences there. However, nothing lasts forever. To quote Ecclesiastes(3:1) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”. Sometimes when you are in that wonderful, comfortable, happy place (atmosphere) you can be afraid to leave (fear).

I know this decision is the best one for my family and myself. So I will leave my comfortable atmosphere and overcome my fear of change and go forward with all the energy and effort I can muster. I want nothing less than to change the future of information technology and I believe there is no company in a better position than EMC.

Along with all these reasoning one thing  is certain. I am a customer-focused person. I have lived life as the person trying to make the miraculous happen with little time or resources. Now I have the opportunity to partner with similar people and help make them successful. I now get the chance to change from the Warrior at the gate to the traveling Warrior Monk coming to turn the tide of battle.

So I will end this post with these questions for you:

What are you passionate about? What fears or atmospheres stand between you and that passion? Are you comfortable? Are you challenged? Inside you know you are capable of great things. Just search yourself and determine if you are heading towards them or waiting for them to head towards you.

Comments, questions, or critique are always welcome and really appreciated.

.nick

 

 

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