Reflecting on 5 years at VMware
Five years ago this month I joined VMware. With this milestone reached I wanted to share some brief thoughts about my experiences to date and the future.
I used to think that I'd never be good enough to work for VMware. There are still days when I wake up and doubt myself. But taking a few moments to review the facts is all it takes to erase those negative thoughts.
Yesterday, 7th September 2020, marked five years to the day since I joined VMware as a Senior PSO Consultant. Bizarrely I went from working as a partner consultant one week on a large engagement, to being a VMware FTE the next... but still on the same engagement. I still remember my first day, chatting with my manager in the UK office along with two other colleagues. Carl Eschenbach (then VMware's COO) was over from the US and waved as he walked by the glass wall of the meeting room we were in. That simple and friendly gesture, which was a little surprising at the time, actually sums up the VMware culture very well for me. The culture may or may not be why people come to VMware but I'm sure that it's one of the reasons they stay.
As another, more recent example was about six or seven weeks in to "lockdown" during a virtual all-hands meeting. I was feeling a bit jaded that day. One voice on the call projected energy, confidence and reassurance. I felt like it was speaking directly to me and it lifted me a bit. Of course, that was the intention but I felt like getting in touch to say thank you anyway. I didn't expect a reply:
Looking back over my IT career, I've never stayed in one place for as long as I've been at VMware, and whilst it's true that I harbour aspirations to grow and develop myself further, I know that I can do that at VMware. In addition to being a Staff Architect in PSO now, I was selected last year to join VMware's CTO Ambassador programme - something that is a huge privilege.
Of course, in every day life there are ups and downs. I'd be lying if I said that I'd never had any bad days, weeks or months. But the balance has always been more than acceptable. If I had to think of one regret though, it would be that I didn't join the company early enough to get the Vasa cubes after 4 years!
I'd rather not focus on what could have been. It's the future that interests me most and the opportunities that come with it. Having been with VMware for five years now, I'm eligible for a Take-3. This entails working in a different part of VMware for 3 months - Duncan Epping did this late last year and wrote about his experience. I hope to be able to share about something similar that I will achieve in the future.