In November of 2010, I announced that, after 15 years, would be leaving the customer side & joining the ranks of “Chad’s Army.”
Since joining EMC, I’ve grown & learned more than I could have imagined. Going through vSpecialist on-boarding, at least from a mentally challenging perspective, seemed similar to basic training. The camaraderie that I have had with all of my vSpecialist brothers & sisters is very similar to what I had with my military family. We knew that everyone else always had our back. At the same time, we all had the same mission, that we had to perform with some pretty solid values. My Air Force core values were easily applied to my EMC role.
Those were “Integrity First,” “Service before self,” & “Excellence in all we do.”
My Tour at EMC
In EMC’s Federal Division, I initially supported Civilian Agencies. I’ve worked with customers including some departments like, the VA, DOE, DHS, FEMA, and others, not to mention multiple integrators supporting those customers, and more. For the past two years, I’ve primarily supported the U.S. Military & organizations bringing additional value & resources in support of the U.S. Military’s mission.
At the same time, being a vSpecialist, I have had opportunities to support the greater EMC & VMware community at EMC World, VMworld, VMware Partner Exchange, & various other conferences/workshops in various technical, organizational, & speaking roles.
I’ve been fortunate in having traveled to a couple different countries I had not been to during that time, as well as quite a few domestic places I had not had the pleasure of experiencing.
For those that follow me on twitter, I’m sure they’ve seen some of my “colorful” travel mishaps. Unfortunately, there have been so many, we have an internal message board named “Jase Does Travel Advice” where people can get a laugh about some things I haven’t mentioned publicly.
Other than some of the crappy travel, I would say my time at EMC has been pretty awesome. Again, I’ve learned quite a bit, & have made some pretty awesome friends along the way. I highly recommend EMC as an employer. Great folks, great direction, great strategy, & always changing to remain competitive. (more…)
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