Why I took a pay cut to work at VMware

Warning:  This is a love rant for VMware.  You might want to skip if you are looking for the normal technical details of my blog.

Great title eh?  Really catchy and intended to get you to read and it’s true.    Two months ago I left a great job with IBM to work with VMware and took a pay cut to do it.   When you switch jobs there are lots of reasons money is cut part of the deal, you might leave a job for the following reasons:

  • Too much travel
  • Bad situation with management
  • No career growth potential
  • Money
  • A new challenge
  • etc…

The reasons are often a combination of these and other factors.   I left my job as a Senior VMware Architect for IBM to work as a Solutions Architect for VMware.   I wanted to take this blog post to explain why I took the job.   Some years ago I was a happy yet bored systems administrator.   My boss suggested that I attend an industry conference as a perk.   I went to VMworld.   I came back from the conference really excited about the future of VMware and the cloud.    I was invigorated by the energy and the vision of VMware’s executives.   I continued to learn about their technology and found it very refreshing in the market.   This lead me to focus my career away from Linux and into VMware technology.

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Culture

I have taken two runs at VMware jobs in the past and did not make it.   Each time I was interviewed by multiple people.   Each of those people took the interview time to teach me new skills and help shape my thinking for success.   I love that attitude.   It’s a simple attitude that we are stronger as team instead of individuals.    Most of the company has this attitude and I love it.

Innovation

VMware’s technology continued to push the limits of traditional datacenter while proving real business value.    They have proven to be innovative through aquisitions (NSX) and internal research and development (vSAN).   I love this approach too many companies stop internal research and loose the innovative spirit, this is simply not true at VMware.

Career Growth

VMware takes career growth serious.  Two weeks after starting with the company my boss asked me for specific goals that can effect my bonus structure.   These goals are recorded and tracked and VMware is serious about enabling me to meet these goals.   Managers seem to be interested in retaining talent by supporting growth and interests.

New Challenges

Yes it’s true I am a challenge junkie.  It’s what has caused me to get two VCDX’s in two years.  Once a goal is on paper I am a nut case to achieve it.   Working for VMware as a Solutions Architect represents some new challenges and lots of learning which does keep me going for a little while.

It’s all great when you are new

I completely agree I am very young in the company so my view is narrow.   I believe the future to be very good for VMware and I am excited to join them on the journey.

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