My 10 years with Xiotech

WOW!! I’m very proud to say that today is my 10 year anniversary with Xiotech.  What an awesome ride this has been.  In those 10 years I’ve had an opportunity to work with some brilliant people.  Some of them are still here at Xiotech, others have moved on to other endeavors, but each one has made an impact both professionally and personally on me.

It just seems like it was just yesterday, sitting in the Minneapolis Decathlon Club Hotel (I think it’s a water park now 🙂 ) overwhelmed with a sense of “wow, this is soooo cool”, as well as thinking “Crap, I hope they don’t realize I have no idea what I’m doing” 🙂  The week before, I was a Windows and Unix Systems Admin for a telemarketing company out of Austin with no Pre-Sales experience.  I basically snuck into the position because the CIO of my company wanted to go back into sales and Xiotech snatched him up.  The good news for me is they were also looking for a Systems Engineer.  The CIO put in a good word for me and BAM I was hired and flown up to Minny for the National Sales Meeting!!  

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “He took to it like a duck takes to water”.  Well that duck is me.  I took to the Pre-Sales Systems Engineering position like a duck takes to water.  I LOVED IT and I tried to do everything in my power to absorb as much knowledge as I could.  Not just the ins and outs of storage, although I did that (I still have my SNIA Level 2 certification hanging on my wall !!).  As well as trying to hone/craft the whole concept around “Consultative Selling”.  I’m convinced that once you fully grasp consultative selling, you move very quickly into “Rock Star” status in a sales environment.  Now, for people like me who are far from “rock stars” you do the best you can and based on the 10 years I’ve been here, I think I’m getting closer!! 

Over those 10 years I’ve had the ability to wear multiple hats.  I’ve been a Pre/Post Sales Engineer doing selling/rack-n-stack and break/fix stuff, to a Regional Storage Architect and a Regional Systems Engineering Manager and it’s been an AWESOME ride.   I can honestly say that I’m just as excited today, as I was on my very first day and the education that has come from being” immersed in storage” these past 10 years has turned this “dyed in the wool” network guy into a “dyed in the wool” storage guy. I can’t tell you how happy I am they took a chance on me all those years ago!!

So, this is my first blog, my hope is to have the time to do more entries.  I have a lot of ideas but as people with Attention Deficit Disorder can tell you, it’s sometime difficult to stay focused long enough to edit it down and post it without changing it 400 times !! 🙂

Until then, here’s looking to another 10 years !! 🙂