Category Informational

This is a question which comes up a lot in technology discussions; I’m sure it comes up in other circles but for the sake of argument… I work in Technology so let me focus on it here.  For those of you who are not familiar with the term let me break it down

FUD means FEAR, UNCERTAINTY, DOUBT

Although there is often a ‘spin’ on that whereby the person delivering the data isn’t “Lying” but also isn’t telling the whole truth, that version of FUD I refer to as:  FACTS Usually Deceptive

With the very recent topical discussion in my most recent blog post here comes a breakdown of how you can tell FUD is in play if you’re not sure.

FEAR

“If we don’t do it, the terrorists win!”    Yea, that quote comes up at times.    It’s simply saying you need to take action because you’re afraid of a possible outcome, it doesn’t have to be a LIKELY outcome, just one which MIGHT be possible often reinforced by soft words, because soft words are feeling words and fear is a feeling (often gutteral and one our instincts leap upon)  The old adage “no one ever got fired for buying IBM” is driven out of not wanting to lose your job so just buy IBM.  That term has been replaced over the years with “fill in blank of popular company name” and it stands true, typical FUD tactic.

UNCERTAINTY

What do you mean by uncertainty? “They’re a small company! They might not be around when YOU need support” or “Are you sure it works the way they say it does?” When these statements are in fact TRUE, absolutely staunchly support and stand by it, a perfect example, being worried about an earthquake taking down your datacenter in California is a real concern and falls in line with certainty, but fearing that same earthquake affecting your NYC data center or somewhere NOT on a major fault line?  Yea, push that Uncertainty in!    Don’t let it get the best of you, uncertainty like the rest of the FUD principles will often involve soft language of ‘are you sure’ followed by “no really… are you sure?” only the real veterans can be comfortable saying “Are you certain?” because I don’t know about you, but if I say 8000 LUNs are supported… I want to be CERTAIN of that FACT and be able to talk about it, and not “Oh yea, as many as you want! yea sure whatever you need!”    It’s important that not only are you CERTAIN your vendors are telling you the truth, but you are also confident and certain about what your needs and capabilities are.    Which brings us to…

DOUBT

Doubt springs eternal focused around lack of confidence, being unsure and uncertain, often leaving things suspect.   If you’re not afraid of it, and you’re not unsure of… you might be doubtful of it!    And by putting just a little doubt in your mind you’ll start to become unsure, and maybe, just maybe… be afraid and fear usually brings about action!  They don’t call it Fight or Flight for no particular reason … (Is that a flight of the conchords reference?!)

Do not find yourself all-consuming falling pressure to the effects of FUD.   I’m a big fan of FACTS, often validated and cited which can be backed up by references as well, as opposed to “Yea I totally got this paper from this guy” or “I read it in a one-off blog post which is otherwise irrelevant”  While these are all EXCELLENT sources of data sometimes… they’re downright lies, or are just wrong – But bad data can breed bad decisions, so make your decisions and trust is king as well.    Keep the FUD out!   This has been a public service advisory on keeping our streets FUD Free! :)

First of all, let me be the first to give you a hearty welcome to EMC! Sure, I know I’m not the first person to welcome you and I definitely won’t be the last, but it goes without saying that welcoming is an experience I’ve found occurring countless times since joining this amazing organization!  

Disclaimer: The following diatribe is not created by someone who has ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’ nor have I lost my objectivity of what is reality and what indeed isn’t.   Everything is founded on real fact and experience, whether my own or others I have interviewed and had discussions with.  So if you think this is all some single sided touting, feel free to call me out on it, it isn’t. ;)   If you happen to be someone who is looking to join the organization – the following tips can apply to you as well, as a preparation of what kind of organization you’re aiming to be a part of.

Here you are, whether it is your first day, first quarter, first year, or first whatever or beyond – You’re part of a championship team now!    But this jibber jabber isn’t preparing you for anything unless you have something concrete to work with, what to know and what to expect!    Let’s see how well we can tackle that journey!

What to Expect

• If you had any negative preconceived notions of what life is like or what to expect – You may want to find out just how much truth there is to that
  • Personal Story: I had impressions of the business – going back over 10 years, these impressions stuck with me (a stigma which is not too uncommon when someone gets that ‘bad taste in their mouth’ even if it wasn’t their mouth, but instead someone else’s.)   Thus I was apprehensive and wanted to confirm the truth of these matters, even so far as bringing it up in the interviewing process – citing specific detail of enormous negative consequences, not only what I believed, but what I had heard from countless others over the years and even the recent past.    End result was that not only were most of these facts unfounded or outright wrong, but that they were very much no longer the case.   The ‘’true’ situations going back over 10 years were long gone and replaced by a culture so upstanding that those of you with history might look and be surprised that the business culture had changed so dramatically.   Thus the old adage of calling EMC “Evil Machine Corporation” in my mind has been CLEARLY replaced with “Encouragement Meets Culture”  (or fill in the blank of your own positive statement, because frankly you’ll find numerous potential acronyms to work with!)
• Encouraging and persistence in ensuring that you succeed
  • If you like to work alone, do that and be successful!   However, you are surrounded by peers of equal or even greater ability than yourself!  (Are you used to that?! People who rock just as much as you do? Get used to it!)  You’re bound to find countless OMFG Intelligent, Passionate, Engaged, you name it! People who come to work with the same level of drive which got you to where you are in life and will take you to your next steps.   Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength and acknowledgement of your ability to get things done.   Don’t shy away from it because you will succeed, whether under your own weight or by carrying the burden with others!   More hands on the shovel builds a bigger bunker, and two or more GREAT heads is better than one!
• Education, Education, Education!
  • You ever get that feeling “Wow, I feel stagnant, I haven’t had any training or education in a long while”.  Yea, that is not an EMC story.  Actually quite the opposite.   I cannot speak for every role, but education is such an ingrained part of your daily, weekly, and quarterly lives that it’s not a question of “Will I get educated” It’s requisite for you to be constantly educated and as an equal with your peers in the organization and industry.   However, your education is not solely in the hands of leadership.   You have the power to invest in yourself and have access to quite possibly the most comprehensive library of education (digital!) resources you may have ever seen!   We care about educating our employees who have so many diverse skill-sets that it does not stop with technical knowledge found in IT degree classes, but instead dives much deeper…into relevant verticals, industry skills, and ‘soft’ skills which help keep the wheels turning in the world, let alone within any individual industry.     You have the tools at your disposal to help you lead and become a leader.
• Leadership that breeds and enables leaders
  • Grace Hopper once said “You manage things, but you lead people” which is an excellent example of the kind of leadership around here!    Have you ever heard of a successful model of ‘upper management building managers’ as opposed to ‘senior leadership developing thought leaders’    People who are followed are leaders, unrecognized or not.   (alright, not a lot of depth on what to expect there, but your results will definitely vary – All of my leadership ROCKS, so, take that with NaCl ;))
  • I don’t know about you but leadership recognition, women’s rights, GLBT and work place diversity are both very important to me.  So it rocks that these programs exist:
    • Keeping Working Mothers Happy
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • EMC Women’s Leadership Forum – EMC World 2009 WLF Panel Discussion
    • Grow with the Leader
    • Job Opportunities for Students and Recent Graduates
  • So, to sum this part either be led, or follow – but leadership is not an area you’ll find particular weakness here, I’m a testament to that :)
• Social Media Awareness like no other!
  • “What’s this whole fandangled facebooker thing? I’m confused by the twitter! Linked what? I’m not letting you in!”   These are all terms you’re far less likely to hear at EMC which not only has it’s finger on the pulse of social media, it damn near innovates with a lot of it, and leverages it to the maximum for core efficiency!
    • Personal story:   I dabble a little in Social Media, Yea I’ll evangelise on the subject and have delivered numerous presentations at various venues at lengths upon each of the core mediums for it, but I do not speak of it in a bubble.    In my previous life, I was reached out to, contacted and recruited through my profile on LinkedIn – I know what a lot of you will feel “Yes! The value of LinkedIn, this is why I need to update my profile!” And I absolutely agree, fill out that profile, fill it with relevant data, you’d be remiss not to.    However, how on earth does this story end?   One fateful day I’m sitting there at home doing some work, and I receive a phone call! (Oh my! :))   It turns out the hiring manager for a position had looked on his Facebook Network, looking at folks and peers and through a few clicks, and a google search against my name ended up at my blog where I keep a fairly current copy of my resume online (No, it’s not for job hunting! universities usually require a recent resume when you teach or deliver speeches there :)) but poof! A Phone call!   To tell you the truth, had it been an ‘inquiring recruiter’ I likely would not have given it much thought nor considered things, but when the hiring manager takes the value and power of his team into his own hands – That is the kind of team *I* want to be a part of!
    • Okay, back to TwitterBookIn…. :) I haven’t done the full math yet (I will soon!) though I’m hardpressed to find a single organization with as many advocates speaking out on behalf of it, and representing while taking an active and considerable role in the lives of the customers and community.    Whether it’s Chad Sakac and his great tweets and blog posts, Chuck Hollis and his unique way of getting the community talking, or Polly Pearson and her constant finger on the pulse of brands and culture at large – This is only a handful of the numerous other people you’ll find active on Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Blogs and more!
    • What do you mean I can get my job through Twitter?   Whoa, hold on there partner, did I say that? Okay, I guess I could say that ;)    There have been numerous success stories of people who leveraged twitter as a tool in order to aide in their job hunting, recruiting and insight into the business process.   And I don’t want to come across saying that EMC has a tendency to recruit heroes of industry who also happen to leverage Social Media and Blogs, because that’d be weird with that whole list of new hires I have below who ALSO happen to be very active in that space. ;)

What to know

• Your peers are your greatest asset, and don’t forget that.   
• Everything you know, is potentially right – But put it in context!    If you think things can be done better, and can prove it – that kind of insight may help you, your peers and the business do things better.   Don’t be shy to express your opinion, you may see things a different way, whether right or wrong – Learn the right way but be open minded!
• This is not a job, this is a career!  Career’s have potential, growth, upward mobility, etc! (You fill in this for me, your words not mine!)
• Invest in yourself and it will pay dividends, because the business will continue to invest in you over and over again.

What to know for Expats

• This is not (fill in blank of previous company)   Yes, I know probably HALF your team came from the company, but this is not there :)
• Remember when it was like pulling teeth to get the right thing done?  Yea, swap that – Do the right thing, it’s not only good to do, it’s the only way
• Security, Security, Security:  The pro’s and con’s of owning the best of breed security company in the world is… Don’t send confidential data externally, even on accident! (I’ve warned you!)
• Your relationships are your greatest asset.  Your peers and colleagues will get you through hard times, your relationships will keep you afloat in the storm.  Build and Re-build them.
• I love you and welcome to the company? Err.. Wait, that came out right.    No, but seriously. It’s great for you to be here! The longer you are in the industry the MORE people you’ll recognize ;) and if they’re not here today, your friends from the past may very well join you tomorrow ;)

A few final tips for looking new hires

• EMC is not a storage company.  (Wait, What?!?) Yea, that’s the stance I stand by firmly! Sure, we have the best of breed storage in the industry with unparalleled innovation across all bounds, but we are more than a storage company.    Did you know that we own RSA, the best of breed in security? VMware the hands down best virtualization stack on the planet?   I’d deduplicate the following statement but with Avamar and DataDomain in the mix, I can choose to do it at the source or the target!    Oh, did I forget to mention the other MASSIVE slew of products and solutions? No, I’d rather whet your appetite for more to learn and discover that on your own (World Class Consulting organization with a heavy focus on business process?!) Okay, I’m done.. for now! ;)   But seriously.   The opportunities here are boundless.   I usually describe the depth of breadth of solutions as “as many products if not more than microsoft” and the fact of the matter is.. I’m not even sure how many products we have, that’s just how many things we do (oh, did I mention excel at? :))
• Be sure to read 100 Job Search Tips from Fortune 500 Recruiters – Whether you decide to pursue a career at EMC or not, this book will improve your career hunt for the future and give you the upper hand on any everyone else by providing that insight that is often unknown about the hiring process
• Ask.    If you’re interested in what the work life balance is like, or how the products are, or what this or that is – Ask.   You can hit me up on any medium (social media, email, phone) and I’d be glad to answer your questions, and get you in touch with others who can also provide insight as well.   But it’s up to you to ask the questions, to get that insight, to take your career in your own hands.
• I could keep adding tips all day long, but I want to get this published, so if you feel I’ve missed something epic, let me know and I’ll gladly add it!

And last but not least, I would like to heartily welcome some of our newest hires (that I’m aware of!)    Scott Lowe, Ed Saipetch, Rick Scherer, Gilda Farvid, and Dave Cipparone!    So, welcome to the team and may every day be as amazing as the days I live out :) 

You may remember me talking about two other programs that Microsoft has offered up in the past – BizSpark for Startup Businesses, and DreamSpark for for Education;  Now let me deliver to you (Yes I know this was launched in September, but the marketing machine is oblivious to many of us, myself included ;)) So, introducing WebSite Spark!

So, what exactly is WebSiteSpark?

Visibility, support and software for professional Web Developers and Designers – at no upfront cost!*

Does your company have 10 or fewer employees?
Receive Windows Web Server and SQL Server Web Edition at no cost to host new websites. Learn More

What does this mean for you? 

If you are a developer, designer or more and you need to take your business to a new level leveraging all that is the wonder of Microsoft technologies this gives you all of the tools to get your business off the ground with visibility in the internets! Check it out!

Do you provide services, support and hosting to businesses that develop web sites and applications? Sign up here
*A one-time $100 Program Offering Fee is due upon exit or at the end of the 3 year term.

So, you’ve been using twitter for awhile, infact you may have even used How to mass unfollow or follow people on Twitter .. and more! and found the tools to be just absolutely amazing! until.. your cumulative follower/following exceeded 10k, and found the tools to break, oh my!

Well, once you’ve exceeded 10k and want to keep growing (Yea I know who you are!) welcome a new tool! Yes, while Huitter and others give you a nice ‘whackamole’ mentality to unfollow everyone, let’s take it up a notch with.. Tweepular!

It’s broken down into a few key areas most of which have features like Bulk Follow or unfollow!

It’s all driven by checkboxes… so you can bulk-checkbox them all and unselect the ones you want, then hit Go!  It’s rightly proper and amazing and very colorful, oh my!

I suggest you give it a try today! “Srsly Guiz” said the lolcat, so it’s lolcat approved! Tweepular!

NetApp® System Manager 1.0 – Download

Wow, seriously! The NSM (NetApp System Manager) is now available for public consumption! Yes that means you! The public!

Where do I get it? – Login to now.netapp.com and scroll down in your downloads list and look for “System Manager” like I have shown below!

So, what are the really cool things you can do in the NSM? Let’s take a look!

Here is an look at what systems I am managing – Oh look! It paired my clusters, oh my! :)

Over on the right side, when you have your cluster selected you’ll see four sections, Properties, Performance, Notifications and Reminders

If you click on the little Arrows you will get taken into detail of that particular entry – So if I select the HA Pair, I’ll get more depth on the HA Pair – Etc! :)

I think this is pretty self-explanatory – But what is really cool is – Click the little Arrow and…!

You get the same information, but in numbers instead of little graphs! So pretty cool!

Various notifications will appear here – in my case, it happens to be License notifications – This lab box has a couple of expired Eval Licenses – So now you’ll be able to see this at a glance!

And the last high-level point is Reminders! In this case, it would appear I have disks to assign!

Going back to the main cluster overview – You can also drill down into some depth on specific filers! Here are the main sections! Storage, Configuration, Diagnostics and A/A Config!

Each of these sections have some pretty cool things you can do, and are fairly straight forward

And lastly the Active/Active Settings!

I’m not going to go into too much because you can find it yourself when you install the tool, but one thing I wanted to point out which is pretty cool is the Deduplication option! – If you click on Volumes you will be able to start Deduplication right there from the GUI!

Or from a Volume itself..

So, I won’t bore you too much on the details, but feel free to drill down, ask any questions, check out the NetApp Communities where this will be discussed and this blog and twitter! :)

Oh, and don’t forget to download it! :)