Occasionally, I will be asked why I work at Rackspace. I love working here because what I do for a living is what I do for fun!
I get to engage with some really cool technology, especially when working with Cloud Servers. I love to explain how Cloud Servers work and hear the customer at the other end of the phone line start to realize how he or she can leverage the power of scalability in the cloud.
I get to contribute to open source projects. We have RPM maintainers contributing to the IUS Community repository. We have MySQL DBAs writing the Holland project. We track in Redmine, github or SVN. We have numerous developers working with OpenStack. Do you know who else works on OpenStack with us? NASA. How cool is that?!
I get to work with a great team. We really believe that our team members should be treated like you would treat a family member or close friend. We believe it so strongly it’s a core value that drives our company. I’ve helped Rackers with medical bills, moving to a new apartment, charity drives, and more. It’s just a part of our culture.
Most importantly, I get to solve issues for our customers. Sometimes customers just want simple thing: a user added or a MySQL database created. Other times, however, they ask you to build a configuration that will power their business. They ask you to help them scale up, scale out or both! They ask you to figure out what their team hasn’t been able to figure out for 2 weeks. When you do, and the customer says thank you, it means the world.
I love working at Rackspace, because what I do for a living is what I do for fun! What else could I ask for?
Hart is a Linux Systems Administrator currently working for the Rackspace Cloud, serving customers on the Managed Service team. He began working at Rackspace in September 2007 as a member of the after hours team for Managed Hosting. Hart is a Red Hat Certified Engineer and an Ubuntu Certified Professional.
Outside of work, Hart loves following the Texas Longhorns and San Antonio Spurs. He also enjoys hunting and fishing in the Texas Hill Country.
