December marks my fourth year at Rackspace and I’m finding myself looking back at how it all started. Someone once told me “reflecting on where you’ve been can help you get to where you want to go.” That has always rung true for me and it might apply to your career as well.
My start at Rackspace was a humble one. I came from a small startup that focused on network security products and SSL certificates. While I was one of the most knowledgeable employees there, I was behind the curve relative to my new Racker teammates. That didn’t last very long. My new team was committed to bringing me up to speed so that I could do more on my own for customers. It spurred my drive to learn and it helped me deliver better results for customers more efficiently.
Hard work combined with strong support from my team helped me earn promotions and I became a Red Hat Certified Engineer and a Certified MySQL Database Administrator. Eager to return the favor, I began teaching MySQL certification classes for Rackers across the company. What surprised me the most from the experience was how much I learned from teaching my co-workers. There was constant dialogue about previous database experiences and the Rackers showed me the strategies that worked well for them.
Later on, I moved onto a new role where I was part manager and part technical mentor for a great group of Linux System Administrators. My biggest challenge in that role was how to balance being a manager and staying technical. Did I lose focus and shift my balance too far in one direction? You bet. With the help of a training class and a great manager as a mentor, I improved and hit my stride.
My most recent change was a move to work on the Slicehost and Cloud Servers products two years ago. I’m in a highly technical position that allows me to be a mentor, a coordinator and an occasional developer. In addition, I have the opportunity to work with customers and assist them with moving their applications.
If you asked me to summarize my time at Rackspace so far, I’d have to say that I’ve learned, I’ve grown and I’ve helped other people do the same. It’s been a truly rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to hitting the five-year mark next December!
Major Hayden is a Linux Systems Engineer at Rackspace working on cloud technologies. His focus is on server virtualization, but he also specializes in system administration as well as database administration. Major is a Red Hat Certified Engineer and a Certified MySQL Database Administrator. Read More »
Connect with Major on Twitter (@RackerHacker)!
Category: Rackers Tags: 4 Years at Rackspace, Career development, Major Hayden, MySQL Database Administrator, Red Hat Certified Engineer
Hi Major,
Interesting posting. Thanks for your thoughts.
You mention that when you moved to the Linux SA group, you lost focus and shifted your attention too far in one direction. That humble admission prompts me to ask a couple questions as I consider a career at Rackspace (I’m currently interviewing…); first, how did you know your efforts were unbalanced? Second, what did you do to remedy the situation? Third, what was the reaction of your manager(s) and teammates as you went through the transition back to balance and focus?
Looking forward to your insight,
Regards,
Allen
Hello Allen,
Thanks for the reply. Actually, I was a Senior Systems Engineer during the time where I lost my focus. The role required me to be a technical escalation point, and mentor, and a manager at the same time. I’ll try to answer your questions in order:
1) How did you know your efforts were unbalanced?
I found that I’d slip a little on the technical side and focus too much on managing. This left my technicians without the mentoring that they needed and it also caused me to get behind in new technology that our customers wanted. I made adjustments to stay technical, but then I found that I wasn’t able to manage people well and I couldn’t keep focus on their goals as well.
2) What did you do to remedy the situation?
First off, I asked for a direct feedback loop with my coworkers. I wanted all of the positive and negative feedback that I could get. Also, I scheduled a balanced amount of time to do various tasks in the areas I was responsible for.
3) How did my teammates/manager react through the transition?
It was very positive. The transition wasn’t going to happen overnight, of course. We found that we could meet in the middle on most of the issues and communication between everyone on the team improved.
Major