I came to join Rackspace in what is a pretty usual way – another Racker saw something in me that they thought was interesting and that I would be a fit for the culture.  They worked on me for a couple months until I finally applied.

I was hired as the Director of Software Development for the Rackspace Cloud (then known as Mosso).  I had a fairly small team of very young and bright developers.  I quickly became close friends with many of them, as I am apt to do with most employees.  This boss/friend relationship at Rackspace is not unusual, and wasn’t the cause of me quickly changing roles.

I love customers.  I always have.  And it is very difficult to give up any passion.

I was hired to manage developers and projects – people and things.

I would rather focus on people.  The “things” part quickly became a problem for me.

The truth – looking back at it now – is that I just sucked at it.  My heart was in “who” we were writing software for, and not the software.  I loved my team – people are easy to love, but I did not love my role.  I was unhappy building software – I wanted to build something I could get feedback on NOW – like customer satisfaction.

So as the Director of Software Development I found myself doing things like talking to customers on Twitter, in our forums and on the phone.  I spent a lot more time on our blog than on our road map.  Almost anything but developing software.

I think most companies would have asked me to go find another job – but Rackspace recognized what I was good at – even though it was not what they thought I was good at when I was hired.  I was a customer guy.  I still am.

Today I manage our Social Media efforts – making sure we stay centered on being helpful.  I manage a number of ways we reach out to current and future customers.  I manage building43.com and Robert Scoble and Rocky Barbanica – two Rackers that I was involved in hiring.  I manage relationships with a ton of high profile customers and friends of Rackspace.

But mostly I make sure customers are happy.  I love talking to them.  I give my home phone number out on Twitter at least weekly (210-370-3861) – and my cell number is easy to find (210-845-4440).  I’m always working.  If I am awake, I want to talk to a customer.  I love being helpful.

Rackspace recognized this in me before I did.  They suggested a dramatically different role.

Today, I am close to approaching my second year as a Racker.  I am also nearly a 7-year customer.  Rackspace recognized a strength I didn’t realize I had – and they let me run with it and see where it took me.

I can’t go into details in this post on where this shift has taken me (but you can find me in a city near you!).  I’m extremely pleased to get paid to help people.  I get paid to do what I love to do.

Find that, and you find more than a career.

Rob LaGesse heads up social media efforts at Rackspace.  His passion is taking care of customers and he goes to great lengths to do so.

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