So, I've done the unthinkable - I've decided to go to work for a company again. This time its EqualLogic, the storage manufacturer from Nashua NH that is best known as an iSCSI company, but their (our) technology goes too far beyond iSCSI to be limited by the assumptions that usually go along with iSCSI. Enough on that topic for now, there will probably be lots more on this topic in the months to come.
People have asked, why would a guy who has proclaimed to be unmanageable and unable to work for anybody else go back to work again in a corporate environment shlepping products? The answer is easy; as an analyst/free lance writer, the only way I was able to sustain an income was to shlep products for clients. I should mention that it is possible to make some money writing books, but its never as much as people think it is and the amount of work is extreme. Its not exactly a great business model. Writing for magazines and e-zines doesn't pay either. In the final analysis, I was destined to be a product shlepper.
In the course of my work, there are some products that I really got excited about such as EqualLogic's PS Series and IBM's SAN Volume Controller or Prostor's RDX, but there were a LOT of other products that couldn't fire my imagination to the same degree. Over time, I discovered I wasn't very good at shlepping mediocre products or companies - there was usually something far more interesting in my sphere such as a hot dog stand, video game or a nap.
So I was approached to go to work by somebody that I probably shouldn't mention - but it was real flattering and I was real interested and all that and I liked their ideas and their business and everything a whole lot, but I had made a promise to Don Bulens (CEO at EqualLogic) that if I ever considered going to work again, I would give him a shot at hiring me. So that's how it went down; somebody else got me tipped into thinking about going to work and Don created a position for me that I couldn't really refuse - customer advocate guy.
So now I get to go talk to customers and figure out what they want, what they don't want, talk to them about how they work, what interests them and catches their attention - what they think they will be doing 2, 3, 5 years from now and all the sorts of things people expected me to know as an analyst - but never had the ability to do. I can't believe that somebody is actually going to pay me to do this. Of course I can't believe that more companies don't hire more people to do this sort of thing.
So call or write if you get the urge, we can talk about all kinds of things: storage, business continuity, e-discovery, subsystem architectures, virtualization, the worst world series in history, cat behavior, remote copy and replication, favorite movies, dual parity RAID, whatever. I'm sure we can help each other and have a little fun along the way.
My contact info:
mfarley@equallogic.com
marc@buildingstorage.com
408-210-7931 (cell)
