For all the times we stood together ..
Walking away from a place you love should be hard.
If it is, then what you did there was real, the people you worked with and had come to respect, admire, cherish, were meaningful to the fabric of your life; they mattered. A lot.
And that makes it hard to walk away from, as it should be.
After nearly 7 years, Friday, August 31, was my last day at VMware. I fought back tears as I exited the CSG building on the Palo Alto campus. I caved as I started to drive away.
This was hard. Like real hard. As it should have been.
VMware is a beautiful company.
From its founding to the current day, its inventions and innovations have changed the face of computing; literally realized in virtual technologies that enable efficiencies that were flat out impossible with physical hardware alone, and singularly contributed to the foundation for the enormously impactful cloud computing industry.
VMware’s commitment to the environment is real, materialized in many ways, one of which is manifested in the majority of the biodegradable and recyclable materials with which the sprawling Palo Alto campus is constructed, as well the eco sensitive practices that govern its maintenance.
VMware’s charitable contributions are meaningful, broad and humane. The VMware Foundation empowers every employee with a trusted vehicle to make a multiplier contribution to a charity of their choosing, every year.
But most of all, its EPIC2 values are embodied in a workforce of people who are smart, passionate professionals, who care about the impact their work has on the customers they serve.
Which leads back to the people I worked with there, overall, but most specifically, VMware’s Cloud Management business unit.
Building products of any kind that add true value is a difficult undertaking. At day’s end, the single greatest differentiating factor for companies, organizations and teams that fulfil the goal of shipping great product, are the people that come together as a team.
Which inevitably calls upon them to work through inumerable obstacles, and seemingly insurmountable challenges, that are as much human and cultural, as they are technical and functional. Somewhere along the way, doubt yields to grit, skepticism yields to trust, respect morphs to friendships that nurtured well, last a lifetime.
And in so doing, deliver to their customers things that are of lasting value.
I was privileged to work with and amongst the finest group of people I have known in my professional experience. The friendships created there will I believe endure far beyond the tenure I enjoyed there; many I hope for my lifetime.
And in all the times we stood together, I felt that we could fly.
