The Career I Dreamed of — Product Engineer, Sean Huntley

VMware’s Academy Program has an innovative and immersive approach that’s proven to provide the skills, knowledge, and mentorship graduates need for a successful career. Read on and get to know how Product Engineer Sean Huntley joined VMware, navigated through the Academy Program and found his dream career at VMware.

I first started with VMware in early 2019 as an Associate Consultant on the Professional services team in Sydney. Starting a new career fresh after leaving university can be a little scary! I was nervous that I would not be able to live up to the expectations of my boss and the company. VMware immediately struck me as a company that is deeply concerned about making sure its employees are well looked after so I knew from my very first week, I was in good hands.

I started on the VMware’s Academy Program with other new graduates. It is a six-week learning program that makes sure everyone is on the same page and set up for their roles. Making a whole new group of friends learn and grow with made it a lot of fun too, my favorite part was the escape room and dinners!

After the initial six weeks, we undertook specialized trainings for our roles. I have always loved technology, but I am also a people person at heart and that is why I chose technology consulting. For the first six months of the program, you have your training wheels on. We learned much as we could while shadowing senior consultants and studying for VMware certifications.

I started to feel more confident about myself and the work I was doing. Eventually the training wheels were starting to come off and I was beginning to make an impact on big projects for our customers, something I’d been dreaming of for months! Diving deep into innovative technologies and helping others use them to their full potential was one of the most rewarding parts of my professional services role.

Another highlight for me since joining VMware was participating in VMware’s global Hackathon. Initially, I had no idea where to start, or who to make a team with but I have since learned that VMware is one big family! Everyone has got something to teach you, all you need to do is ask. After a cold email introduction, I joined a team of security experts to form a team for the hackathon. Intense planning, 48 hours coding, and three rounds of judging later, our team were announced as winners of the grand prize!

We were ecstatic with the win and knew we were onto something big. Our core team spent the next year refining our ideas before building a business case to take to senior leadership. As part of the prize, we pitched our invention to executives in Silicon Valley. After a lot of technical, financial, and business validation our team secured funding to build our dream product.

It’s been a whirlwind and we have not come down yet. We are neck-deep in strategy, business development, and of course code. I could never have expected that my career would have taken this turn. The opportunities at VMware are truly everywhere, my experience here so far is a true testament of that