If you’re part of the VMware community, there’s a good chance you’ve seen an insightful social media post, blog, or email written by Tina Krogull.
A Senior TAM based in Germany, Tina spends much of her time working with customers, specializing in multi-cloud solutions. She’s also made her name known around VMware as a vExpert, where she helps others build their own VMware knowledge, and as a CTO Ambassador, a designation awarded to VMware’s top customer-facing technologists.
When she’s not assisting a customer or fellow VMware enthusiast, she’s growing her expertise in the VMware suite — including the VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification in Data Center Virtualization that she’s already earned, and her ongoing learning in VMware Carbon Black, which she hopes will enhance the security recommendations she can offer to customers.
Tina’s widespread contributions to VMware and the tech world are rooted in her lifelong curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and optimizing systems.
Climbing the ladder
Tina got her first exposure to computers during a three-year apprenticeship as an industrial clerk. The role required her to use a computer for purchasing, logistics, and other responsibilities, which sparked her interest in computer systems. “The first time I got into touch with computers was when I noticed that it’s interesting. I want to learn more and want to understand this because I’ve always been curious about how things work,” she recalled thinking.
Her desire to understand how technology worked was also inspired by her husband, a computer builder who could always figure out how to put a device together and make it operational. His journey through tech motivated Tina to pursue her own aspirations within the industry. Her hard work eventually led to her first position at Novell in anti-piracy investigation and later as a systems engineer, an accomplishment she considers one of her favorite memories. From there she did web design and development – always with her sights on the next challenge.
As Tina advanced through her career, her managers recognized not only her technical skills and willingness to learn, but also her ability to connect with colleagues and help them see their career potential. She joined VMware as a TAM in July 2019, allowing her to combine her passions for tech and helping others.
As a TAM, she prioritizes not only understanding her customers’ technology needs but also getting to know them on a personal level to offer the best service possible. “You have to get to know the customer. You have to understand where they have the pain points. You have to understand what they’re working on and you have to understand what their company goal is,” she advised.
When asked what gets her up in the morning, she said she’s motivated by the challenge of addressing each customer’s unique goals and applying learnings from one customer to another.
“You can’t say OK, work with customer A, B, C and just have a template because every customer is as individual as every human being is individual. But you do see similar topics or something that you collaborated on with one customer you can use with another. This is what makes it fun to start every morning and see what’s next.”
A changing industry
While Tina has been successful in tech, she’s faced many of the same obstacles as other women in the industry.
She highlighted the pressure many women feel to prove themselves to male colleagues, including during tech events where they’re often asked to present to a predominantly male audience. “I had to make sure I’m a little bit more fascinating than the other speakers because it was like, ‘OK, there’s a woman on stage. What is she going to talk about?’ Because if you looked into the audience, there were hardly any women. So, I had to find a way to make myself more interesting than the other speakers and to prove at the same time I know what I’m talking about.”
However, she believes tech “quietly has changed” over the years. She commends tech companies like VMware that award positions based on performance and push to hire more women — changes she believes are making tech more accessible for the next generation of talent.
“I think what has changed is yes, there are still a lot of areas where you haven’t met any women but at the same time, we have so many great young women who are interested in going into IT, and they find their way. They don’t care about any obstacles because they know they have the same value as their male colleagues and some of them sometimes are more motivated because they want to prove they can do it.”
Chasing new challenges
Despite her packed VMware schedule, Tina finds time outside of work to spend time with her husband and two cats. She’s an avid crafter as well, creating t-shirts and other items with her handy Cricut machine. She also likes to share that she worked as a cat behavior consultant for 10 years, helping cat owners “understand why the cats are doing stupid things,” she joked.
While she’s satisfied with her endeavors in the artistic and feline worlds for now, she’s excited to continue forging her path and taking advantage of new opportunities at VMware.
“This is what makes it so unique to work at VMware. You have challenges not only work-wise but also to develop your personality to grow for yourself, to grow as a person.”
