Amy Agnew is an expert at scaling the most challenging peaks, both as an avid hiker in her home state of Colorado and as an experienced support professional in the world of IT.
At the beginning of her career, Amy never planned to enter tech. However, a misrouted job application landed Amy her first IT role, where she quickly discovered her passion for using technology to help others. She soon climbed to the top of her field and joined VMware, where she’s been a valuable partner to customers for nine years.
Throughout her career, one motto has embodied her career philosophy best: “Learn what you’re doing in the moment, do it to the best of your ability, and help people along the way.”
Off the beaten path
Amy got her first IT experience in college while working as an admin for a small video production company. The job required her to develop fundamental computer skills to accommodate new devices and networks, which piqued her interest in technology.
When she learned the owners planned to sell the business, she applied for a media production assistant position at her local school district — or so she thought. Her application ended up on the desk of another manager instead, and they offered her a role working in a computer lab with first- and second-grade students.
Though it was not her original plan, Amy embraced the opportunity. Working with the technology available in the lab enabled her to develop new technical skills, and she loved the invigorating challenges the tech presented: “I’ve always been someone who you can give to manual or instructions, and I’ll figure out how to make it work.”
She also enjoyed the hands-on support the role required. “I like to help people,” she said. “Ultimately, if someone has a problem or a situation that needs fixing, I like to bring in the right resources, whether it’s me or another person.”
After a year, Amy was so engrossed by tech that she transitioned to providing full-time PC tech support for the school district’s devices and workstations. She even worked on a major, district-wide software deployment that required specific parameters and setups for numerous computers during the time there were minimal options to deploy to multiple workstations at once, and you had to deploy an image to one PC at a time. This valuable learning opportunity confirmed her interest in exploring tech further.
Her newfound passion inspired her to obtain a formal IT education. The district supported her goal by offering a tuition reimbursement program, enabling her to earn a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from Regis University.
Amy continued to advance in positions and ultimately became one district’s senior system administrators and oversaw IT for all schools and central operating services. After nearly 16 years, she decided to pursue a leadership and people management path with a new opportunity and challenge, landing an IT manager position at a Colorado hospital and later at VMware with the Global Support team.
Reaching new heights
Amy’s first role at VMware was in technical support management, which gave her valuable experience in understanding customers’ evolving needs and how to address them with innovative solutions.
Now, she is a VMware Support Project Manager for the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) team. She describes her position as the “quarterback” for customers’ support experiences, ensuring measurable progress toward IT objectives and lending a helping hand if an issue arises.
While some would shy away from tackling customer challenges head-on or reevaluating years-old workflows, Amy is motivated daily by the opportunity to streamline technologies and processes. She has been particularly excited to continue refining the VMware support experience with her team.
“As a result of our recent acquisition, we’re taking the opportunity to review and simplify, from a support perspective, and our support delivery to customers. Going forward within the VCF Division, we will be a lot more streamlined and more concise and efficient in terms of our day-to-day operations, which, for me, feels refreshing.”
Amy is so enthusiastic about improving the customer support experience that she recently completed her master’s degree in Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change (OLPC) from Colorado State University.
“Delivering and engaging with customers in a fast-paced tech world posed challenges for us as we navigated change and aimed to improve their support experience. Receiving feedback from stakeholders, executing change, training, and effective communication have always intrigued me. It was part of my role and part of my curiosity, so when I found this intriguing program at CSU, I went for it.”
She looks forward to celebrating her graduation this May along with her oldest son, who is graduating from CU Boulder, and her 18 year old twin sons, who are finishing high school as well this spring.
Blazing a new trail
When she’s not supporting VMware staff and customers or furthering her tech education, you will find Amy traveling, hiking, spending time with family and friends, golfing, gardening, raising her chickens, or tending to her two beehives. This summer, she is heading to Peru with her family to climb Machu Picchu, adding to her already impressive resume of 17 Colorado 14,000 ft mountains she has summited.
Despite her incredible success blazing trails inside and outside of work, she acknowledges that many challenges and exciting opportunities remain for women in tech.
She called attention to IT’s high ratio of men to women and the barriers women tech professionals face to make their voices heard. Yet, she still believes women have a critical part and unique skills to play in technical fields moving forward.
“As a woman in tech, I think my ability to collaborate and communicate effectively has been a significant advantage. I definitely feel that I have a good pulse for people. If I notice someone who seems like they’re not quite on the same page as everyone else or who’s asking questions that make me think they’re not quite aligned, I’m quick to step in and help make sure everyone’s on the same page and working together towards the same goal.”
She encourages aspiring women in IT to do their research, be bold, learn as they go, find the support you need and, most importantly, ask questions, research, and collaborate to find the information needed to achieve the task at hand.
“Technology today touches everything. If there is a particular area you’re interested in, seek to learn more, ask for a mentor, ask to shadow someone, just continue to learn as much as possible! Throughout my career at the school district and the short time I spent at the hospital before coming to VMware, I asked if I had questions. Even if it wasn’t necessarily in the direct wheelhouse of my day-to-day, asking questions to be able to learn helped me build a better understanding of the overall picture and the reasons behind what we are doing.”
Learn more
In honor of International Women’s Month, we are sharing the stories of several women making an impact in tech and IT. Check out our recent feature on VCF Director of Professional Services Product Management Rebecca Aquino.
