Name: Kong Yang
Blog URL: www.DellTechCenter.com
Twitter: @KongYang
Employer: Dell Inc.
How did I get into IT?
I got into IT for the love of the games- single player, multi-player, shooters, sports, RPGs, MUDs. It started with my first system, a 12MHz x86 16-bit white box. It was supposed to be used for schoolwork but it was re-purposed for gaming. I continued on this path by taking computer science programming classes in high school to get access to the networked labs for “coding” purposes, where coding equals gaming. During my undergraduate years, I became a lab admin of the Mechanical Engineering lab so that I could play networked Warcraft II. And I really haven’t stopped doing IT since.
How did I get into working with VMware & becoming a 2011 vExpert?
I was member of the technical staff in the Dell OCTO when I had my first exposure to VMware GSX and ESX Server. My responsibilities in the Dell OCTO included performance analysis of x86 systems and application solution stacks. So when an opportunity arose to architect and deliver Dell’s first virtualization advisor tool, I transitioned into the Global Virtualization Solutions Engineering team to lead the effort. My focus was to study and understand the performance overhead of running Tier 1 applications on VMware ESX Server on Dell Solution stacks. The results culminated in Dell’s first reference architecture technical whitepaper and a VMworld presentation in 2007 around Microsoft Exchange on ESX with my friend, Todd Muirhead. Currently, I am a Dell TechCenter evangelist. I converse with and create meaningful technical content for customers about Dell and VMware Solution stacks.
What would I tell someone who wanted to get a job like mine to do?
- Do what you love and love what you do – be passionate about IT, technologies and socializing with people.
- Know your IT and do IT – there is no substitute for experience and know-how.
- Build your trusted network of techie friends, peers, colleagues and resources – know whose info you can trust; and if you don’t know something around IT, how quickly can your network help bring you up to speed on IT.
- Strength and honor – policies, processes & people-in-charge change; but your principles should never waver.
Finally, I believe that if you have meaningful conversations and create compelling technical content tailored to customer needs and pain points, customers will be shaking your hand more often and less likely to look at your throat to choke.
