Name: Chuck Mills
Blog URL: www.vchuck.com
Twitter: @vchuckmills
Current Employer: Gantech, Inc.
How did you get into IT?
I was working in the lab for a paint company. They purchased a system to shade large batches of production paint. I was asked to be in charge of the project. I was going to night school and decided to take a course on Data Processing (yes, it was that long ago) and after that first class I knew what I wanted as a career. That was 1978 and I have worked in this wonderful industry ever since.
How did you get into working with VMware and becoming a vExpert?
I read an article by Chad Dickerson (InfoWorld – Super Desktop) in May of 2003 about VMware Workstation. I knew this was going to be a game changer. I actually purchased Virtual PC from Connectix before switching to Workstation 2.0 soon after. Earlier in my career I had searched for ways to extend the use of PCs and worked with Multi-boot and other products that gave me the ability to run different OS on the same system. VMware Workstation gave me the multiple OS solution and all at the same time! I created a solution in 2004 using virtual PCs and PCAnywhere that was similar to a current VDI solution as documents in The Langa List dated May 20th 2004. In my previous two positions as Director of IT, I created 100% virtual datacenters. I now focus on the End User Computing solutions with my current employer as an Innovation Architect. I now spread to word about how VMware has created many successful solutions for me and many other companies I have worked with. I have presented at several national conferences including VMworld 2009.
What would you tell someone who wanted to get a job like yours to do.
If you have worked in the physical world with servers and or desktops, you need to approach problems differently when you have virtualization as an option. I have seen several “virtual” solution that mirror a physical environment and it does not take advantage of the strengths of virtualization. There are many cases documented on how to use virtualization to create good solutions. Do a lot of planning before putting something together. There is a lot of good information out there. Use the knowledge that others have shared. Take the time to learn as much as you can, this is wonderful and powerful technology.
