So I have been in Palo Alto all week with my co-worker and close, if not best friend Kris Boyd and I got to thinking, this week marks a milestone anniversary for both of us. Exactly 6 years ago this week Kris and I met for the first time at VMware Start Training. We were attending with about 100 other new hires in the small buildings over on Deer Creek. The interesting thing is the following facts I recall after 6 years here.
When I first stepped foot on the main campus there was only the four original buildings. The gym was under construction and there was no other buildings in process. Kris and I both started in training as PSO consultants, and have grown through the ranks and roles of VMware together. We met for the first time at Start training and even decided to be room mates at our first sales kickoff. That was back when we had to share rooms.
We’ve stayed close friends and co-workers ever since and gave grown to our current careers in the company. I’ve always followed the infrastructure track and Kris has always been Desktop/EUC. Funny enough we moved into new roles within months of each other always following the same path, finally both landing in the business units we are in today. We’ve seen the company grow, we’ve seen multiple product launches, but the coolest of all….we’ve been great friends.
When we started here Kris just turned 30, so it’s only fitting that 6 years later on the same week we met I realized in a few weeks in January I will turn 40. We are old men in this business it seems. We’ve always been individual contributors, but we’ve matured, learned, and grown throughout the years. I’m proud to have met such an awesome friend those 6 years ago, and I am happy to even call his daughter my niece. Tonight we both fly home as we did 6 years ago, him to Vegas, and me back to snow.
What I also recall that week was a massive snow storm back home and Julie ran the tractor and snowblower for the first time without me being there. She did it with no help or instruction from me and the reason I mention this is that I was reminded today that “She can do it”. She does not always need my help, and she’s very capable of doing things on her own. When she reads this she will know what I am referring to.