Do What You Love; Love What You Do!

I still have a sales trophy from 16 years ago. My daughter was born 3 months before and I was still trying to get back on my feet after the “Internet bubble burst” from 2 years prior got me a ‘RIF package’ from IBM.

A little backstory about the time in between: I had moved to Philadelphia in August of 2001 and went high rise to high rise trying to sell phone lines and DSL. I had also gotten my Series 7 (big fan of Wall Street and Boiler Room) only to find out that the movies lied!  I was cold calling retired people and unemployed people at home. When I had enough,  I moved back to the DC area in 2003 at the age of 28 with a newborn and got a great job at NTT Verio back doing what I knew and loved – selling managed hosting and colocation.

Why Did I Love It?

We were a bunch of goofs trying to find our way in the world of Hosting. It was the greatest job I ever had. I didn’t really mind the DC traffic which turned my one way commute into a minimum of 60 minutes…Times were good….I had Howard Stern on regular radio for my morning drive and Don and Mike or the junkies for the ride home.

I loved showing up early in the morning and looking forward to seeing that ‘messages’ light blinking dollar signs with another client looking to add more servers or a new client saying that they are moving forward with a proposal. The people I worked with, and for, were great and felt like family. I still keep in contact with most of them and they have all had great successes in their career with most staying in the IT world.

The reason I am blabbing/bragging about my 3 year stint at NTT was because that was a ‘job’ that didn’t feel like work and it felt good. ‘They’ always talk about having a job you love and never having to work….well I have longed for that feeling since the mid-2000s.

After NTT, I worked for a national VAR for over 8 years building partnerships.  And while I loved the job; the company didn’t give me the same feeling.  If the culture isn’t right, enthusiasm will be lacking.  You cannot manufacture or force excitement.

Growing a Company

That was a very long intro to announce the I HAVE FOUND IT AGAIN. I have been with SUSE Global Services for 18 months now and the excitement is palpable. The future has never looked brighter and it’s contagious. I am not talking about just in my career, but in the future of SUSE. Fridays aren’t a thing anymore and I welcome Mondays! I know that it is OK to call people again to get collaboration going. Instead of bosses, I have mentors. Mentors who will open doors and welcome ideas.

I haven’t ‘worked’ in over a year, but that doesn’t mean that we are not moving forward. Managing a team of 12 of the smartest, brightest and most awesome consultants in all of Open Source and the IT universe,  I am involved in multiple projects.  Projects that will affect how SUSE goes into the future and people are listening.

Within Global Services, we are reshaping ourselves and our offerings (more on that to come) to align with your needs.  We are disrupting the business and daring to be different.

Culture Matters!

SUSE gives everyone a voice and everyone can make a change and that is SO exciting! It all starts at the top; the addition of Melissa Di Donato and her inclusion of everyone is like nothing I have ever seen before.

Company culture resonates organically. It doesn’t matter if you are reading this as a current client, future client or a current partner, future partner, or a current employee, future employee then you will all feel the effects.  I’ve been through many different sales trainings and it doesn’t matter if you are on the phone or in person….People hear your smile.

Our #daretobedifferent culture at SUSE will be felt in the universe – It’s time to get on board and be a part of the open, open source company.  Learn more about SUSE and our current openings; be a part of something great!