Simon Sinek has a great talk - about how great leaders inspire great action. I learned something really important from this talk even through it is almost 10 years old.






By explaining things in the wrong way - we miss the opportunity to make a great impact, to change the world.

1. We usually start with the What.
2. Then the How..
3. And only at the end - we get into the Why...

It should be the other be the reverse.

Following Simon's advice I will start with the why..

Why?

I firmly believe that the future is the public cloud. I believe that we can accomplish so much more, so much faster, when we leave heavy lifting for others. This allows all of us to focus on providing the actual value to our customers without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.

I know that I have a huge amount still to learn, but I also have a huge amount of knowledge, experience and insight that I can share with others. I have been doing this for many years, and see this not only as a way to put bread on the table, but also a way to make a real change in the world.

I want other people to benefit from what I have to give.

How?

I work with teams on how to start their journey to the cloud, how to make use of the technologies available to them. This includes, writing code, continuously learning (myself included), gaining more knowledge, and ultimately sharing that knowledge with others. I have built pipelines, migrated workloads into the cloud, failed miserably in some cases, continuously improved and iterated to get better the whole time.

Working on a regular basis with customers to help them on their journey, through their challenges along the way, celebrate their success stories with them, experience the pain and anguish with their failures / disasters - but above all - to be an advisor for my clients - with their best interests in mind.

What?

The change I have decided to embark on (and the challenge I have decided to accept) is moving my skills and energy in a direction where I feel I can make even more of an impact, help more people, help even more organizations, and not only focus on a single company, but make even a bigger impact.

Starting July 15th I will joining Amazon (Web Services) as a Senior Solutions Architect.

I will be working with an amazing team of solutions architects and talented people in a company that I really believe can change the way we use technology, make it better, more efficient, and do amazing things.

My last day at CyberArk will be June 30th, then I go on a long deserved and well earned vacation for two weeks.

I have learned a huge deal at my time here at CyberArk, worked with amazing people, learned a lot about the security space, their challenges, their fears, their constraints. None of it is easy. It is not a cloud native world and the problems this industry faces are not easy ones to solve, especially in what could be termed as "legacy" environments. For all this knowledge, the insight and experiences over the last year - I am extremely grateful.

I cannot wait for day 1 on July 15th!!!

I am sure you are all familiar with those select few in your company who supposedly have super powers or hidden technological gifts.

Yes, I mean those co-workers who know exactly how to fix the most esoteric issues that no one has come across, ever. Perhaps you share a cubicle with the guy who’s able to conceive of breakthroughs time after time after time. Or maybe you were hired the same month as the woman who can code like no one has coded before, and it’s like reading poetry — smooth, with meaning, and plays on your most inner emotions. Or you’re the manager who hired the weird dude that sits in the basement, who can be woken up at 2:43 am on a Sunday morning after partying endless hours the night before, and still be able to drone off the precise sequence of events that you need in order to prevent your production NoSQL database from exploding … because someone forgot to run maintenance.

Continue reading the rest of the article

The cat is out of the bag. The beginning of a new journey

— Maish Saidel-Keesing (@maishsk) March 20, 2018

A bit of history

After 13 years at Cisco - I have decided to challenge myself and embark on a new adventure.

I first would like to express my gratitude to those who have helped me grow over the years.

Starting out 13 years I was part of the helpdesk at a company called NDS (who was acquired by Cisco about 5 years ago), Supporting users over the phone, servicing desktops and laptops.

From there I moved to the systems group and managing Active Directory and assumed additional responsibilities.  Over the years I architected and deployed one of the largest VMware deployments in Israel, and continued to grow with the technologies within the company, grow professionally to where I am today.

The people I have had the honor to work with over the years, are the greatest resource I will take with me for the future and the one I will miss the most. The crazy projects we pulled off, the outrageous ones that sometimes did not - these are things that I will always cherish.

From every experience over the years, I have learned something new, and it has allowed me to grow. For that I am eternally thankful.

Why am I leaving Cisco?

13 years is a long time to stay at one company and it is time for a change, time for bigger challenge. Cisco has allowed me to grow immensely, pivot to new technologies over the years and play with stuff day in and day out. Leaving was a hard decision, because change is a scary thing, scary for me, scary for anyone. I know the people, I know the company, I know the ropes.

In spite of all this - I needed a change, an opportunity to explore new technologies, new areas of interest

Hello CyberArk!

Starting from Monday, April 16th, I will be assume the position of DevOps & Cloud Architect at CyberArk.    I am really excited to start this new journey.

CyberArk is the only security company laser-focused on striking down targeted cyber threats, those that make their way inside to attack the heart of the enterprise. Dedicated to stopping attacks before they stop business, CyberArk is trusted by the world’s leading companies — including more than 50% of the Fortune 100 — to protect their highest-value information assets, infrastructure and applications.

I will continue to be involved in AWS, branching out in to additional cloud providers as well, and focused on allowing CyberArk to expand their offerings to allow their customers the choice of running a best of breed solution in the location of their choice, and some new and innovative ways of securing their organization and resources in the cloud as well.

(I know that I have neglected this blog for a good part of a year (for a number of reasons) - something that I am going to rectify starting next week)

I am so excited, and hyped to start this new chapter !!!

VMworld is almost upon us. I am personally looking forward mostly to the social networking part and of course also delivering my first VMworld presentation (NET3160-SPO).

I wrote a summary post last year VMworld 2013 has Come and Gone where I described my experience from last year.

Today I would like to touch on a slightly sensitive topic – because it is a two edged sword (so bear with me please).

VMworld is the place where everyone comes to – it is the VMware show of the year, attendance grows each and every year and sometimes it makes me wonder if something new –0 something that has not yet been done before – will happen at this years show. Any and every vendor that is connected with VMware in some way will probably be there.

Have you ever noticed how many people change companies after VMworld? It is not something that I have performed a scientific study on – I do not have exact numbers.

It dawned on me – after a few conversations in the hang space last year - that several people were there to look how to advance their career. Some of them had specifically set up meetings during the show in order to interview candidates or to apply for a position.

And that is quite natural. I think that many of the vendors at the show are looking to recruit talent, talent that they have the option to meet in person, get to know them and see if they are a “match made in heaven”.

I will not be naming any names (of companies or individuals), but I distinctly remember at least two vendors that had recruiting agents at their booths, on the Solutions Exchange floor.

One individual (who asked to remain anonymous) answered my question.

Q: Do you know of any other people who changed companies as a result of attending VMworld?

A: Not specifically because of VMworld. I think the changes were already underway, or people were already thinking about it before VMworld. It just happens that a lot of key people end up being at VMworld. So I think it's more a result of everyone being together at one place that helps make things happen.I'm sure the other big trade shows are the same as well.

Matthew Brender also got back to me with this answer (and he was so kind to offer that you contact him if you have additional questions)

Q: Did you change companies as a result of an offer you got during / after VMworld?

A: My job shift didn't have to do with VMworld directly, but is a direct result from attending for the last few years. It's connected me into the pieces of the tech community that lead me down a path. I began looking at VMworld and received incredible mentorship there.

.. I'm not sure of anyone who can trace their transition right back to VMworld. What I appreciate about that point is something I think you believe as well: your social good will does not come to a climax at VMworld. Success in our space is about *continually showing up.* Dots are connected at shows, though bonds are built over time. You can't leapfrog the required effort.

I do think it opens up possibilities, quite a few – but that does not mean that just because you attend VMworld you will get a great job somewhere else. It does take time, a lot of effort and patience to build those relationships, maintain them and sometimes those connections will advance you personally and professionally – but perhaps not.

Why I mentioned the double edged sword before – is because it might be possible that when a manager would read this post they might say,

“I don’t want to send my employees to VMworld – they will get snatched away”.

This could be a valid concern. I would like to stress that this is not the purpose of this post and also why this concern should not affect your decision to send members of your team to VMworld.

1. If you are afraid that you might lose your staff as a result of them being snatched up – then they were not yours to begin with. A satisfied employee will stay where he is – and this usually means they are happy with what they do, have security, are compensated well and have a career path in the company. If this is not the case – then they would probably leave sometime – so VMworld was just an opportunity that presented itself – and not the reason.
2. Your employees will learn SO MUCH at the show, which I think outweighs (by a ton) the concern that they might go somewhere else. The benefits you will gain from them attending, the benefits your business will gain, the personal benefits your employees will gain from attending are well worth, the satisfaction, the energy, the motivation to try new things learned at the show, outweigh your concerns.

So for those attending VMworld this year – my advice to you would be go out there – and meet people, talk to people, eat lunch (if its edible) with people, chat with others even if you do not know them, you never how the person next to you help you advance your career.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below!

And yeah, one more thing. Stop playing the whole time with your phone!

See you all in 10 days!!