When I was 14 I got my first tech job as a tech support guy for a local “mom and pop” internet service provider, from there on out I have been in many data centers in the North West working with multiple companies of all caliber. From National Dial-up Internet Service Providers to small webhosting companies that have had their stuff collocated in many of the area’s datacenters.

When I was about 20 I decided I was burnt out on the internet and wanted to try Central Office build outs for a national telecommunications company installing their fiber and DSL network in Washington and Oregon. The one thing that I learned in the Telco industry is to do nice and neat work. Work that you could trace a single cable in a bundle and follow it from point A to point B.
After a few years of doing the same thing over and over, I figured it was time for me to get back into the Internet as it was way more challenging for my ever-thinking mind.

So I took my nice and neat skills and worked on a contract for Microsoft building out a data center in a top secret location in the Puget Sound. This was by far one of the nicest and cleanest datacenters I had ever seen. After that I went to work for some other area datacenters doing systems administration work. I helped them do a migration of two datacenters into one. I helped build out a datacenter, and I helped by trying to make the datacenter as nice as Microsoft’s along with as neat as the Telephone companies COs.

During this time I really noticed SoftLayer Technologies was Ahead of the Rest when it came to the internet utility hosting Industry. I quickly wanted to learn everything about this company, and being the nerd that I am, figured I should buy a server from this company. I Bought one and went to lunch thinking I might have a call or e-mail saying that my server will be done here within the day. Wow! 45 minutes later? “These guys are on top of it”, I thought.
Then one day I was browsing Webhostingtalk.com (this is my equivalent to your teenager’s myspace.com addiction) and noticed that SoftLayer just released a P.R. about signing a deal with InterNAP for a 10,000 server datacenter in Tukwila so I figured this company’s features are so freaking amazing and cool. “I just need to try to get a job at this location with this really cool company”, I said to myself. I sent off a Resume and a little info about myself. I did not hear back from them for a while. I figured my quick-witted humor may have rubbed the HR department the wrong way, or maybe I wasn’t qualified, or too qualified.

SoftLayer finally called me back. I was as happy as a 10 year old getting a dirt bike for his birthday — they wanted an interview.
So I go in and tour the facility and do my interview with the interviewing committee, I have to say it was one of the most intense interviews I have ever had with the technical questions that was asked along with just a hard interview process, though I left that day knowing I would be getting a call from SoftLayer as I felt I sold myself to them on my skillset.

I have to say it is really relaxing and challenging working for a world-class company in a world-class datacenter. There is a great deal of stress that comes with our job in this industry, and when the datacenter and management have everything in order from the get go and it hasn’t been patched together it makes your job as a Systems Administrator a little less stressful. I do my daily walks of the datacenter in Seattle looking at thousands and thousands of racked servers that are set to standards which is weird when I’ve worked for places that use motorcycle tie-downs and zip ties to secure your rack to make them ‘Earthquake’ ready.

I now sleep at night knowing if there is an earthquake we will be prepared and your data and machines will be safe in SoftLayer’s Seattle N+1 datacenter. We have a wonderful team of build engineers and systems administrators that work around the clock to keep your virtual datacenter up and running. I wouldn’t want to be at any other place for 40+ hours a week!

3 bars for life!

I am one of the new guys in the Seattle datacenter. Since I started, people often ask me that question or some variation of it. The short answer: It’s wonderful, I love it.

The long answer is…well, long.

First some background! I’m a recent addition to the IT industry. Since I joined the workforce, I’ve worked in fast food, security, retail, and even a call center. After my call center job, I decided to take my computer hobby and turn it into a career. I received my associates degree and found that I really needed employment. Luckily, my school helped me search.

For almost three months, I received calls from IT recruiters. I interviewed with 4 companies. I finally had a position lined up that was very promising.

Then my Career Services recruiter called, asking if I wanted to come in for an on-site interview, as SoftLayer was interested in recruiting students. I was hesitant, as I already had a position lined up. She convinced me to interview anyway. The day before the interview, she sent me tons of information about SoftLayer. After poking around, I found the InnerLayer. (Has this come full circle or what?)

After reading a few blogs, I realized that SoftLayer had the perfect corporate culture for me.

The next day I interviewed. Joshua Rushe, VP of Operations conducted the interview. He was warm, friendly, and very down to earth. In some ways it was the strangest interview I’ve ever had. Josh appeared to be more interested in me as a person, than my qualifications. (Of course, he had already seen my résumé.) I was more than a little shocked when he ignored my prepared portfolio. We spent most of the interview time talking about the work, what SoftLayer expected out of an employee, and SoftLayer’s corporate culture.

Here I am, 2.5 months later, and I love my position.

So enough of background! What’s it like to work at SoftLayer?

We work hard, and we play hard. In the few moments between working hard, when we have the time, we joke around and have fun. SoftLayer recently flew myself and a co-worker down to Dallas to work alongside the great people down there. I learned a great deal. For instance, I learned at the cable labeling party in Dallas that we can work hard and have fun at the same time!

The people are helpful and friendly. The work is challenging and rewarding. It’s nice to know at the end of the day that I’ve done my part to help the internet grow.

Somebody…Anybody…I need a Whataburger!!

If you haven’t been to a Whataburger, I’m sorry. It’s an amazing fast food chain that sells not only the freshest made-to-order burgers, but they’re also open 24-hours a day, and their breakfast is second to none (Chris Menard has a clinical addiction to their taquitos). The problem with this is that they only exist in the South. I’m in the North. In Seattle, Washington to be precise—accompanied by our go-live team to manage our newest datacenter and make sure the launch goes smoothly.

On the bright side (no pun intended, it hasn’t stopped raining since we landed), it has. We have assembled an amazing team, the datacenter is absolutely spectacular, and the locals have been very friendly. Efficiencies we have built into our normal daily operations over the last two years have basically allowed us to “drag and drop” our datacenters as needed, where they are needed without having to reinvent the wheel every time we launch. Since the deployment is simple, we can focus on service upgrades—like the latest 40-Gigabit rack-level connections—while we roll out a new facility. Connectivity you could use…say…to look for a Whataburger near you http://www.whataburger.com/one_near_you.php (I look every day). We’ve already flown through our first historic Seattle Truck Day, and had a second one to boot. We’re provisioning droves of machines for new and current customers who are taking advantage of our network architecture, tools, and StorageLayer to create their own custom solutions. In a nutshell, we have brought a new DC online and maintained the ability to provide our customers with the same cutting edge hardware and innovative utilities that they have come to expect in Dallas.

On the darker side, with everything is going so well, it leaves a lot of time to sit and think about a tasty Whataburger. With jalapenos. And bacon. Ugh.

Seattle baby! That’s what’s next. With that being said I thought I would blog about Tom Hanks. I know you wish you had thought of this one too. I chose him because I figure he has done enough movies and other things that I can actually have enough content and he did do “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” and they are both closely related to our expansion. Why, you ask? Right now we have a few guys in Seattle installing cage nuts — 17,280 to be exact. That is 1 cage nut installed every 5 seconds for 24 hours straight (Sleepless!). I hate that I am missing out on that fun. Writing blogs is nice too I suppose.
So here we go Tom Hanks and Softlayer!

Softlayer works because we are all “Bosom Buddies”. We all get along. Hopefully all of us will continue to be famous afterwards and not just half of us. That would make for a lot of “Happy Days” in the future. We also have quite a few “Family Ties” as we have a brother/sister pair (Fleitman), and 3 brother pairs (Kinman/Laude/Guerra/Harris) and we can’t forget the Father/Son set (Rushe) family keeps things fun and busy! If we continue to grow at this rate we will all be making a “Splash” soon when we leave our competitors in the dust. When that happens we will have a party to rival the likes of the “Bachelor Party” and we can invite “The Man with One Red Shoe” and will need some “Volunteers” to serve the Hors D’oeuvres.

I bet most of you didn’t know that Tom Hanks was in “Real Genius” but I will use it anyway because we really do have some real geniuses here (Everyone take a bow). This keeps us from turning into a “Money Pit” and on the top of our game. I could say that before Softlayer all of us would have been just a bunch of guys with “Nothing in Common” but it seems that “Every Time We Say Goodbye” we seem to end up back together. Even having to go through the “Dragnet” is worth it, because we all want to be “Big” and have the last laugh in the “Punchline”.

We all drive in from “The Burbs” almost daily just to make sure we make our customers happy and we let the kids watch “Turner and Hooch” on the in-car DVD on the way to daycare. Once we get here we keep the “Joe Versus the Volcano” attitude and will take on any problem and get it solved.
To keep it light, once a year we go play in Muenster and Sam cooks up the BBQ on “The Bonfire of the Vanities” and we pig out and have a blast. There are some great “Tales from the Crypt” after those parties. Sam and his cooking crew won 3rd place last year and that puts them truly in “A League of Their Own”.
Meanwhile the guys are still “Sleepless in Seattle” and Lance is spending his nights thinking of the next location. I really doubt it will be “Philadelphia” at least I hope not, too many Eagles up there. Go Cowboys!

Note: I am pretty sure I am the “Forrest Gump” of Softlayer. I think Gump had ADHD like me and that is why he wanted to be and do so many things in his life. I take pride in that! You can always tell by my blogs.

Back to being the best — in “Apollo 13″ the most famous line in the movie (true story too) was “Houston, we have a problem” I bet there are some competitors to Softlayer out there that are saying that same thing right about now with our continued growth and that isn’t some kid’s “Toy Story” that is the honest truth. We do it with customer service and the best product. Why? We just like hearing our customers say over and over, keep doing “That thing you do” and we will keep buying your service. That hurts the competition sometimes. We aren’t sorry about that. We will go “From the Earth to the Moon” to continue to make our customers happy and we will make sure “You’ve got Mail” when something important is coming and it will not be just another “Toy Story 2″. Even if it is like “Saving Private Ryan” we do anything we can to make it happen. All while walking “The Green Mile” because taking care of our environment is very important to us. (You didn’t think I was going to talk about the death penalty did you?)

Some people like to look at us as a “Castaway”, but we truly are a “Band of Brothers” on the road to fruition instead of the “Road to Perdition” like so many others. I welcome all readers to try and “Catch me if you can” in this blog and let me know of the movies I have missed so far. I will admit I have skipped a few TV appearances so you have to let me slide on those.

One of these days I might have to blog on “Freedom: A History of Us” and let you know where we all came from and what got us here. It is a long list of “Great Performances” that would impress you. Some of us were the smart geeky type and some of us were “The Ladykillers” and could have fun at an airport in “The Terminal”.
I am getting close to the end now so the Narrator would now say, “Elvis has left the Building” on the “Polar Express” or was it in a pack of “Cars”, oh well either way. I hope reading this blog has been an enjoyable experience and not like trying to “Crack the Da Vinci Code”.