After years of contracting a new challenge lays ahead for me in the vendor space. Until now I have always been on either the customer or partner side of things but was always curious how things would be from a vendor perspective. Recently I saw an opportunity at ControlUP passing by that I couldn’t resist in asking if it would also be feasible do do this from The Netherlands since it was posted for the UK. The lines where short since I am already working on for them on a freelance base creating Horizon scripts.
PS Engineers are experienced IT professionals that guide customers through their journey of assessing needs and implementing ControlUp solutions. Prospective candidates must be self-motivated, charismatic individuals that are willing to meet customers and work in very dynamic situations that present new, never before seen business and technical challenges on a regular basis. Ideal candidates possess several years of enterprise IT consulting experience and a deep technical skill set covering VMware’s or Citrix virtualization and PowerShell scripting.Responsibilities· Professionally represent ControlUp values at all times· Maintain current knowledge of the entire ControlUp product portfolio· Become a trusted advisor to both colleagues and customers· Help our customers succeed by solving their challenging technical problems, from design through to production operations· Work closely with customers to understand their needs and objectives· Provide regular transfer of information presentations to customers· Provide regular feedback to management for process and practice improvements· Assist with all phases of Couchbase implementations, starting with installation, architecture design and review· Contribute to internal technical projects, which can include software development, benchmarking, troubleshooting· Work closely with the sales team and presales team on technical escalations and help grow opportunities in existing accounts· Assist with customer PoC/Pilots through effective management of acceptance criteria and issue escalation/resolution· Work with all technical levels from managers, to architects and developers in the Couchbase Server technology and architecture· Identify and write internal and external technical collateral, like typical deployment architectures or best practices· Travel to customers at least 25%Requirements· 10+ years of experience in information technology- A MUST· 5+ years of customer-facing professional services or VDI Administration- A MUST· Fluent Speak and Writing English- A MUST· Strong VMware or Citrix experience· Strong Windows desktop OS administration experience· VCP/CTP/VCPDT strongly preferred· B.S./B.A./M.S. degree or equivalent technical training & experience· Proven technical background –You will need to have a strong hands-on understanding of a number of popular technical platforms· Positive attitude and very customer-centric; always willing to put the customers’ needs first· MCSE – a plus
While I have been doing mainly VMware for the last few years I also have a bit of history with Citrix so I thought this would fit perfectly. After a couple of zoom calls first I traveled to ControlUP’s yearly Sales Kick-Off in Jerusalem last month to have a face to face meeting but also to feel how things are run inside the company. Looking back at that I have to say I really enjoyed it and was able to connect with just about everyone (I just didn’t have the time to connect with everybody). So when I received the call a week or so later that they wanted to hire me I couldn’t be more happy about that and I will be starting March first as Professional Service Engineer!
tldr: Got hired by ControlUP as Professional Services Engineer starting March first