ITR - IT Reality: Recent Episodes
Vince Wood
ITR is a conversational podcast about IT beyond the Marketing / Sales pitch. Topics will be primarily, but not limited to, tech found within businesses. We will be sharing conversations with IT Pros and other guests. For the younger audience, let the conversations within be a pro tip. For those with equal or more time in the pro seat, you are invited to contribute. Reach out via email (Podcast@ITReality.US) or on Twitter(@ITRealityUS).
This week, Vince, Richard, and Nathan discuss the content creation game with Nick Howell. This discussion focuses on the some of the why/how and thought process. Very little is discussed with regards to specific hardware.
Chat with the ITR Crew in Slack
A short while back Frank Denneman joined us to discuss Machine Learning and some interesting ways it is being used that you may or may not be aware of.
Note: we are aware of an unfortunate echo in portions of the audio and have corrected the problem for future episodes
Links mentioned in this episode:
- NIKE Shoe app
- TARGET advertising story
- Pastry AI
- ML Ops
- ITR Slack
- Become an ITR Patron!
This week we welcome Drew Como to the podcast to discuss IT behind the scenes of video Games in addition to his IT journey.
Note: we are aware of the echo in this episode. Not much we are able to do about it...
Topics discussed:
- Drew's Career path
- Networking and Server hardware
- Example Games: Roblox, Frontlines, Call of Duty, and some 8-16 bit titles
- Google Stadia and other game streaming platforms
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Kaos Studios
- Killed by Google
Topics discussed:
- Rob’s IT Journey
- Certification experience of Hosts & guest
- 4 categories of Certification candidates
- The Value of certifications
- The right way, vs production…
- Continuous education and its role in the IT industry
- Tech training induced scars
Links mentioned in this episode:
- (DevOps Rob YouTube - Why you don’t need tech certs in 2021)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibeMKFv2j0Q]
- (Brownfield vs Greenfield)[https://www.moogsoft.com/blog/aiops/brownfield-greenfield-ops/]
- (Join ITR in Slack!)[https://join.slack.com/t/itreality/shared_invite/zt-ddxum4uf-qTOWqtfFcipo4c_M1Q15pA]
This week, Nathan, Richard, and Vince chatted with Alan Renouf on the topic of AR/VR. (the tech and its use)
Topics discussed:
- Alan’s Path to VMware
- vCommunity / It All Starts with VMUG
- Programming languages
- Speaking at VMware
- How to get started with AR/VR
- Messing with your friends in AR/VR
- Enterprise use cases
- VR at home, or at least Alan’s home
- Hololens another VR/AR gear
- Barriers to Entry And Much more...
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Renouf Fire Relief fund
- Alan Mindmaps rebuilding his house
- Alan’s Blog
- Join ITR in Slack!
Nathan, Richard, & Vince chat about their grief with the M1 Mac announcment in October 2021.
You're going to have to just listen to this one... Enjoy!
Continuing from our last episode with Carl, Wes, & Ariel....
Topics discussed:
- Tales From the Trenches
- Addressing the Support case that seems to go nowhere
- How to get from engineer to domain architect
- Information sharing, Internally vs Externally
- Documentation
- Motivating a business to consider a move into Agile Methodology.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- HTownVinny's Support Tweet
- Join ITR in Slack!
In this part 1 of 2 episode, we welcome Carl Capozza and Wes Milliron to ITR and pick their brains on a number of topics.
Topics discussed:
- Self Intro
- Career Path
- Translating the super technical for the not so technical
- Asking the right question, What is the actual problem/goal?
- Knowing your audience…
- Join ITR in Slack and contribute to future conversations!
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Brian Knudtson to the podcast to discuss cloud migrations and job security concerns. We’re getting misty here folks, and all while, “THE CLOUD IS ON FIRE THE CLOUD IS ON FIRE!!”
Topics discussed:
- Who is Brian Knudtston
- Change is constant, embrace it
- Be Proactive, get involved with business meetings
- The Cloud Migration has the potential to open new tech doors for you
- Resist the urge to remain in your silo
- Small world, you never know where your next gig will come from...
- Blogging your challenges can benefit yourself as well as others
- The Quiz
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join ITR in Slack and be part of the show!
This week we REALLY enjoyed chatting with Luke Levne on the topic of AR/VR. (the tech and its use)
Topics discussed:
- AR/VR
- Immersive experiences and storytelling as the driver of engagement and purchasing decisions
- Crap vs Amazing animation
- Consumption
- Down-to-earth explanation of how technology can be applied to generate a greater good
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Punch Drunk
- Anduril
- IKEA Furniture App
- South Park ChinPokomon on Youtube
This week we welcome Matthew Dowst to the podcast to discuss his book, Practical Automation with PowerShell.
Topics discussed:
- Who is Matthew Dowst?
- Book Details
- Manning Early Access Program
- Intended Audience
- Don’t Judge a Book by Its cover…
- 35% discount code (good for all Manning products in all formats): poditr21
- Book Giveaway
- Rules
- Within 2 weeks of the release of this episode,
- Must be following ITR/Matt on Twitter
- Retweet the episode tweet
- Within 2 weeks of the release of this episode,
- Rules
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Matthew Dowst Website
- Manning Website - ITR Referral
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Eric Lee to the podcast to discuss Burnout, Impostor Syndrome, and the horrors of IT… but in a good way.
Topics discussed: Burnout… What is it? how to recognize it? what to do about it?
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Cloud Management Monthly - IT Burnout and Mental Health
- Mental Health Hackers
- ITR on Burnout, 1 year ago...
- Soft Skills Engineering - Job Change Episodes
- My trudge through IT Burnout and the fight to keep it at bay
Continuing our conversation with Laurie Capozza...
Topics discussed:
- Failure
- Learning opportunities
- Meeting participation
- You too can be a manager, if you want to
- Laurie is Human too
- Book: How To Lie with Stats
This week, we welcome Laurie Capozza to the podcast to discuss how technical individual contributors can be the best IT Managers.
Topics discussed:
- Who is Laurie Capozza?
- Tales from the Frontline
- DR Lessons Learned - Test Early, Test Often
- vBB Presentation Teaser, “Hands-On IT to CIO, Lessons Learned”
- Imposter Syndrome experiences
- Branch out and explore other tech…
- It’s okay to say no… Managing Scope Creep
- Mentoring is important. Be one or find one, everyone benefits
- Lessons Learned, Customer service skills, People problems vs process problems, Communication is key
- Failure is not always failure
Links mentioned in this episode:
- 5 types of Imposter Syndrome
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Alicia Preston and Al Rasheed to the podcast to discuss Mindfulness & the Shanker Self Regulation framework. With all of the stressors in our lives, this hour might really benefit you if you are willing to set aside the time!
Topics discussed:
- mindfulness
- gentleness
- self-regulation
- Shanker Framework
- Step 1: Reframing Behavior
- Step 2: Recognizing Stressors
- Domains
- Mental
- Emotional
- Physical
- Biological
- Cognitive
- Domains
- Step 3: Reducing Stress
- Step 4: Developing Self-Awareness
- Step 5: Restore & Reflect
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Alicia Preston's Website
- Reframing is Ageless
- The MEHRIT Centre
- Mindful Based Stress Reduction
- Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds - David Goggins
- See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love
- The Untethered Soul
- Forest Bathing
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Anwar Khan to the podcast to discuss covid life, remote life, and how to live in the world we live in these days.
Topics discussed:
- Non traditional route into IT and why do IT?
- Tales from the front line
- How has the recent past changed our relationship with technology?
- Stay Active, Stay Productive.
- Sudden transition to remote schooling
- Communication is key, especially in the current state of things
- Sometimes we’re not in control of changes but rather external factors control changes in life or technology.
- The Quiz
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
- Anwar Khan - Twitter
- Join ITR Slack!
Topics discussed:
- Current State of meeting/gathering
- Does Caitlin live in “the south”?
- Ranch on Chicken Wings
- History of Virtual conferences and the future of Virtual/Hybrid conferences
- Film industry compared to tech industry use of virtual events
- Audience participation makes a difference
- Empathy/Intention makes a difference
- Vaccination considerations for public gatherings
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join ITR in Slack!
This week, Nathan Bennett, Vince Wood, Aaron Kay, and Tim Davis chat about information technology in automobiles.
Topics discussed:
- Amazing aspects of tech in autos
- Reliability/Repairability/Durability/Capability concerns
- And more...
Links mentioned in this episode:
- ITR Slack
This week, Jim Jones, Matt Crape, and Vince Wood discuss a couple of habits and ways in which our lives have recently changed all while continuing to do our IT jobs.
Topics discussed:
- Beverage choices
- Anxiety/Burnout
- Notifications/Do Not Disturb
- changes in view of the acceptable
- desired long term adjustments
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Mental Health Hackers
- ITR Slack
- VMworld 2021
- vExpert Applications open!
Lots going on in the world and in ITR land. A few weeks has passed since we have released some new content but we are working on that. We have some episodes scheduled over the next few weeks and are looking for more who are willing to come chat with us.
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Matt Heldstab to the podcast to discuss EUC, Surviving the demotivation of Covid, and Practices to help.
Topics discussed:
- EUC
- Demotivation
- Motivation
- Exercise
- Engagement
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Ken to the podcast to discuss VARs and what they actually do. Also, should you use a VAR?
Topics discussed:
- VARs
- Technical VAR
- Strategic VAR
- Doing stuff you don't know how to do.
- Shameless lack of kubernetes talk
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Work with Ken!
- Sign up to attend/present on vBrownBag
- Indy VMUG Usercon. In person, October 2021
- Tech Field Day
- Gap Selling
- Knowing where to tap
This week, we welcome back Nick Scuola to discuss speaking to business leadership, in a way that leads to approval of your next project.
Topics discussed:
- 3 keys to selling your next project to management
- Reduce Risk
- Reduce Cost
- Increase Revenue
- Why Anything, Why Now, Why Us?
- The Quiz
This week, Nathan Bennet, Vince Wood and Kev Johnson discuss career path or at least Kev's and some lessons learned along the way...
Topics discussed:
- Career Path
- Kubernetes
- Tech Marketing
- Paying for Support
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Scott Hanselmann basics
- Miro Mind Mapping
- OpenTechCast
- Come hang out in the ITR slack!
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Brian Graf to the podcast to discuss his career and lessons learned regarding productivity.
Topics discussed:
- Brian Graf self Intro
- How did you find what interests you?
- Experience Based Advice
- Powershell
- Usercons
- Softskills
- Time Management
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Plink PowerCLI Tricks
- 4 Hour Work Week
- Perfect Day Formula
- Amusing Ourselves to death
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Luc Dekens to the podcast to discuss PowerShell, automation, and IT in the past years.
Topics discussed:
- Logging
- ChessPlaying - Small steps
- Powershell Hate
- PowerCLI love
- Powershell love
- NeverStopLearning
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Eat That Frog
- Jeffrey Snover Monad Manifesto from 2002
Topics discussed:
- HTownVinny visits the ER
- BiWeekly VCDX Webcasts coming April 15th with @agmalanco & Ariel Sanchez Mora
- SRM
- Datacenter Design
- Shared around the world in multiple languages
- Ariel, VCDX in June 2022…
- Veeam Vanguard Program is awesome.
- Raspberry Pi Retro gaming project.
- 7 year old installs ESXi & learns some key IT concepts
- PizzaWars
- New York vs Florida
- Spirit Airlines
- Scuola going for CKA and all major cloud certs
- Covid Learning/certification
- Ariel’s take on Ticket Systems
- Question from Brad on KPI’s
- How to handle In Scope vs Out of Scope support requests?
- Policy driven efforts
- Existing deadlines have to be honored but give short advice in response
- Satisfying Business Auditors
- Compliance vs Security
- Backup/DR Testing
- Organizational expectations/Lessons Learned
Topics discussed:
- Salary negotiations
- Negotiations in general
- Corey Quinn
- Workforce laws
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Corey Quinn, In your first 2 weeks...
- Corey Quinn, How to apply for jobs…
- Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report
- IT Salary Report 2021: 80 IT Jobs in 400 U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 20 Industry Sectors
- Never split the difference, Chris Voss
- Corey Quinn non compete
- Entry level jobs from Diversify Tech
- All Diversify Tech jobs here
- A list of ethical tech job lists
- The NonLinear Project is a free newsletter that has ongoing curated remote-only job listings
- Robert Half salary guide
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Salary.com salary guide
Topics discussed:
- Intro to William Lam
- Methods of Learning VMware products
- HomeLab Deep Dive
- Hardware options
- Software & licensing
- The Quiz
Links mentioned in this episode:
- William automated vSphere with Kubernetes
- VMware Hands On Labs
- The vExpert Program
- VMUG Advantage
- VMware Lightning Labs
Topics discussed:
- Ticket system options
- Spiceworks
- JIRA/Atlasian
- ZenDesk
- Kaseya
- FreshService / FreshDesk
- Kayako
- SalesForce
- IssueTrak
- Henry’s Favorite: Happy fox?
- The one Henry hates: Service NOW!
- Paper based?
- Emails AKA your inbox?
- Custom made ticket systems
- Why they matter
- Minimal staff
- Issue tracking / history
- Common interface
- Human brains forget stuff
- User Training. Stepping stone to further user training...
- Use Cases
- IT orgs
- Service Providers
- Other Business units work tracking?
- Individual work management?
- Request handling due to automated ticket creation
- He said / She said tracking...
- Feature sets
- Integrations with other systems
- Workflows
- Remote control
- Phone System entry
- Email acceptance
- Web Based vs Web exposed
- How to be successful using them
- Cleanup of tickets as well as environment management
- Notes/comments about users/objects/issues
- Internal Processes
- Resolution documentation
- Experience navigating ticket systems
- How to Manage them
- RH: Be patient, adoption can take 6 months
- Top down management is key. Upper levels need to back the implementing group
- Metrics are not the end all be all. Consider context when managing
- Labor management
Continuing our series on JobHunting, in part 3, we focus on the interview bringing back fan favorites Leon Adato, and Chrystal Taylor.
Topics discussed:
- Interview questions are largely BS. You can play the game, but you can also Kobiyashi Maru it.
- Sell yourself?
- Active Listening
- What it's like on the other side, aka the Hiring Manager/Interviewer
- Transferable skills
- Now you get to ask the question? “What questions do you have for us?”
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Never split the difference - Chris Vosshow
- Real Job Talk
- Diversify Tech newsletter
- Black Tech Pipeline @BTPipeline
Topics discussed:
- What is the Veeam Vanguard Program
- Sub Program “Legends”
- How to be inclusive but keep the group appropriately sized?
- What are the benefits (Veeam perspective)
- What are the benefits (Vanguard perspective)
- Why do you want to be a Vanguard (perks aren’t everything)
- What does Veeam look for continued inclusion
- How to find/interact with a Vanguard?
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Veeam Vanguard
- Veeam Legends
This week we welcome Marino Wijay(@virtualized6ix) to the podcast to share some of his career story as well as some insifght into the VMware Tanzu product.
Topic list:
- Job growth
- Career pivot
- Multi-cloud
- Tanzu? Tahnzu?
- MTU, Jumbo frames, and the worse part of Networking (ISCSI)
- The Quiz
This week we welcome Chrystal Taylor, to discuss job hunt and those “harder” skillset. Apparently she left the door cracked, cause Leon Adato came too..
vExpert #vCommunity #JobHunt Topics discussed:
- SoftSkills
- Learning Skills
- Finding that Job
- Negotiating Salary
- Initiative
- Learning things
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://twitter.com/girlgerms/status/1363687969333280768
- https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/1113102554118881281
- https://www.adatosystems.com
- http://THWACK.com
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Kyle Ruddy to the podcast to discuss PowerShell, automation, and Kyle’s amazing beard. Oh and Joe Houghes shows up for some reason...
Topics discussed:
- Community Growth
- Scripting
- Working from pharmacy to Computers
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Learn.Hashicorp.com
- Kyle's Bang Phase
This week, Nathan, Vince, & Leon discuss JobHunting and the mental mindset that we think one needs to employ to be successful.
Topics discussed:
- At-Will Employment
- Mental Mindset
- needs/wants list
- Overcoming Obstacles
- 10x engineers
- The Quiz
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Dryers English on Audible
- North Coast Job Seekers Group
- Join Our Slack space!
This week we welcome Bryan Sullins to IT Reality to discuss the 6 year loop, the VMUG connection, #HOTTAKES, More PowerShell anger, and the love of Automation and IT.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- The Six Year Rule
- Dude Perfect Example
- Dunning-Kruger Effect
- VMUG Regional UserCons
This week we are extremely happy to welcome Cody De Arkland to the podcast to discuss his wealth of knowledge and information to help us all be better people.
- Cody DeArkland Intro
- How did you get into IT?
- How did you find what interests you?
- How did you create a career about this?
- How do you create a practice of learning?
- You’ve been on some other podcasts… How would you say some could benefit from being a guest on a podcast or What would you say to those who are interested but may be shy about doing so? (Imposter Syndrome motivation)
- What do you think the benefit of community is on the topic of Continuous Learning?
- Runbooks...Automation… Leading others to Learn More.
- With all the many skills to learn and develop, What are your thoughts on the skill of documentation? Functions as an example of your work for future JobHunts
- Value of Community for careers
- Tales from the frontline
Join the ITR Slack!
This week we welcome Jeff Goodall, Rachel Leekin, Matt Crape, and Richard Kenyan to discuss how we work through leadership changes.
- Pat Gelsinger leaving VMware, going to Intel
- Unexpected change can lead to shock with employees. Great leaders do their part to reassure and support. Great leaders build great relationships.
- Understanding expectations is crucial to success
- Open door policy is great for communication
- Personal experience with Leadership changes
- Great Leader leaving your team/company
- New leader entering the team/company
- Org structure changes
- Culture matters, Internal and External of VMware/your company.
Join the ITR Slack space!
Topics discussed:
- IOT security
- Information Security is a People Problem, not a process or technical problem, most often
- YOU are part of security!
- Usable Security
- Policy is Key
- Balanced, Reasonable, understandable
- Policy is Key
- Deployment method: Secure first!
- Security Certification: CISSP & Security+
- Security+ is an appetizer but may get the attention of a hiring manager
- Breaches discussed: Solarwinds & Cisco
- Tales from the FrontLine: FUD never works
Links mentioned in this episode:
- ZDnet on Solarwinds breach
- Krebs on Security - VMware flaw vector in Solarwinds breach
- Comic mentioned by Nathan
- Shodan
- Cisco Router Code Injection
Thanks to ALL who have participated this year. We are working on some great content for next year as well as some other improvements. We hope everyone had a great holiday and look forward to sharing more with you in 2021.
This week we welcome Guest Co-Host Caitlin Allison, Richard Kenyan, and star guest Amanda Blevins. Let’s delve into the mind of Amanda. Enjoy the adventure with us…
Topics discussed:
- Snowboarding in Colorado
- Florida is pretty dang flat…
- That sweet, sweet 8088
- Speaking at VMUGs
- The importance of User-groups for one's career
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://www.colorado.com/activities/snowboarding-colorado
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8088
- https://www.vmworld.com/en/video-library/video-landing.html?sessionid=1589294822914001xYJx (Need VMworld Login)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT_4.0
- https://twitter.com/hecktechs?lang=en
- https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/freeplay
- https://www.metallica.com/
- https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rodrigo-y-gabriela-metallica-cover-battery-915172/
- https://giordanos.com/
vLadies is an amazing movement in the #vCommunity. In this episode, we have the privilege to talk to some amazing members of the movement to find out what it’s all about, and what we can do as a community to help.
Note: Some audio distortion was found in editing and is being dealt with so please forgive us.
Topics discussed:
- vLadies Group Intro
- Issues Women face in Tech
- Wage Gap
- personal experiences
- How can we be better allies?
- Ladies in tech are not Secretaries or Assistants. Don’t ask them to handle tasks like note taking, or scheduling, or food/coffee procurement. Treat the ladies as equals
- Listen more and talk less
- Think before you speak
- Understand your Audience
- Don’t assume a lone lady joining a group is lost
- Ensure the ladies in your group are welcomed/offered to speak/present
- How can the job market be better?
- Encourage Ladies in tech to put forth a best effort despite lacking certain skills
- Encourage/Remind all to leverage the community/their network to find opportunities
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://twitter.com/vExpert/status/1316060274776920064
- https://www.vmware.com/radius/vmwares-culture-built-epic2-values/
- https://itr-it-reality.zencast.website/episodes/30
- https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64941/meet-woman-behind-apollo-project
- https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Yaddle
- https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/223415/dirt-pudding/
Join the ITR Slack space
Discussion with Aaron Buley about what a product manager is, how podcasting can be easy, and all things #CoolTech.
Topics discussed:
- Podcasting
- IOT
- AI
- ML
- Lidar
- Deep stuff
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-dude-ben-curtis-today-2014-10
- https://anchor.fm/techbreakfast
- https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee
- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/autonomous-machines/embedded-systems/jetson-nano/
- https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/vision
- https://twitter.com/vExpert/status/1316060274776920064
- https://www.meatchurch.com/
Join the ITR Slack space
Recorded on Wed Nov 4th, 2020, a group of friends discuss different stories of things going wrong, right, and everything in-between. No topic is off-topic.
Topics discussed:
- When IT goes wrong... Stories to learn from
- Helping Junior team members
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join ITR Slack and participate in the next after show fun or other conversations!
- Technically Religious Podcast
Recorded on Wed Nov 4th, 2020, a group of friends discuss different stories of things going wrong, right, and everything in-between. No topic is off-topic.
Topics discussed:
- Moral/Ethical challenges in IT.
- Teammates handling holiday needs
- Fire, Flood, & Blood Stories…
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/1291411065608208384
- https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/1291523728199675904
- Technically Religious Podcast
- Catastrophic Failure: Tails from the Trenches: Richard Kenyan
- Join ITR Slack, Be part of the group!
Continuing from last week, Guest Co-Host Ariel Sanchez Mora, Richard Kenyan, and star guest Caitlin Allison explore personal brand on twitter and related...
Topics discussed:
- The power of Branding.
- Giving advice when your not an Expert but you're immersed in it. Ie, why you should blog.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join ITR Slack for great conversation and the opportunity to participate in the after show.
- VMUG is awesome, get Involved & connected!
This week we welcome Guest Co-Host Ariel Sanchez Mora, Richard Kenyan, and star guest Caitlin Allison. Let’s delve into the mind of vCommunity Caitlin, and her travels in the US... Come with us… #vExpert #vCommunity #PizzaWars
Topics discussed:
- Do you even Twitter?
- Creating relationships within a Community.
- Working with VMUG Usercons
- Rolling with the punches, when things go wrong you can't control.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Join ITR Slack for great conversation and the opportunity to participate in the after show.
- VMUG is awesome, get Involved & connected!
This week, we welcome Tim Davis back again to reflect on the Apple announcements, Prime Day, And the 8 hours that lit up our lives in the vCommunity #TimCantTweet
Topics discussed:
- Apple Announcements - Incremental updates at its best, also it’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!
- Prime Day - Why I’m poor again.
- TimCantTweet - Losing a bet may suck for you, but it brings a community together.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Apple iPhone
- Apple HomePod Mini
- Event Stream
- Rokform Coupon Code: BlockheadMoto25
- Battlebots
- Fully Desk
Join us in Slack!
This week, Nathan, Vince, and Tim Davis as well as OtherTimDavis discuss Tim's recent career move.
Topics discussed:
- Tim Davis Intro
- What is DevRel?
- Career Changes and Risk
- Env0
- Mistakes and Learning from them
Join the ITR Slack Workspace.
This week, Nathan & Vince meet with Richard Kenyan and Tim Davis to discuss the COVID funk AKA mental fatigue that many are going through in the 2nd Half of 2020 and offer a break in the form of VMworld 2020 as well as the Social Community known as Orbital Jigsaw.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Mental State changes in a Pandemic world.
- Pandemic Life affects everyone differently. Acknowledging this, a key thing to keep in mind is that we are all experiencing it.
- COVID Funk affects many Industries/Companies/Individuals in ways none of us could have predicted, except Richard apparently.
- “The New Normal” Many mention it, What will it look like? We don’t know but understand that this is something we are all trying to figure out.
- How will the elimination of promo costs under quarantine change the future of groups like VMUG?
- If you haven't joined us in the new Orbital Jigsaw Discord yet, please use this link. This is for VMworld Watch Parties as well as Watch Parties for other IT Industry Events. The community is growing, so come on over and join us =)
This week, Vince Wood and Nathan Bennett meet with Rachel Leekin to discuss Kubernetes.
Topics discussed:
- What is Kubernetes?
- Why Kubernetes?
- Why should IT Pros Care?
- Do we have to use Kubernetes?
- League of Kubernetes
- Alternatives?
- OPA
- VMworld & Kubecon
Links mentioned in this episode:
- ITR Slack Space
- OPA Rego, What?
- Katacoda Training
- VMware Hands -On Labs for Cloud Native
- VMware KubeAcademy
- How to get started with Kubernetes Part 1 by Rachel Leekin
- How to get started with Kubernetes Part 2 by Rachel Leekin
Continuing the conversation with Kelby Mahoney, Nathan & Vince welcome back Al Rasheed to discuss the goals of post-primary school education. Should we really go into debt to learn more, with the hope of getting it back? Or is there a better way? If you have a child looking at college, or are looking at college yourself, we hope you can find some food for thought here.
Join the ITR group in Slack! OR Join Orbital Jigsaw for the #VMworld watch Party.
Back in Episode 30, we had a chat with Kelby Mahoney regarding her VMworld presentation on Diversity & Inclusion. We received some feedback and questions such that it made sense to ask Kelby to join us again to elaborate further.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- What white people can do for racial justice
- Netflix "Explained" Season 1 "Why Women are paid less
- IMDB about the Netflix episode
- ITR Slack Space. Come engage with us!
This week, Vince Wood, Matt Crape and Josh Duffney discuss Josh's pandemic project. Josh has written a book titled Become Ansible where he assembled multiple years of learnings into 140 pages such that anyone with a technical background can learn to use Ansible.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- CloudSkills FM Book Episode - After listening to ITR, if you want more of Josh, check out his other recent podcast experience on the topic of his book.
- Book Purchase link
- Using Ansible in Containers
- Secure Group Variables
- Use Ansible like Powershell
This week, Amy Lewis & Vince Wood meet with Josh Atwell to discuss Dealing with Failure.
Topics discussed:
- How we feel when we make mistakes - and why we often get it wrong.
- Re-adjust your thinking on “blame”
- Why did the system or process allow the failure to occur?
- Information is your friend
- Focus on variables that you can control
- Managing and understanding failure impact radius
- Failure is a key teacher
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Video Version of Josh's presentation
- Will Smith on Failure
- Join the ITR Slack space and share your point of view or volunteer for a future episode.
This week, Jim Jones and Vince Wood meet with Nico Stein to discuss the challenges of a small IT group.
Challenges discussed:
- Security
- Regular Audits
- Continuous Learning
- Penetration testing
- Team Building
- Automation
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Cisco Umbrella
- Nico's experience with Cisco Umbrella
- ITR Slack Invite
This week, Vince Wood and Nathan Bennett meet with Kelby A Mahoney to discuss her presentation from VMworld US 2019 on Diversity & Inclusion.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Diversity and Inclusion: What's Working and Mitigating Fatigue
- Join the IT Reality Slack and converse with the group as well as suggest topics for future episodes.
Continuing the last few weeks theme, Matt Crape, Joe Houghes, Jim Jones, Josh Duffney, and Vince Wood explore the painful topic of Career Burnout. The conversation falls within 4 topics as listed below. A point to note though is that all of us have experienced this at some point. If after listening to this podcast, you feel that you might be experiencing something similar, reach out to someone you trust. Better to deal with this subject sooner rather than later.
Topics discussed:
- What is burnout?
- What is NOT burnout?
- How to recognize the problem before it happens?
- Addressing the problem and Recovery.
Some related links:
- The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
- Burnout is Everyone’s problem - Work Life with Adam Grant
- Eric Lee's Article: "My trudge through IT Burnout and the fight to keep it at bay"
- Josh Duffney's "You Are an Engineer Be an Engineer"
- Matt Crape's blog on recovery via vacation: "What I Learned About Taking Time Off"
The phrase “career goals” could mean many things to many people. In this episode, we will discuss what it may mean to some and how those goals may/will change over time while still being worth keeping in mind and possibly on the calendar. Credit to Matt Crape and Joe Houghes for keeping this episode on track. Extra credit is earned by Josh Duffney this week for joining us to share some hard earned insight and well placed video game references.
Topics discussed:
- Josh is writing the book “become Ansible” and it is available for purchase here.
- Goals Change, Accept it, roll with it.
- Certifications Don't Matter But They Absolutely Do Matter
- Be Careful chasing certs.
- Possibly Helpful related book Atomic Habits by James Clear
- How ITR came to be?
- Learn to enjoy the process of doing what you do. Hone your craft.
- Thomas Edison, who said, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work." REFERENCE The World Bank. 1994. World Development Report 1994: Infrastructure for Development. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press..." http://darwin.nap.edu/books/NX006728/html/35.html
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Be the Master course retiring soon. Grab a copy while you can if interested.
- Join the ITR group in Slack
Are you considering making a career change? With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting many, Are you considering a remote work job? ITR Host Vince Wood recently made such a change and experienced some shifts that resulted in this conversation with Co Host Matt Crape and IT Pro Joe Houghes. Change can be stressful in general but give this episode a listen to find out about some changes that proved to be a little stressful for H-Town Vinny.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Vacation won't solve for burnout.
- Outlook Low Priority
- Before accepting a new offer...
- Full Stack Journey Specialist episode
Join the Podcast in our Slack space!
This week, Nathan Bennett, Amy Lewis and Vince Wood dissect a recent New York Times article claiming that remote workers don't work and that the idea doesn't work for business in general. Some key points from our conversation include:
- Managing your managing or "Managing Up"
- Difference between Work From Home and Working Remotely
- Structure is important. Scheduling time not only to meet with others as well to actually get work done is key. 9-5 availability is not the goal. Accomplishing the mission is.
- Empathy and Trust
Join the ITR group in Slack!
This week, we have some fun on ITR discussing the tech found within different Sci-Fi universes and the Reality of them. Jeff Goodall joins Vince Wood in the Co-Host role. Guests on this show include Commander Data AKA Richard Kenyan, Richard Henry, and Mr. Datacenter in the Basement, Tim Borland. Apologies for the length...
Show Segments
- Tech turned Reality
- Tech that has eluded humanity
- Tech that is still far off?
- Tech that we need
Join the IT Reality Crew in Slack!, Do we need to beg? We don't bite...
This week, continuing on the theme of IT Role exploration, We have Brett Wolfson with us. Brett holds the title of Systems Engineer at Pure Storage. While the title may sound familiar to some, we will compare and contrast the role of Systems Engineer at a vendor versus a customer.
Join the IT Reality crew in Slack!
This week, Vince Wood, Sam Larch and Josh Duffney wade into the shallow end of the DevOps/SRE pool. Josh explains some aspects of the role while also sharing that his days are like. Josh gives some great advice for anyone who might be interested in a similar journey as his. Hint: Learn to love learning.
Josh can be found on Twitter or at his blog, as well as LinkedIn.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- “How I went from aimless to an SRE at StackOverflow in less than a year.”
- Be the Master Workshop by Don Jones.
- You're an Engineer, Be one.
- ITR Slack
This week, Sam & Vince meet with Liz Bronson & Kat Nelson Troyer to discuss how to be successful when interacting with recruiters while searching for your next professional opportunity. Some points discussed include, how to prepare, resume tailoring, and the types of recruiters you may encounter.
Kat mentioned that some may benefit from the book: "How To Win Friends And Influence People"
Liz & Kat are the hosts of the podcast "Real Job Talk". Check out their content for jobs, career, and what isn’t said at the water cooler. There are some really great episodes like: Episode 35: Coworkers and communication: live coaching session with Vince Wood and Episode 20: Career change perspective with Andrew Miller.
Do you like the ITR content? Would you like to engage with the host or other listeners? Join us in Slack
This week, Sam Larch and Vince Wood discuss vRealize Automation with Nathan Bennett and Dale Hassinger. In addition to the What and Why, Nathan and Dale share some experience using vRA to motivate you the listener to take action andn automate some of your repetitive tasks. We also cover some things to consider when starting your vRA journey.
If you think we missed something, Join us in Slack and let us know: ITR Slack Join Link
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Pluralsight vRA Getting Started Course
- VCP-CMA Certification
- vRealize Orchestrator
- Cloud Management Hands On Labs including vRA
- Dale's blog on ABX Actions
This week, Michael Stanclift, Matt Crape, Ariel Sanchez Mora, and Vince Wood discuss the role of Technical Account Manager.
As a result of the COVID-19 economic downturn, many find themselves looking for new work. While doing so, some may be considering completely new roles & opportunities. With that in mind, ITR will be exploring different roles over the next few weeks in the hopes of enlightening job seekers to roles that may not have been considered otherwise. Next Role to be explored will be the DevOps Engineer. If there are any requests, Join us in slack or on Twitter and let's talk.
Conversation Questions:
- Define it, What is a TAM?
- What a TAM is not?
- The responsibilities and capabilities of a TAM
- A Typical day in the life…
- Unexpected aspects..?
- For those who might be interested in becoming one, what should be kept top of mind?
Helpful Links on the topic:
- VMware Techincal Account Management Services
- What is a VMware TAM - PSO Blog
- Current VMware TAM openings
Want to join the ITR group in Slack? How about on Twitter?
This week, Ariel Sanchez Mora searches for 4 VMUG chapters to provide a Twitter profile health check.
Health Check tip:
- Profile photo is important. Good headshot is even better so that it is easy for VMUG members to recognize you.
- Mention VMUG Chapter leader role on personal profile bio
- On the Twitter profile for a chapter, specifically mention the leaders in the bio
- For some social interaction, consider sharing your birthday. (Month/day)
- Ensure that links are specific to the chapter/community and not the main VMUG site
- Help members find you by ensuring that your profile is easy to find. Search for your chapter in several places and add details so that others don’t have to work as hard
VMUG Chapters in this episode:
- Boston VMUG
- DFW VMUG
- Austin VMUG
- Atlanta VMUG
Ariel Sanchez Mora Website
So you want to start your own podcast? The message reached IT Reality and we have responded... Joining ITR this week is John White & Nick Korte from the Nerd Journey Podcast as well as Matt Murhpy & Drew Findling from the Unfinished Business Podcast. As a group, we shared our experience and some tips so that you might activate the mic and start recording just a little bit quicker...
Unfinished Business with Chester and the Shrew on Instagram - Matt Murphy & Drew
From John Nicholson of the Virtually Speaking podcast: How to succeed as a profesional tech podcast
Content creation is more important than the gear. Focus on the practice/skills.
“What is or is not podcast?” Why do we create podcasts?
Choose a topic that you enjoy so that you are motivated to stick with it as you likely won’t make money creating a podcast.
24 minutes in and we finally start talking gear… Zoom, Hangouts, @SquadCastFM are software tools that may be invaluable.
Just get started! You can learn the process before ever actually releasing content. Let that be your little secret.
Get on Twitter and find the profile of a VMUG Leader or vCommunity member. You likely won't have to scroll very far to find them mentioning vCommunity. What are they referring to? Most likely, it is 1 word to decribe the group of IT Professionals familiar with some aspect of virtualization that go out of their way to help one another and share knowledge. There are no club handshakes or membership fees. One only has to be willing to contribute and help out other community members. Would you like to know more? Give this episode a listen and after doing so, if you are ready to get involved, reach out to anyone mentioned.
Voices heard within: @arielsanchezmor, @vnerdynate, @othertimdavis, @vtimd, @wmichel, @nicoastein, @vDanBarr, @RichardKenyan, @mvwood, @timjclevenger, @jhoughes
As IT Pros, we have first hand experience that could be leveraged to dramatically improve the support experience. Whether we are talking about the engineer or the customer roll, if we take a moment to engage the brain instead of just reacting, we each have the opportunity to make a difference. Jim, Nathan, Wences, and Vince share some tips on how to make supporting others a more pleasant experience.
- Jim Jones - How to cold call me
- Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie - Welcome to the Internet Helpdesk
Jim Jones on LinkedIn Nathan Bennett on LinkedIn Wences Michel on LinkedIn
This week, Paul Wilk and Vince Wood discuss Linux in IT and the skills required to be successful. Below are just a few of the many items highlighted.
- SELinux Guide
- Common Shell Differences (ZSH, BASH, SH)
- Fedora vs Arch
- RHEL vs CentOS
- Package Management How-To
- Bob Plankers response to Linux Up Time tweet
- Kernel Panic How To
- Chroot guide
- RTFM
- Arch Wiki
If you would like to join the ITR Podcast crew in conversation, The following link will work for the next 12 days. Join ITR on Slack!
Listen to the IT echo chamber and you will hear about automation. Different products and tools but the message is no more manual, one off configurations. Several phrases used that we will discuss. Common responses, why? Why now? How? Where does one start? This week Aaron Strong, Nathan Bennett, and Vince Wood start down the rabbit hole that is Automation. Based on the conversation, A part 2 is in the works.
In Part 1, We spoke to the following points:
- Mutable vs Immutable Infrastructure
- Long standing virtual machines vs short lived VMs
- Snowflake vs Phoenix
- Snowflake - servers are managed manually. Operators make changes to the system by hand, creating a unique deployment. Practice is common but causes problems when needing to update the system or software.
- Phoenix - Servers are created through automation. Can be risen from the ashes.
- Infrastructure as Code
- Declarative vs Imperative
- IaC
- Configuration Management
- Decrease technical dept, because configurations are stored in code repositories.
- Speed of deployments - efficiency
- Consistency of workflow
Links
- Want an example of automation in action? How about KubeDoom?
- Nathan's Blog
This week, Richard Kenyan and Vince Wood cover communicating methods E-Mail and Chat in the IT space in 2020.
- Pros & Cons
- E-Mail - Slower/more detailed
- Chat - instant/less detail/formatted
- Software Clients & their effect
- Business Gotchas
- Misuse
- Misunderstanding
- Of purpose
- Of value when only looking at the bill for X service
- Missed opportunity
- Constant Contact - Ticketing updates - Use of IM is more efficient than email? Updates frequently to keep teammates abreast of situations.
- How to use each to avoid a meeting
- Reference: “This meeting could have been an e-mail”
Links mentioned in this episode: https://writingexplained.org/e-mail-or-email
This week Vince Wood and Joe Houghes discuss the VMware vExpert Program with Matt Langguth and Matt Crape. Matt and Matt are both VMware vExpert Pros. Based on their experience with the program, we explore the details as well as give advice for current and future vExperts.
Conversion points include:
- For those who don’t know, what is it?
- What vExpert is not
- Requirements to become a vExpert
- Requirements to maintain vExpert status.
- vExpert Pro vs vExpert -Sub programs, now open.
- Compare & contrast with similar programs -Veeam Vanguard -Tech Field Day? -Microsoft Cloud Advocate -VMware CTAB (Customer Technical Advisory Board) -Cisco Champion -Nutanix Technology Champion
- Value -To VMware
- To vExperts
- Benefits -Access to Slack -Pluralsight -RoyalTS -Eval Licenses
- To Outsiders (e.g. Hiring Managers, vCommunity, other)
VMware Community Podcast #469 - Matt Langguth & Corey Romero - vExpert Application Process 2019 The first vExpert PRO panel - meet @gsxesx @arielsanchezmor @MattThatITGuy vExpert 2020 Announcement Matt Langguth's made up word vExpert Directory vExpert Stats vExpert Twitter feed
There can be only one … Browser that is. Challenges and pros/cons of using the top browsers. In this episode, we discuss just a few of the points that we IT Pros think about and consider when we give you advice about which to use.
Conversation Points
- Rant by Chris
- Choosing a browser --Application compatibility --Security risks/concerns --Privacy risks/concerns
- Maker forced considerations --Example: Google early requires regarding SSL certificates and their validity
- Apps in a browser vs Plugins
- Update issues and included changes.
- Browsers specifically mentioned --Chrome --FireFox --Chromium variants --IE/Edge --Brave
This episode of ITR is a collection of conversations from VMUG Leader Summit 2020. For those of you who are not a member of VMUG, I hope that this audio will entice you to seek out your local VMUG chapter and join in on the fun and learning. For those of you who are members, you are in for a treat with this episode. Fellow VMUG Leaders, Make sure to listen all the way to the end for a special treat.
VMware was kind enough to host the VMUG Leader Summit on campus again this year. The event was February 19th through the 21st. It was packed full of networking opportunities, presentations by some big names in the vCommunity, and even a charity activity where bikes were built for kids who lost everything in the recent Northern California Wildfires. Guests on this episode were plentiful. Check out the Tweet for this episode to find links to the profiles for all guests.
This week, Andrew Miller and H-Town Vinny discuss the unexpected challenges for the Remote IT Pro. When planning for working remotely, certain gear is logical and expected. Andrew Miller recently wrote a blog post with regards to gear for the home office setup which can be found here. In preperation for this conversation, we reviewed recent articles from Trello and Business insider. Enjoy this episode and talk to you next week!
In this episode of ITR, Jim(@k00laidIT), Joe Houghes(@jhoughes), Matt(@MattThatITGuy), and H-Town Vinny(@mvwood) share some laughs and knowledge while discussing restore capabilities and why Veeam ONE is a must have for the vSphere/Veeam admin. Listen to this episode and benefit from the wisdom of not 1, but 2 @VeeamVanguard members. The “So Sorry” awards go to Sage, Symantec, ArcServe and tape media. Special mentions include Anthony Spiteri(@anthonyspiteri) & Rick Vanover (@RickVanover).
- Part 1 can be found here.
- Schrödinger's Cat
- V10 Release Countdown
- Community editions
- Veeam 57 ways to restore infographic
- Instant VM Recovery at 40k feet
- A guide on using vSphere tags with Veeam
- Instant Recovery
- SureBackup
- Veeam ONE
This week Jim Jones, Matt Crape, and H-Town Vinny discuss VEEAM Availability Suite. This is part 1 of this conversation and a series related to Backup Technologies. Expect to hear this series elaborate on options for backups over a number of weeks.
In Part 1 we discussed the Availability Suite components, Licensing, Backup & Replication installation, Repository options, and Cloud Connect. SPOILER ALERT: Tape is the way.
Time Saving Links: http://rps.dewin.me/ https://www.veeam.com/data-center-availability-suite.html https://go.veeam.com/v10?ad=hp-banner
Jim Jones https://www.linkedin.com/in/k00laidit/ https://twitter.com/k00laidIT https://koolaid.info
Heckler: Matt Crape https://www.linkedin.com/in/crape/ https://twitter.com/MattThatITGuy https://42u.ca
This week, H-Town Vinny and Branden Wright cover ServiceNow. This one is short and to the point. What is ServiceNow and why might you care? Considering implementing ServiceNow? Reach out to Branden for assistance.
Links https://www.servicenow.com/
This week, Mr. Chris, Sam, and H-Town Vinny talk about when IT stuff breaks or "when IT goes Bump in the Night". This episode is less structure than previous episodes as us IT Pros need to let go and have some fun sometimes. You are going to want to listen ALL the way through this one.
Example Scenarios
- Straw that broke the camels back
- "It was working yesterday?"
- Dammit Bob! or Outside actors causing problems
Links mentioned in this episode:
- https://twitter.com/jxxf/status/1219009308438024200?s=21
This week, Bob Plankers, Aaron Collier, and Vince Wood cover a few of the Sanity Saving features of VMware vSphere. Shoutouts to Cody Hosterman, Pure Storage, Mike Foley, Pete Fletcha, and John Nicholson.
Features discussed: -DRS (Fully automated) -EVC -Resource Pools AKA folders -vSphere Updates -Storage (Storage DRS, vVols, SAN vendor integrations)
Links mentioned in this episode: https://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere.html https://blog.purestorage.com/announcing-the-pure-storage-flasharray-management-extension-for-microsoft-sql-server-management-studio/ https://www.networkcomputing.com/data-centers/fibre-channel-really-dead
This week, Liz Legrande and H-Town Vinny cover the technical aspects of Internet Marketing. Specifically, we cover e-mail marketing, web presence, and web meeting software.
Liz Legrande can be found on LinkedIn. Have a question for Liz about digital marketing or website development? Reach out to the Frozen Fire team at Frozen
This week, Mr. Chris and H-Town Vinny cover Data Protection.....
Conversation Bits:
- The Data protection game has changed a lot over the years. At first, Why: hardware failure & lost/stolen. (Examples: mechanical failure, electrical issues, stupid human tricks) Then, Disaster avoidance / Business Continuity. Now, Security Primarily due to prevalence of ransomware and other attacks. Used to be a primarily business conversation but more recently governments and individual rights organizations have gotten involved. Does this mean the end result is getting better?
- Related Considerations
- Any good IT Pro is going to propose efforts and tech that works to avoid technological pain. If you can’t see that yours is doing so, It’s time to have a conversation…
Links mentioned in this episode: GDPR from 2018 for the UK: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/ India is working on something similar: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/big-brother-on-top-in-data-protection-bill-11576164271430.html Mr. Chris LinkedIn article related to Data Protection: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-back-up-your-data-138-usb-drives-christopher-casey
ITR is a conversational podcast about IT beyond the Marketing and Sales pitch. Topics will be primarily, but not limited to, tech found within businesses. Drawing on over a decade of experience, H-Town Vinny will be sharing conversations with IT Pros and other guests with as much or more experience. For the younger audience, let the conversations within be a pro tip. For those with equal or more time in the pro seat, you are invited to contribute. Reach out via email (Podcast@ITReality.US) or on Twitter(@ITRealityUS).