On the 13-15^th of this month, a number of us headed up to SocialDevCamp Chicago to take part in the 2 ½ day conference.  Hosted at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the event had lots to offer for curious minds!

Now, I need to be up front and admit that I’m not a developer… or any kind of techie for that matter.  My interest in this technology has nothing to do with actually being able to create it.  I suppose that I would be considered a consumer of the creative works that these developers come up with – a heavy consumer at that

That said, I did speak at the conference.  I know, I know… what would be the purpose of me speaking at a developer’s conference?  Great question!

I spoke about Racker Talent and a number of the trends that I’ve witnessed within the HR/Recruiting field.  My hope would be that in sharing the challenges and needs of the field, these brilliant folks are better able to come up with more ideas to solve them.

Luckily, I wasn’t alone.

Two fellow Rackers joined me for the conference and also spoke – Robert Taylor (Robot) and Robert Collazo.

Robot’s presentation was titled “Memes, lolcats & Rickrolls: The Serious Business Of Social Dev” – he was hilarious as always.  Robot always does a great job of putting things in perspective and making me think about how communication online actually works.  For those who don’t know him, he is also the Tweeter (if that’s the word) behind @Rackspace.  You can also find Robot on Twitter at @rjamestaylor.

Robert Collazo (we’re still trying to come up with a nickname) spoke on “Scaling The Cloud.”  Robert did a excellent job breaking down what (in my eyes) seems to be a fairly complex structure.  By the looks of the group listening, there were a number of “Aha!” moments, which is always fun to watch.  You can find Robert on Twitter at @rcollazo.

I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect when I boarded the airplane in San Antonio and headed North for Chicago.  Part of me was concerned that I would spend the next few days in a confused and lost state – let’s face it, this stuff is complicated unless you know what you are doing.

As it ended up, I did spend quite a bit of time really confused… but, in a good way.

Developers and the work they engage in are pretty amazing – I mean, they do feed our online social appetites will all sorts of fun and useful tools. They also help create new ways for us to communicate and (in many ways) improve our overall quality of life.  To all you developers out there, I salute you!  I don’t understand everything you do yet, but I’m learning and it’s impressive.  Thanks for being open to a non-technical observer asking less-than-intelligent questions.

Before I go, there were two really cool tools that I wanted to share.

The first tool that impressed me is called A Space Apart.  In a nutshell, their new system allows you to bring together all attendees at a conference so that everyone can continue the conversation and engage in real time.  It’s a really cool tool with lots of potential.  Be sure to check them out!

The second tool that had me raising my eyebrows was Weave The People.  This tool makes it much easier to connect and collaborate with various attendees at an event.  I recommend you check out their site to learn more.  Their founders are really great guys with a ton of passion.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of them soon!

So, that’s the story.  Great trip, interesting information… lots of collaboration!  If you are going to be in the Chicago area next year around this time, be sure to visit the conference and take part in the fun!

Special thanks to Veronica Ludwig for letting us know about this event and inviting us to participate!

I have been postponing this week as long as possible, but my T-shirt supply is starting to dwindle and desperate times call for desperate measures.

That’s right it’s “Diva Week.”  Most of the shirts this week have been loaned to me from one of our recruiters – Roxanne Molina.  So if you don’t want to see me stuffed into a women’s size M – stop reading now.

If you insist on continuing, please note that we are also running a contest.  Each picture represents a TV show.  The first person to guess all five shows correctly will win a Rackspace® T-Shirt and a $100 Visa gift card!  Respond in the comments section below.

Day 67: A shirt from our Intensive Group.  We are really focused on turning our customers into promoters.

Day 68: Linux world provided us with this beauty.

Day 69: No, I am not growing—just when you thought the shirts couldn’t get any smaller, they did. Where exactly is recruiting?

Day 70: Wahoo!  We are in to the 70’s now.  This shirt is an old school Rackspace shirt.  I also picked one that fit me a little better because we hosted a group of military vets visiting for the day.  I had the pleasure of meeting with a woman that spent 16 years serving our country in the Army.  Thanks to all vets.

Day 71: The final installment from Linux World.  We are always on the lookout for techs with great skills!

If you’d like to see the past posts, feel free to click below!

Let The Wardrobe Games Begin

Wardrobe Games – Week 1

Wardrobe Games – Week 2

Wardrobe Games – Week 3

Wardrobe Games – Week 4

Wardrobe Games – Week 5

Wardrobe Games – Week 6

Wardrobe Games – Week 7

Wardrobe Games – Week 8

Wardrobe Games – Week 9

Wardrobe Games – Week 10

Wardrobe Games – Week 11

Wardrobe Games – Weeks 12 & 13

Wardrobe Games – Week 14

Phil White joined Rackspace in April of 2006 as a member of the Finance Team. Since that time, Phil has supported a number of our internal groups. In 2007, Phil moved to the Compensation & Benefits group and since that time has dedicated the majority of his efforts to helping keep Rackspace’s culture unique and special.

In his spare time, Phil enjoys mountain biking, pick-up basketball and spending time with his family (three boys and a lovely wife!).

Rackspace® has been operating from sunny Sydney, Australia since the 1^st of March, 2006 – and I was fortunate enough to be offered the first position here following 3+ great years at Rackspace UK.

I’m excited to add a Racker voice from a 5^th continent and share some of my thoughts on what Fanatical Support® means to us here, as we build our Army of Promoters Down Under!

The Rackspace Core Values reflect the importance of customer service in the Rackspace culture, but these values are just as important to the sales organization.

As a company, we have numerous strengths – a great network and data centers, countless awards and accreditations and a leading product portfolio.  The funny thing is – when I ask customers why they chose Rackspace, they never mention any of this.

In fact, the single biggest reason why customers choose us is simply that our Rackers are responsive and keen to win their business.  And of course this makes sense.  How could you trust a hosting company to be responsive in a support situation if they’re not even responsive as a sales team?

Another point of difference is that we don’t over promise and under deliver.  We have an honest approach and take the time to understand customers’ unique needs – fitting our services around them and not the other way around.

Without any slick marketing campaigns or PR, we’ve actually doubled our Australia & New Zealand business in the last year.  This is largely through existing customer referrals and growth, which comes from doing the simple things right – substance over flash!

It’s an exciting time here as we build our reputation and move from being an underdog to a serious contender.  The Rackers who help make this happen are without a doubt our secret sauce!

As an Enterprise BDC Manager, Mark was commercially responsible for the largest accounts at Rackspace UK.  Typically these businesses were in the e-commerce, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Digital Media markets and were largely or wholly dependent on their web sites.  In 2009, Mark was offered an opportunity to return to Australia as Sales Manager for Australia/NZ with the goal of establishing Rackspace locally within the market.  Within the first 12 months, the Australia/NZ business had more than doubled.

Photo Credit, Linh_rOm – Under Creative Commons License

It’s that time again – we are having two more Meet & Geek events!

Austin, TX – Lone Star Ruby Conference

The first event will be taking place in Austin on August 26, 2010 after the Lone Star Ruby Conference.  We will host the event at Scholz Garten (1607 San Jacinto Boulevard, Austin, TX) from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

If you are on Twitter, be sure to sign up through the TwtVite to be a part of the evening’s festivities!  The hashtag for the event will be #meetngeek

Waco, TX – PyTexas Conference

Our second Meet & Geek will be taking place on August 28th, 2010 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM after the PyTexas Conference at Baylor University.  All attendees are welcome to join us at Z-Bar & Grill (723 S. 6th St., Waco, TX) for drinks, food and, of course, techie talk!

I have to start off by highlighting a major sacrifice – in the name of culture – that one of our Rackers here in Blacksburg provided the entire office with.  Our own, Tom DuScheid, let his fellow employees shave his head.  Of course there was a catch!  Tom agreed to morph into Pat Matthews in exchange for free lunches.   Ten people have to provide Tom with lunch – in exchange, they got to shave a strip of his head.  Very entertaining – we have various pictures of the progression.

So, if this event wasn’t enough, we did more this week.

A mini wine & cheese party was set up (minus the wine).   Grapes, cheese & crackers!  Well rounded snack for once.   We even mixed in a little cardio this week.  One highly competitive game of dodge ball was planned.  This turned into about 10 highly competitive games of dodge ball.  Wonder how many people here we have with competition as one of their top 5 strengths?  It would appear most of the office after this game.

Here’s some irony for you:  We had our Wellness Screening Result Sessions this week.  So, after Rackers got an earful on how they were doing health-wise and how they could correct/prevent some of these items, we had a hot fudge brownie sundae bar!  Happiness aids in establishing a balanced state of mind – mental health is important too!

We continue to keep everyone looking forward to the mid-afternoon timeframe.  Stay tuned…the summer is still here!

If you missed the previous posts, check them out here:

• Fanatical Days of Summer
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Sidewalk Chalk and Bubblegum
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Water Balloon Fights and Limbo
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Hula Hoops
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Piñatas and Last Balloon Standing

Ashleigh started her career at Rackspace in 2009.  She is part of the HR team in Blacksburg, working specifically on office management, culture and events.  Ashleigh likes to help and support people, playing up her number one strength – Developer.  She has found her role of making sure Rackers have the environment they need to be the most productive to be both fun and rewarding.

In her spare time, Ashleigh enjoys spending time with her awesome family – husband, Matt and children Lucas (3) and Savannah (3 months).  She also loves to visit new places and coaches a high school tennis team.

Check out the past Wardrobe Games posts!

Let The Wardrobe Games Begin

Wardrobe Games – Week 1

Wardrobe Games – Week 2

Wardrobe Games – Week 3

Wardrobe Games – Week 4

Wardrobe Games – Week 5

Wardrobe Games – Week 6

Wardrobe Games – Week 7

Wardrobe Games – Week 8

Wardrobe Games – Week 9

Wardrobe Games – Week 10

Wardrobe Games – Week 11

Wardrobe Games – Weeks 12 & 13

Phil White joined Rackspace in April of 2006 as a member of the Finance Team. Since that time, Phil has supported a number of our internal groups. In 2007, Phil moved to the Compensation & Benefits group and since that time has dedicated the majority of his efforts to helping keep Rackspace’s culture unique and special.

In his spare time, Phil enjoys mountain biking, pick-up basketball and spending time with his family (three boys and a lovely wife!).

Shew!  It’s been a crazy summer!  I hope nobody has stopped production waiting on a Days of Summer update.  A quick apology goes out to all the faithful followers of the happenings in Blacksburg.  Now, let’s get to the good stuff – what have we been up to?  No, we haven’t given up, we are still going strong.  Let’s get everyone updated!

Week 5 – Has anyone been to a preschool classroom lately?  Rackers got to revisit their younger days with an afternoon snack of milk and cookies.  We had seasonal fruit and a small Fourth of July celebration featuring ice pops, sparklers and the little things that pop when you throw them (not sure what those are called).

Our entertainment for the week came from a piñata!  After working with Judith and Antoine in a very strategic fashion, we got that sucker filled with candy, hung and let people vent a little frustration by taking whacks at it!  The highlight of the week came from Cold Stone Creamery.  They setup a sundae bar, putting smiles on faces before our Open Book meeting.  Can we say AWESOME?

Week 6 – Drinks, Drinks, Drinks!  This week was full of liquid gold.  So, we have been having some San Antonio –like weather here in the mountains of Virginia.  To keep our Rackers refreshed, we served up piña coladas (coconut ice cream mixed with pineapple juice – delish) and a kiddie pool filled with beer!  Lanham was featured on CNBC this week.  So, what else would be appropriate but to tune in with a little popcorn and pretzels to enjoy the show.

Week 7 – We finally got a rainy day here.  So, to allow employees for some relaxation, Judith and I ran out to Taco Bell and picked up Cinnamon Twists, which we also delivered.  The office munched on dried fruits and nuts and had a summertime favorite – SMORES!  And, we decided to try out a game recommended by Brian Hartsock (hate that he wasn’t here to see it).

The game goes like this:  blow up a balloon, tie a string to it and tie it to your ankle.  When we say go, it’s a free-for-all trying to pop everyone’s balloon.  Last balloon standing wins!  We weren’t too sure at first, but as usual, all participants’ competitive sides came out and we had an all out war!  Way to go Jay Faulkner – the proud winner of a Starbucks gift card.

Week 8 – Of course we couldn’t just let the “Balloon on Foot” game go on just once.  Employees were able to seek revenge on Jay with a rematch of this event.  Same action, new winner.  Nice work Naveed – recipient of a Cold Stone Creamery gift card.

Boxes of candy (think M & M’s, Twizzlers, Milk Duds – all the movie theater favorites) sparked an impromptu showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey .  Another refreshing drink made the list – Cherry Limeades!  Made with….wait for it….you guessed it….Sonic Ice!

Finally this week was rounded out with a Company Happy Hour.  Judith and I passed out Dum-Dum suckers with tags attached reading “Don’t be a dum-dum, show up for Happy Hour.”  Fun!

This rounds out an exciting 4 weeks.  Glad to get everyone back in the loop.  Stay tuned for what’s ahead.  For the record – no event has been duplicated yet (unless you count the rematches we HAD to have) – new ideas keep on coming.

The Days of Summer forge ahead!

If you missed the previous posts, check them out here:

• Fanatical Days of Summer
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Sidewalk Chalk and Bubblegum
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Water Balloon Fights and Limbo
• Fanatical Days of Summer – Hula Hoops

Ashleigh started her career at Rackspace in 2009.  She is part of the HR team in Blacksburg, working specifically on office management, culture and events.  Ashleigh likes to help and support people, playing up her number one strength – Developer.  She has found her role of making sure Rackers have the environment they need to be the most productive to be both fun and rewarding.

In her spare time, Ashleigh enjoys spending time with her awesome family – husband, Matt and children Lucas (3) and Savannah (3 months).  She also loves to visit new places and coaches a high school tennis team.

I first heard about Rackspace® before I left South Africa in 2003. I was sent a link to their website by a friend and told that the Rackspace UK office was looking to employ people with my skill set.

After landing in Heathrow (my first time overseas ever), I realised that all the “so called” experience I gained over the last couple of years, meant absolutely nothing.  During my interview at Rackspace’s first UK datacenter, it became clear that I was in way over my head.  I was neck deep in technology that I had never seen before:  the birth of a relatively new concept of outsourced hosting, and Rackspace’s mantra of Fanatical Support®.

It was at that moment I decided to commit myself to what I believed, and still believe, is one of the greatest companies to work for, and basically became a sponge.

It was a time of great development in my career.  Learning, growing… learning some more… growing some more.  This process repeated until I could finally see the big picture.

Since joining Rackspace, I’ve moved to 3 countries with my family and have been able to still work.  This has not come without some challenges and adventures.

One of my proudest moments took place in a small town in Oman, in the Middle East.  The hotel I was staying at had a business centre, so I set up my laptop and phone system and spent the whole day fielding calls and emails.  I was the only person using the centre for an extended period, so the concierge got really chatty at one point.  She asked me what company I worked for.  I told her, and to my absolute surprise and delight, she said she knew of Rackspace.  Her brother was a developer in Muscat, and their company hosts with Rackspace.

It was then I realized the extent to which Rackspace influences people and our customers.

I should probably back up though.

In the middle of 2007, I decided to leave London after 5 years and move to Dubai, where I was able to continue my role in a remote capacity for a 6 month period while Rackspace was looking for a replacement.  After 6 months, my role was so effective that the business decided to employ me as a permanent remote employee.  I spent 2 years in sunny Dubai, working some of the oddest hours due to the time zones, and eventually relocated to Cape Town, South Africa around a year and a half ago.

I remain a RES/Intensive Solutions Engineer resource to the teams in the UK and Australia.  In addition, I help Rackspace investigate the market trends in South Africa and, once in a while, dabble in Sales when the need arises for me to visit current customers or new prospects in the African/Middle Eastern region.

I remain a loyal employee of Rackspace, and intend to remain one for many years to come.

More about Chad:

Chad Rodinis is a RES/Intensive Solutions Engineer based out of Cape Town, South Africa.  He serves as a resource to Rackspace teams located in both Australia and the UK.  In addition, Chad investigates market trends in South Africa and, every once in a while, gets involved with sales in the Africa and Middle East regions.

Explore technical careers with Rackspace.

South African Flag Photo Credit, babasteve

Over the next couple of months, I am going to be chatting with a number of Rackers who were originally customers.  We’d like to find out how they came to Rackspace, what their impressions have been thus far and what role they serve within the organization.

Meet Mike Mayo – Mobile App Developer & Racker

Q: How were you using Rackspace services before becoming an employee?

A: Before I was an employee, I was making Ruby on Rails web apps for fun.  I was using another hosting provider and the performance was spotty.  Every time I had a problem, I would have to submit a support ticket and days would go by before I received an answer.

I researched other providers and came across SliceHost.  The experience compared to my previous provider was substantially different.  Not only were they responsive, but more importantly, the servers were responsive.

Overall, I just liked the service and the SliceHost community much more!

Q: What led you to join Rackspace?

A: Fast forward, a year later, I was interested in learning a new programming language so I started diving into iPhone apps.  I wanted to make something that was tied to a service.  I saw that SliceHost had a REST API and since I was a customer, I decided that my first iPhone app would be to manage my SliceHost account.

After I made the app, I opened a support ticket with SliceHost and sent them a big “Thank you!” for the great API.  They liked the app quite a bit and a relationship formed.

Q: What are your impressions of Rackspace now that you’re on the inside?

A: Rackspace’s public persona is very friendly and we talk a lot about Fanatical Support®.

Not to be cynical, but I don’t tend to trust much advertising as the majority of companies seem to say one thing and embrace another internally.  With Rackspace, what we say publicly and how we act internally are seamless.  That is a special quality that I have rarely witnessed within another organization.  Furthermore, it ties in directly to one of Core Values which is “Full Disclosure and Transparency.” We are who we say we are and we take a great amount of pride in delivering for our customers.

Q: Tell us about your current role with Rackspace.

A: Currently, I am the mobile apps developer.  I build and maintain all of our iPhone, iPad and Android apps.  In addition, I contribute to various Open Source projects, including OpenStack.

Some of the apps I would recommend readers check out are the Rackspace Cloud iPhone App, the Rackspace Cloud Pro App for the iPad or, if you are on an Android device, check out the Rackspace Cloud Android App.  These apps allow users to manage their servers and files in the cloud directly from their mobile devices.  Additionally, if you are a coder, you can check out the source code (and contribute) by visiting GitHub.com/Rackspace.

Thanks for joining us Mike!  We are proud to have you as a part of the team!

To connect with Mike Mayo, feel free to reach out to him on Twitter @greenisus. Or to contact him directly, Mike can be reached at (901)299.9306.

You will notice a “Castle” theme to the pictures in the double edition of the blog post this week.  We tried to highlight some of the unique features of our corporate headquarters – the old abandoned Windsor Park Mall that we have fanatically transformed.

You can see some photos and video about the shape of the mall before we refurbished it by clicking here.  Robert Scoble also had a great interview and tour during the construction.

Without further ado, here are the pictures of my T-shirt tour:

Day 52 : Fanatical by Design was the Company kickoff theme in 2005.  These are mirrors on one of the doors that makes the most annoying beeping if they are opened.

Day 53: Rack gives back is the community service organization of Rackspace®.  Right now we are in the middle of sponsoring Ed White middle school – we will probably have some pictures of the results in a future blog.  You can see some of the pre-makeover photos of the old Windsor Park Mall next to me.

Day 54: The T-shirt from our 2007 customer event is graced by the escalators from Mervyns—that’s right, we kept them.

Day 55: Want to provision a server from your iPad – there’s an App for that.  And if that isn’t enough for you, take in a view of the Guinness Book of World Records largest word search located at our headquarters.

Day 56: I wish I could tell you what this T-shirt was from – maybe a Racker can help us out in the comments.  The picture gives you an impressive view of the main entrance to our HQ building.  Did I mention that we achieved LEED Gold Certification for the building?

Day 57: As you can see – we have produced a lot of T-shirts.  So many in fact, we decided we needed to cut back.  The “Radar Team” (don’t ask me, I don’t know) still wanted a shirt, so they paid for it out of their own pockets.  As you can see from the sleeve—they wanted to make sure everyone knew this.

Day 58: A special event Rack Gives Back shirt.  This was released in 2005 when Rackers were banding together with fellow San Antonions to help support the evacuees from New Orleans that were escaping the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  Interestingly enough – the old Windsor Park Mall was a part of this effort.

Day 59: The official T-shirt of our CFO organization.  As a former member of their organization, I thought it might be a little easier to get one of these, but it wasn’t easy.  In this photo, I am hanging out in front of the Fanatical Support® silo in front of the mall.

Day 60: As much as we like our headquarters now, it wasn’t always the most popular idea.  This was part of a grassroots effort to build support for the grand plan.   And, yes, this is a Rackspace shirt.  Do you see the Fanatiguy?

Day 61: Can you guess what one of the first thing Rackers did when we moved into the Castle?  You guessed it, we made a shirt!

The last thing I have to say is that we don’t have all of our San Antonio Rackers under one roof yet.  We really look forward to the completion of the next phase of construction when all our friends at Datapoint can be here with us.  Hang in there Rackers – we appreciate your sacrifice.

I’ll be out next week, so I’ll have to pause this pursuit for a bit.  But, I’ll be back at it soon and will be sure to bring the ongoing updates to the Racker Talent.

If you missed any of the previous posts, be sure to check them out.

Let The Wardrobe Games Begin

Wardrobe Games – Week 1

Wardrobe Games – Week 2

Wardrobe Games – Week 3

Wardrobe Games – Week 4

Wardrobe Games – Week 5

Wardrobe Games – Week 6

Wardrobe Games – Week 7

Wardrobe Games – Week 8

Wardrobe Games – Week 9

Wardrobe Games – Week 10

Wardrobe Games – Week 11

Phil White joined Rackspace in April of 2006 as a member of the Finance Team. Since that time, Phil has supported a number of our internal groups. In 2007, Phil moved to the Compensation & Benefits group and since that time has dedicated the majority of his efforts to helping keep Rackspace’s culture unique and special.

In his spare time, Phil enjoys mountain biking, pick-up basketball and spending time with his family (three boys and a lovely wife!).