TGIF

Well, folks, I survived my first week at Cloudera. It really does seem like I've already been at it for a couple months. I'm going in at least three different directions at once, while simultaneously keeping an eye on what comes next. I'm still feeling pretty uncomfortable with the uncertainties of a new job in such a fast-moving company, but I know that will get better. Once I get nestled in, I think I'll feel very at home.

So, what have I learned one week into my great escape? First, the difference between a lumbering giant like Oracle or Sun and a growing start-up like Cloudera is drastic. At Oracle and Sun, my day to day was work was really about playing the long game — working to position myself and my product strategically, mostly versus internal forces. At Cloudera, my primary concern is what I can accomplish in the next 5 days. Don't get me wrong — we are also playing the long game, but all the strategy in the world won't help us if the execution doesn't keep pace. And the primary focus is the market, rather than internal politics.

It's also really refreshing to be working in a company where everyone isn't older than me. I'm not young anymore, but at Oracle (and Sun) I was always the youngest person in every meeting. At Cloudera, I'm easily one of the older employees. I originally worried that I'd feel out of place in a young company, but after a week it feels really natural. I think I'm going to have to brush up on my FPS skills again.

My last big take-away from my first week is that the excitement level is really what makes it so much fun. Cloudera is growing like crazy. We're right on the cusp of kicking ass and taking names. The energy level in the company is really contagious. It reminds me of Sun during the early half of the bubble, and for good reason. I'm not sure Oracle could muster even a department-wide sense of excitement if it tried. That's just not how that company works.

One more thing that occurs to me is that one reason I'm feeling so disconnected here is that there isn't much in the way of internal meetings. Given the small size of the business team, there's just no point. I've grown accustomed to sitting down at a table with a half dozen people several times a week. It makes it easy to know where everyone stands. Without those meetings, I feel like I'm out of the loop. I miss that meeting tone. I think I need to enroll in meeting rehab.

So, one week under my belt, and I'm really excited to see where this goes. I'll check back in at the end of week two, and we'll see where I stand then.

World's Fastest Ramp-up

I have now been at Cloudera for three whole days, and it already feels more like a month. I've seen a lot of places threaten a fast ramp up, but coming from the world of corporate behemoths, the Cloudera on-boarding has just been crazy. Not only do I already thoroughly understand my role and know where I fit into the company (which took me months to achieve at Sun), but I also have a very detailed understanding of what I'm supposed to accomplish over the next quarter and even a fair concept of what the rest of the year will be like. On top of that, I already feel the pressure to start delivering results. I don't even have a desk phone yet or a chair with arms, and I already feel like I'm falling behind.

I'm finally starting to meet more of the folks in the office. Thus far I've been really impressed with how open and friendly everyone has been. Part of it may be the very non-corporate age distribution. Part of it might be company culture. Part of it might be that everyone is feeling a little overwhelmed by the task ahead of us and is looking for camaraderie wherever it's offered, kinda like the characters on Lost.

I am terribly amused to report that today one of the engineers introduced himself and offered his assistance with my laptop if I need help. I'm a biz dev guy now, after all. I need to remember to sign up for the lobotomy when I get some spare time.

Getting Warmer

I am now two days into my new job at Cloudera, and the fire hose has started. I already have enough on my plate that I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. There's just way more to do than there are BD man-hours in the week to do it. My biggest challenge is going to be adapting to the new ecosystem of partners and competitors. Time to get organized and start tackling things systematically.

I had my new hire orientation today. I was not prepared for the difference in employee benefits between a start-up and a large corporation. I just wasn't prepared for the bare-bones offering that I was given. Now I understand why everyone says that life is a corp is so comfy. If I were single and foolish, I wouldn't mind the no-frills approach, but being married with children, I do not love the insurance options.

Still working on getting a feel for the Cloudera team. The one thing that is already obvious is that the usual BS that is the life's blood of companies like Oracle, doesn't work here. It's both exciting and frightening. I am quite tired of having meetings with a room full of people where not a single thing gets resolved or accomplished — that doesn't sound like it's an issue here. On the other hand, I've spent the last several years perfecting my streaming BS skills. Now I'm going to have to relearn how to actually have something useful to say when I open my mouth. Stay tuned for how that goes.

Two days in, I'm still not sure what I've gotten myself into. I see a lot of opportunity to accomplish some great things, but I still don't have a clear picture of how work actually gets done around here. Without formal processes, long approval chains, weekly round-table meetings, and a dozen levels of organizational hierarchy, how do they do business? You don't suppose they just do it, do you? That's going to require some acclimation.

That's a Wrap

I'm not very good at goodbye. Fortunately, today had no feeling of finality. It felt more like I was heading off for a short leave of absence. I guess with 14 years at a company, it stops being about the company and starts being about the people. Thanks to Linked-in and Facebook, those connections will remain intact.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about Sun and Oracle lately, checking and double-checking my decision to leave. One hears all the time that Oracle is evil and a terrible place to work. I don't actually think that's true. Oracle is certainly not the warmest, fuzziest company out there, but I think a lot of that is just a reflection of Larry. Oracle is actually a fine place to work. The benefits are decent. The working environment is very reasonable. It's a stable company, unlike what Sun was. It's perfectly OK. And that's why I'm leaving for Cloudera. In a decade or two, when I'm tired and burned out, a quiet, stable job will probably sound very appealing. Right now, though, I'm not looking for quiet.

I am so excited about starting work next week at Cloudera that I can hardly stand it. I'm trying hard not to let expectations get too high, lest I set myself for being let down, but I really see this as a huge opportunity. For the last couple of years I've been looking for something to hit out of the park, and now I'm finally walking up to the plate. Batter up!

And So It Begins

Hi. It's been a while since I started a new blog. Why start one now? Well, after tomorrow my current company blog, for reasons we'll get to shortly, will no longer be an option.

Let's start at the beginning. I joined Sun Microsystems about fourteen years ago. I saw the boom. I saw the bust. I watched our executive management team nose the plane into the ground. I then found myself working at Oracle as a product manager, where I've been for the last year. Having spent the last eight years immersed in high-performance and technical computing, the transition to Oracle was more than a little jarring.

Tomorrow is my last day with Oracle. Next week I will be starting work for Cloudera. I have to admit that I'm a little sad to be leaving behind fourteen years of relationships and product knowledge, but I'm also positively twitterpated to be starting something new, especially with a company as interesting as Cloudera.

My plan for this blog is to have a place to chronicle my transition and what it's like to work for a hot Silicon Valley startup. Maybe I've just watched Julie & Julia too recently, but this sounds like a good idea at the moment. And so it begins.