About

I’m not a perfect person there's many things I wish I didn’t do. But I’ll continue learning. I never meant to reboot that ESX host for you.

My name is Michael Stanclift 👨‍💻 I work for VMware 🐢 I live in Kansas 🌻 I'm married to Sadie 🦸‍♀️ Together we have three boys 👣

I have been a Star Trek fan my entire life 🖖

Community Engagement

Certifications

Personal Technology

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe. The first computer I ever owned was an IBM PS/2. I spent the late 90s to 2000s all in on Microsoft, but beginning with the release of the iPhone 3G, I've swung back into the orbit of the fruit company. I try to have mostly Apple products at my disposal for my daily computing needs.

Computer

  • Apple MacBook Pro i9 (2019) in Space Gray (provided by VMware)
  • LG UltraFine 24" 4K Thunderbolt 3 Display (24MD4KL)
  • Apple Magic Keyboard in Space Gray
  • Apple Magic Trackpad in White
  • Apple Magic Mouse 2 in Black (and White, for the road)
  • Beats Studio 3 in Midnight Blue

Phone

  • Apple iPhone 13 Pro in Silver
  • Apple Leather Case in Midnight
  • Apple AirPods 2 (H1) with Wireless Charging Case
  • Apple Watch 5 (44 mm) in Space Gray Stainless Steel with LTE
  • Apple MagSafe Battery Pack

Tablet

  • Apple iPad Pro 11" (2019) in Space Gray
  • Apple Smart Keyboard Folio
  • Apple Pencil 2

I'm on a quest to move everything to USB-C or Lightning connectors across everything I own.

Corporate Overlords

I’m currently a Technical Account Manager for VMware focused on healthcare clients. What exactly does a TAM do? Basically whatever my customer needs me to do. I’m part-advocate, part-consultant, part-analyst, and part-therapist. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.

Please note, all opinions expressed on this blog or any of my other social media are mine, and may not reflect theirs.

Prior to VMware, I spent a year working as an Integration Engineer for a financial services and healthcare technology provider called DST Systems. As an IE, my primary function was to work directly with the company business units and help assess their infrastructure needs and design solutions for them that were consistent with the best practices established by the enterprise architecture teams. I supported our pharmacy solutions and business workflow automation groups. I put in my notice the same week a transaction to purchase them was going through, for $5.4 billion.

For six years I was a systems consultant for a value added reseller. I left a few months before they got bought. I did mostly VMware, Cisco and EMC data center consulting projects for them. What can I say? It was VAR life. If you’re not sure what that means, I suggest listening to episode 130 of the Datanauts podcast where the panel explains exactly what that means.

Prior to that, I was a systems administrator for a document imaging software provider called Perceptive Software that was purchased right after I started working for them, for around $250 million. Shortly after I left they rebranded the entire operation but then bought a competitor for $1 billion dollars. Some Chinese investors bought that a couple years ago, and then divested all of the software, so my company became a separate company again, and then it was sold to a different competitor. I only worked there for a year.

For four years I was a Network Analyst for Rockhurst University which is a small Jesuit college in Kansas City. I did a bunch of crazy things there including one of the first major VMware VDI implementations in education. Wyse did a case study on it, and it won an award from ComputerWorld Magazine. Here’s the video version, where you can see a very nervous, 40 pounds lighter, 25 year old version of me explain why desktop virtualization is great.

Find me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Github.