Olá pessoal,
na entrevista desta semana eu conversei com Dmitry Kniazev, que é coordenador técnico dentro de uma equipe de estratégia de produtos da Veeam, com sede em São Petersburgo, na Rússia. O seu foco principal atualmente é Virtualização, Linux e Cloud. Uma grande parte de seu trabalho é orientada para a comunidade, ele é responsável pelo programa Veeam Vanguard e outras iniciativas comunitárias.
1 – How did you get started in IT?
I always was a computer enthusiast but never actually considered IT as my profession. I graduated a business school in San Francisco with a master’s degree in marketing. When I got into Veeam I started in marketing department, but quickly started learning technical aspects of the products, got my VMCE certification and made a transition to a technical team. So overall, I’d say I started in IT around 2 years ago.
2 – Talk about your work at Veeam.
Currently my title is: Technical Analyst, Product Strategy. My position has two sides to it.
First one is technical/educational. I’m using my understanding of our products and ecosystems to tell people how our products work and how to use them to get best results. I do it at different IT events, during webinars, etc.
Second one is community oriented: I am coordinating a Veeam Vanguard program. It’s a special appreciation program for IT influencers who are big Veeam’s supporters and contribute a lot by doing events, webiars, blogs, etc.
3 – Do you have any IT certification? What are your specialties?
I have a Veeam Certified Engineer credential, also I’m a vExpert. I’m mostly interested in Linux and our Veeam Agents
4 – What is your opinion about the programs of influencers that the major manufacturers maintain?
I can’t really talk about this since Microsoft and Vmware are our alliance partners, so I’m not allowed to publically compare them=)
5 – Tell us a little about the Veeam Vanguard program.
Veeam Vanguard is a program that we launched in 2015. Our team manually selects a small number (around 50) of people around the globe that are true Veeam fans and contribute a lot to the community. The perks of beeing in the Program include a fully paid trip to VeeamON or other big event, branded exclusive swag, direct link with product managers and access to slack channel where you can meet other Vanguards.
We’ll be opening nominations later this year so if you are interested or know someone who would be a good fit, please nominate when the polls are open.
6 – We know that IT is very dynamic. How do you keep up to date? What magazines, books, websites or blogs do you recommend?
I’m mostly reading blogs and try to figure out stuff on my own in the lab.
My favorite source of info is Gostev’s forum digest, it gives me the essence of what happened in virtualization and IT in general for the past week.
7 – Count the equipment you have and use in your work. Do you have a Home Lab?
We have our team’s shared lab, I have two nested ESXi hosts and a bunch of storage options that Veeam has integration with. Pretty capable lab if you ask me.
8 – What is your favorite system? Windows, Linux or Mac OS?
MacOS as an end user, windows as a system for tech stuff.
9 – Are you a gaming enthusiast? If so, do you play on what platforms?
I used to be a PC gamer, but recently I bought a PS4 and Nintendo Switch
10 – Finally, give us your channels of communication on the Internet and how readers can contact you (Blog, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, site …)
You can reach out to me via my twiiter handle: https://twitter.com/vmdk_co