EMC Developer Network

"Call Me Ishmael"	May 2006

What? Did he just say "Call me Ishmael"?

Am I on the right web site? Did EMC buy a cable movie channel?

Relax, and back away from the keyboard…

Let’s Get Acquainted

"Call me Ishmael", is one of the most memorable introductions in all of literature. Ishmael is a novice crew member on the whaling ship Pequod in Herman Melville's epic, Moby Dick. As narrator, he tells the story of what's going on around him and the discoveries he makes along the way. I find him a good model for my new role here at EMC.

I am Alan Zenreich, your humble narrator, and this is my introduction.

As Editor, my role is to be the voice (and face) of the EMC Developer Network. You'll hear from me on our web sites, conferences, and during recorded and live events. Much of my writing will be conversational in tone, more like magazine articles than like textbooks.

When Ishmael presents the shipboard environment (sometimes in excruciating detail) and introduces the characters on the ship, he engages the reader. We care about what happens onboard, and by meeting the community of people around him, we better understand the forces that make things happen.

Similarly, I will discuss the EMC environment and present content that includes editorial musings, "big picture" architectural overviews, "getting started" primers, and sometimes even write about the minutia of configuration. I'll interview EMC product managers and other members of our community so you can find out what they think you should know, and to answer your questions.

Coming Aboard

To a developer new to EMC products, getting started is no less intimidating than stepping aboard a whaling ship for the first time. There is so much going on around you that you often don't know where to begin. Worse, it sometime appears that everyone else knows what they're doing, and it's just you out there feeling alone and overwhelmed.

I want to accomplish many things in my new role, but my primary goal is to lower the barriers that make it difficult to find the resources you need to get your work done. One of the ways to do this is to provide a community environment that fosters information exchange.

There was a time when one person could know pretty much everything about a software product. Those times are long gone. Enterprise level solutions involve teams of people working together, often making composite applications that service many areas of the organization. I want to leverage the knowledge of the many really bright people to educate me (and by proxy, you) in the best practices and insights into using these technologies.

Many new tools are coming down the road, especially as EMC expands its software and hardware offerings to manage enterprise content, resources, archives and records. Trying to get a handle on the tools at our disposal can be a daunting challenge, but it's one that we're addressing, with your help.

As part of the Developer Network we'll be creating overlapping communities that have active participation of people in roles that include developers, project managers, system architects, business analysts, documenters, and educators. These communities will include EMC product management, engineers, marketing, (and yes, even executives) to provide an important feedback loop.

The EMC Developer Network should be a place that you want to come back to often, and participate in, not just when you're in a bind. It will be a community of people who are creating, building, and implementing solutions. What brings us together is that we've targeted EMC products and technologies as key components in producing these solutions.

We will be making several changes to facilitate this sense of community, but it will take some time. The EMC Developer Network will be a place to:

Find timely, relevant information about the tools and techniques you are working with, or have interest in
Share your ideas with others, and get their opinions
Show off the cool things you're doing

I'll keep you informed of these changes and how you can participate as they arise.

Why Are We Here?

No, I haven't been staring up at the stars too long; it's not a philosophical question. We all have our individual reasons for coming here, and understanding those reasons helps us evolve the Developer Network's features and services.

Over the next several months, I'll be asking a lot of questions to better determine the nature of the communities we're building and how to best address the needs of these groups (and maybe just give you some things to think about.)

I'll ask about things that would encourage you to participate. The more I know about our communities the better I can be at providing interesting content for you to read and hear, and provide ways for community members to interact.

I want to know what gets you excited about technology. Personally, I'm not turned on by flashy things; I'm excited by "good ideas". I like creative solutions to problems. Show me a better way to do something and I want to let everyone know about it. I'm not so much a technical evangelist as I am a technical enthusiast.

We'll also be gathering some demographics... where you're located, the kinds of things you're working on, and what you're anxious to learn.

Are you already savvy in developing information lifecycle solutions, or was it just last week that you thought content management was moving those boxes around in your garage?
Are you here because your boss said "We've got this project... you have to implement a connection between a Documentum repository and SAP", and now you're frazzled because you thought sap was collected to make pancake syrup?

Who Is This Guy?

So, I'll start with a little bit of my own background. I'm based in New Jersey, and over the past twenty years or so, I've had several roles in software industry.

As a system architect, I've been a technical lead for projects that served the financial, telecommunications and entertainment industries. For the past several years I worked with a multi-national system integrator, helping to design systems and tools that incorporate Documentum content management components.
As a developer, I've designed and built many custom applications, and published several database utilities.
As an author and teacher, I've written a few books, many articles, and spoken at dozens of user conferences and training sessions.

I'm not what I call a "hairy knuckle" developer, I don't spend much time these days with the implementation details and coding. I've found myself surrounded by others who do a great job in those roles. I enjoy researching and prototyping with new technologies, out there on the leading edge, and helping others understand what they can do with new tools.

We're Not Adrift

I'm fortunate in that EMC has assembled a great team to guide the evolving Developer Network. Like a ship, there is a course plotted, we know where we want to go with it, and are delegating responsibilities. The voyage certainly should be interesting.

Though I've pointed out some similarities between our community and the crew of a whaling ship, I'm happy to report that our environment also differs substantially:

We don't have an actual great white whale to chase. However, our quarry is often even more elusive: satisfying users of systems that solve real business problems. Come to think of it, chasing a whale seems much easier.
We're not isolated from the rest of the world, floating around in a wooden boat. We can call upon resources and experience from all over the planet. The talent pool and accessibility of the community is extraordinary, it's up to us to determine the best ways to share.
Moby Dick's story is 100 years old and has a tragic ending, where the only one left is the narrator (call it coincidence.) In contrast, our story is just starting, and if things go according to plan, not only will the participants survive, but thrive, and have some smiles along the way.

I look forward to narrating our journey, so just...

"Call me Alan Z."