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Before I go into all the things I’m grateful for in 2022, let me, first, thank you all for giving my weekly posts a read. I’ve always wanted to be the center of attention I am always surprised by the reach my pieces have and I love that I can have some positive impact on others’ lives. I will continue to do my best to be a force for good – both here at work and in my outside-work life. I’m happy doing this work and I certainly am a work in progress.
A Work in Progress
We talk a lot about growth here at JumpCloud. Growth of the product, growth of the company, and personal growth. I think growth plans are valuable for many people. At this stage of my working life, though, I do find them more than a little amusing. While I am not as old as DeNiro in The Intern, the question “where do you see yourself in 5 years (or 10 years)” still makes me giggle.
That said, this year has been really interesting in terms of my growth here at work. I’ve been able to expand my role to be more than a writer. I’ve developed tools and led a campaign. I’ve been invited to join a tiger team and been asked for my input on particular product things (#vagueposting). I was the “Me” in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) and I was asked to moderate a few webinars. There was more but I think you get the idea.
Making Moves In Your Own Role
You may be asking yourself: “Self? How do I grow or shift my role like this?” I have some ideas for you.
I feel comfortable enough with my teammates and larger department to speak up when I have a solution and to answer questions when I have the background. And I’m careful to keep it zipped when I have neither (I’ll bet that surprises some of you, amirite?). I treat people with respect and they do the same with me. I admit when I’m wrong and I make an effort to try things before judging them. All of that is how we gain the trust and confidence of others. It’s a relationship-builder that leadership has to model and encourage.
But, honestly, even if it doesn’t come from the top it is NEVER a bad thing to respect the people you work with. I mean, you spend a LOT of time with these people. Mutual respect and honesty is the best way to create a great work environment.
I asked for help when I needed it and I asked for guidance as I challenged myself to have uncomfortable conversations. I am grateful for the confidence my manager instills in me and the trust he and his manager have in me.
As for the team I’m on, my gosh, we work together like hot chocolate & marshmallows. We’ve learned how to effectively use sprints for our work and are developing processes for communicating with other teams to create even more amazing content in a more efficient and organized manner. This team is remarkably skilled at working remotely. We ask each other for opinions and assistance and we all lend a hand when asked. We have learned over the past 20 months or so that we get a LOT accomplished when we share knowledge and resources.
But it’s more than just my teammates and I who have learned to successfully work remotely.
It’s Not Just Us
The JumpCloud platform has grown as well. This year saw some incredible releases. The short list (the longer list can be found here, while you MSPs should look here) includes:
- Multi-Tenant Portal Integration with PSAs (Autotask and Connectwise) for Billing AND Ticketing
- JumpCloud for MSPs
- Conditional Access enhancements
- Zero-touch onboarding for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS using ADE
- Windows and macOS automated patch management
- Downloading of available Billing Invoices
- Push MFA for RADIUS
- Staged User as a New User State
- Additional Linux Version Support
- Cross-Platform Default Patch Policy Groups
- Agent Support for AD and AAD Domain-Joined Windows Devices
- Linux Hardening Policies
- iOS VPP Updates
- Membership Suggestions
- MFA for LDAP
- Commands Queue
- Patch Management Policy Report
- Directory Insights improvements
- Password Manager
- Remote Assist
- Chrome Patch Management
Holy cow. And that’s not even everything we released this year!
I am in awe of how much gets done here and how much people care – about the work, about the product, about our customers, and about each other.
In a year that is seeing a scary amount of layoffs in the tech industry, I feel fortunate to be working under terrific executive leadership. It is a team of really smart people who understand how to manage through a period of global economic instability, who know that being honest and trusting employees to do their best work is a great way to continue to build a great product. Leadership trusts us, respects us, and looks out for our needs as people, not just as worker-bees. They are a constant reminder that if you are genuine and you treat people well, they will treat you well in return. You reap what you sow.
Hope
So, as we draw 2022 to a close…it’s been a difficult year but we all seem to be coming out of it. The tech world is still struggling, but I have more hope now than I did 6 months ago that we’ll see some beneficial industry shifts. Where tech companies had trouble hiring because of a skills shortage, there is now a larger pool of people to pick from (this is me trying to make some lemonade out of the layoff-lemons in tech this quarter).
There is evidence that the inflation is improving and that will bode well for all of us – for business and for personal. The layoff bleeding should slow and we should see growth once again. For a variety of reasons, I believe that there is reason for hope going into 2023.
Speaking of hope, my column and Chris Tate’s MSP column will be moving to the JumpCloud Community in 2023. I hope to see you all joining there! The more people we have, the deeper that (non-denominational, non-judgemental) technical resource will be for you. You make the community…come join us.
