Evolution of the Storage Engineer: Adapting to New Enterprise IT Realities

February 5, 2020 by No Comments

As the senior IT manager leading the engineering team that designs and deploys data storage solutions at NetApp, I know two things:

  • Cloud, DevOps, *aaS (anything as a service) and growing infrastructure technologies such as Kubernetes are changing the way we deliver IT and deploy modern applications.
  • Despite the number of folks who unwittingly or purposely trivialize it, storage infrastructure is still needed to deliver these services.

The challenge for teams like mine is defining how we deliver storage for these new environments and what role changes will result for storage engineers and administrators. Even though much has been said about the change in these roles, many are struggling with the transition and what it means. That kind of change makes some people nervous.

Let’s be clear. This new world of technology does not spell the end of times for traditional storage engineers. It’s not something to fear, nor does it need to be an insurmountable challenge.

We just need to be prepared and to adjust appropriately. When it comes to storage infrastructure, my team will continue to have similar concerns and worries to those we have today, such as performance, capacity, and security.  These won’t change. What is changing, however, are the consumers of our storage services, the nature of their consumption, and the new skills needed to serve them.

Check out the rest of Eduardo Rivera’s advice on the NetApp blog.

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