How to Change the IT Architect Hiring Practice so Companies and End-Users Win, a Proposed Change

1. How to Change the IT Architect Hiring
Practice so Companies and End-Users
Win, a Proposed Change
Part I
By Brian Murphy / GuideIT / Founder of Virtualization Practice
www.linkedin.com/in/virtualos/
"An honest man speaks the truth, though it may give offense; a vain
man, in order that it may."
William Hazlit
First and foremost, some perspective, although I feel this would benefit all IT
Architects, my examples are based on personal experience from the better
part of 16.5 years with 1.5 years consulting, 15 years as full time employee for
GMAC FS / branded Ally FS / now Ocwen Financial, Dell/Perot. You’re more
than welcome to review my biography/profile at www.linkedin.com/in/virtualos/ to
validate if my opinion is worth the time. When I left GMAC FS, I was
managing three teams and continued to wear the hat of Enterprise Architect
and Citrix Architect.
But our answer is, you shouldn't go as far as you’re probably considering, given the panic
mode most managers enter when a star threatens to shoot out the door. Under normal
circumstances, to keep stars happy, you just need to give them what they crave: outsize
compensation; effusive recognition; enjoyable, challenging work; and the feeling that
they’re not being micro-managed. All that changes in a split second, however, when a star
asks to see you, closes your office door, and says: “I’ve gotten an offer I think I just can’t
refuse.”
Your first instinct will be to match the offer financially. Usually, though, that won’t be
enough. The competitor luring your star has been smart enough to make the deal richer in
other ways with, say, more job responsibility or a bigger title. You can match those, too.
And that’s where the trouble starts. Because promoting stars just to keep them can incite
a little riot, especially if the promotion is over people who feel they deserve the same kind
of treatment but just haven’t threatened to leave.

2. Before you know it, other stars will be insulted by your accommodation, and even some
midrange performers will feel resentful. And at the end, the only contented person left in
the place might be your over-performer who has decided to stay, now feeling more
indispensable than ever.
http://goo.gl/R4z3l1 - Jack Welch
I’ve managed, hired, fired, interviewed, and consulted. In other words, I’ve
been on both sides of the hiring process having to approve recruitment
vendors in a scenario where all resumes came from approved vendors,
internal candidates, or existing employees. To consulting and unbeknownst to
me at the time [consider 10 years ago] 98% of my interaction as sole
proprietor IT consultant would require interaction with a recruiter then behind
the scenes - hiring manager.
I'm not one to mince words, so, the purpose of this guide is to reach those at
executive level that can implement change from the top down. Otherwise, it
will only get worse. The goal is to convince, beyond doubt, which Recruiting
practices and bad Hiring Managers must change or get out of the
business. The primary focus being small business owners, sole
proprietorship; such as myself that now must utilize what is akin to a Union of
Recruiters that have penetrated every company in America and except for the
innovations of LinkedIn a majority of my negotiations start with a recruiter. In
17 years, I have 5 that I trust without doubt.
How many people do you know that can paint a masterpiece? It is the same
in IT, not everyone can create masterpieces. If you were hiring someone to
paint a portrait of your datacenter, one would hope you would pay top dollar
for someone that could make you and the company proud. Hire a pianist for a
concert, depending on the concert – is it not truth that the more important the
concert the smaller the names on the list?
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives
valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is
no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to
do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the
triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails

3. while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
President Teddy Roosevelt
I'm using the term IT Architects because that is my profession [however, it
would appear that IT <Insert Title>, and wish to compare our profession to
other "Architects" other than IT. Our profession is the only is one that I’m
presently aware of that does use a methodology of other Architect. What I’m
proposing is simple, allow IT Architects that specialize in certain disciplines
such as Citrix, Cloud, VMware, Networking, IT Security, Storage, and the list
goes on; propose their architecture and paid a proper wage based on
competing bids. Any IT Architect, assuming they are true to the discipline,
should have an idea of what their architect entails. I require NDA now for my
architecture – why?
Imagine you were just told to start interviewing Architects to build a new,
never seen before building design to eclipse all buildings before it
arrived. Would you not bring in multiple Architects, ask for references or
recommendations; MOST important, you would review their proposed design,
immediately ruling out those that simply get in, read the docs, willing to work
for less per hour, minimum standards met – get the picture.
"Knowing others is Wisdom. Knowing yourself is enlightenment."
Lao-Tzu
Bad designs are destroying VOS and leaving bad impressions on end-users
that must endure the problems when the solution is simply to start focusing on
the ability of the Architect, bring them in to propose a design, make them tell
you how they will generate cost saves, look at their references or private
portfolio; this one change would eliminate this focus on hourly rate because
when you budget 4 million dollars and I do it for 800K – what do you care what
I’m getting paid? I can implement an 8000 user solution in 8-10 weeks. At
500.00 per hour, you still made the right choice. People should get paid based
on profession chosen and the ability to deliver the critical components of their
chosen profession – in the case of IT Architects, whether Citrix, VMware,
Microsoft Hyper-V, Enterprise Architects, Enterprise Application Architects,
Cloud Architects; all the same requirements.
I wish I had a $1.00 for every Recruiter/Hiring Manager that wanted to hire me
after they had already obtained architectural design from Citrix or Citrix

4. partner. The answer is NO, every time; to say yes – for me – is an issue of
Integrity. Other Architect professions believe they have the best design,
why would I accept a job implementing someone else’s design? To get
paid – no, not if you have any Integrity.
"From my days in the Pit, I learned that the game is all about fielding the
best athletes. Whoever fielded the best team there won. Reuben
Gutoff reinforced that it was no different in business. Winning teams
come from differentiation, rewarding the best and removing the
weakest, always fighting to raise the bar."
Welch, Jack; Byrne, John A. (2003-10-01). Jack: Straight from the Gut
Not only did this happen recently, they tried to dictate what I would get paid
per hour – no negotiation. My argument back was too logical and didn’t
matter because at this point in the negotiation these individuals have no
power. They have no power to change the pay and too afraid to support you
because they feel like they can get someone else – which they can because
that is the other card on the table; lack of Integrity. Every IT Architect that
accepts lower pay or does not stand by their brand empowers the those
focused on how to drive down rates rather than the LONG TERM PICTURE of
which IT Architect provides the best architecture, agility, CAPEX, OPEX, ROI,
TCO cost saves.
Myself and others utilize, enhance, our designs in our area of expertise; my
first implementation almost 17 years ago of Citrix Winframe 1.0 on Windows
NT 3.51. There are others in the same situation that have accomplished the
same or more and have more tenor. Unless the company refuses to use
Recruiters and create their own HR recruiters [example Dell], you must utilize
a recruiter unless you happen to know someone at another company that can
submit your resume. LinkedIn is a great tool for bypassing the recruiter but to
date it falls in that 1%.
Once again I saw the benefits of acting like a small company. Giving the project
visibility, putting great people on it, and giving them plenty of money continues to
be the best formula for success.
Welch, Jack; Byrne, John A. (2003-10-01). Jack: Straight from the Gut
Anyone branding themselves IT Architects should have the ability to stand
front and center and pitch their idea, tell you where they can save money from
a CAPEX, OPEX, CAPEX, ROI, and TCO. That alone would rule out the

5. “pretend architects” from those of us that can stand before anyone with
confidence and – in my case – present 30 key areas where I can architect a
solution for VOSC [Virtual Operating System Cloud]. You will never hear me
use the term VDI – why? It is NOT a desktop. It is a virtual operating system
with the critical purpose of providing a SECURE conduit to “Your Company
Business Applications”. Now, if your budget is 4 million for 50,000 users yet
based on my initial discovery and globalization with some sites having multiple
shift differentials I estimate your total concurrent use at 30,000 users and
quote you a CAPEX cost of 800,000.00 – COMPLETE.
Not only this, I create 30 areas of cost savings from network bandwidth CIR
rates reduced by half to deploying thin clients that utilize .5 amps versus 3
amps or more, consolidate an estimated 2200-2500 applications, provide
licensing control for those applications so those applications that are
concurrent licensing I can create a single published application accessed
globally by all 50,000 users but now concurrent is 30,000 saving 20,000
licenses. This applies to many applications. I’ve only listed 3 of 30.
In his book “Straight from the Gut”; Jack Welch stated:
“But differentiation is all about being extreme, rewarding the best and
weeding out the ineffective. Rigorous differentiation delivers real stars—
and stars build great businesses. Some contend that differentiation is
nuts—bad for morale.”
Source: Jack: Straight from the Gut
In other similar titled professions, it is a competition whereby the best
architecture and cost saves win. In the IT Architect profession it becomes
who works for the lowest hourly rate; stated prior this has been 99% of my
dealings with the top 1% I can count on one hand the number of recruiters I
know and trust have my best intentions at heart and their other customer – the
company I plan to bring my ideas and architecture. Proven, repeatable, cost
savings and IT agility.
Hiring the right IT Architect is critical to the success of certain complex
implementations. I have been implementing Citrix solutions (Top-Of-Stack)
for almost 17 years now but what most fail to understand is to implement Citrix
solutions correctly, create Agility, create Application Lifecycle Management,
create cost saves in 30 key areas; requires advanced knowledge of Big Data,
Networking, Firewalls, Windows Server Operating Systems, Windows Clients,
Android Clients, Macintosh Clients, Disaster Recovery, all the major hardware

6. server vendors, all the major Big Data aka Storage Vendors, Active Directory,
Advanced DNS concepts and the complete stack of the solution you
represent. Citrix XenDesktop when implemented properly is a major cost
savings.
Yet, the value is in Citrix XenDesktop, XenServer, XenApp, ShareFile, Podio,
Citrix Universal Receiver, Citrix StoreFront, Citrix Single Sign On, Netscaler
APC 10.1, Insight for HDX and Web, Citrix Mobile Phone solution, and Citrix
Tier1 Hypervisor for the desktop allowing for offline mode. With these
components, you can create a VOS cloud that can service 30,000 or 300,000;
with that said; why do most implementations fail? 1 reason; the most often
missed aspect of the design; a true case of “putting the cart before the horse”;
regarding Citrix Architect there is 1 common mistake that causes failure.
When I say fail? I include those that consider consolidation a success at a
cost to more Help Desk tickets and resources allocated more to supporting a
bad architecture than working on new projects or increase cost for whatever
reason. The opposite of “Agility”; the purpose of IT is to allow the business to
grow without hindrance. Having seen many environments, I am often amazed
what users are willing to put up with, until they leave and find a company
where IT enables business Agility by utilizing internal and public cloud hybrid
methodology with dynamic capacity on demand, data center resources
running at 70% utilizing top of stack – versus what? 1-2% today?
Instead, the system is now based on who will give in first and take a lower
rate, this is considered a win. How does it feel to know you based your
decision on the value of a person without given the chance to prove their
value by presenting their designs, cost save methodologies and I could go on
but the point is you have misrepresented your customer on both sides of the
fence?
That recruiter has misrepresented you and I by only considering our worth per
hour and rather than going to bat on our true value attempts to see how “low
we will go” – NO; but the real victim is the customer that is sold a resource
because simply because they chose to work for less – nothing to do with their
recommendations, their design recommendation after review of the
environment, finding those hidden cost saves, creating a design that
impresses the end-user community – how is this not best long term for your
customers on the “hiring side of the fence” and mutually beneficial because
once the cost savings is proved, you have an architecture that is tweaked
slightly better to achieve these cost saves, the focus now is I DON’T WANT
TO LOSE THIS PERSON; Sounds great, so I’ve shown you a repeatable

7. process and true cost saves of 3 million, how does 200.00 per hour sound for
10 weeks of work?
Why bring this up? Most are going to say it cannot be changed – really? You
need to read; “Who Moved My Cheese”. (Reference: http://goo.gl/IMuY) For
those of you who are recruiters and hiring managers, I don’t blame you
directly. This is not a finger pointing article written out of anger. I’m doing my
job, creating a solution that is ultimately a better value to the customer and
end-users we support. If we must go through you, then things must
change. Whether you as a leader in the industry of recruitment or as Hiring
Managers approaching senior management or executives reading this,
hopefully agree, and change the hiring practices.
Success if defined by the IT Architect. How can you as a hiring manager,
define the abilities of the IT Architect unless you provide them a chance to
show the “blue prints” to the plan, proposed cost saves, proposed CAPEX
cost, where agility is achieved?
This appears to be reserved for “vendors” yet where a vendor once quoted 12
million dollars how was I able to quote $800,000.00. This was the only time in
17 years a company hired me based on my known/proposed architecture, my
“Brand Name” built with Citrix [after speaking to Citrix employees assigned to
the account].
I've only met a small percentage of individuals in the virtual space relative to
Cloud which make no mistake VOS is a service offering in the cloud and
require similar architecture to create that associated cost effectiveness that is
perceived with SaaS, PaaS, IaaS solutions today.
It really isn't that difficult, just hire the right person for the position. Right
people in the right places - sounds simple; At this point, it can only get worse
so to all you Recruiters and Hiring
Managers focused on hiring the cheapest labor you can rather than focusing
on the benefit the customer gains and the additional business you gain by
placing the "right resource that meets or exceeds expectations with a proven
track record that is verified by that resource ability to produce
recommendations or perhaps already utilize a tool intended to help alleviate
having to call someone every time you bid on a job; LinkedIn being a good
example.

8. This requires recruitment firms to enable their recruiters to think on their own,
give them bargaining power – I’m so tired of “I need to check with my
manager”. Are you not as fellow IT Architects? It reminds me of certain new
car dealerships where I offer a price and the first thing out of the salesperson
mouth is “I need to check with my manager”.
I honestly don't understand and refuse to work with Recruiters when I send
them a PDF of my 44 recommendations on LinkedIn, copies of awards,
Certifications, over 100 recommendations counting the cards, emails, spot
bonuses, and they ask for references? My response, "I just gave you 44
multi-paragraph recommendations from real people that you can look up on
LinkedIn and contact as many as you wish". All my former managers have
given recommendations and that is who I would provide for contact.
As a contractor, I cannot expect my former managers to get a phone call and
restate what they have written in stone on LinkedIn because "it is our
policy". If I give in to this policy my former bosses would start to get annoyed
and ask why they can’t just use the recommendation on LinkedIn; is that not
one purpose of LinkedIn – sure it is, but our policy is to ignore the obvious. At
what point to you stand up for your accomplishments and say NO.
If one thing is certain, change is inevitable. If change does not happen,
everyone loses. Most of all, the end-users become victims of poor design
which impacts their ability to perform their job, all because the wrong person
was hired; some will read this and get a wake-up call not knowing that private
Cloud
Lack of integrity never works in business; it seems as we grow older some
create false excuses for cutting corners, blaming others for their mistakes, not
taking responsibility.
"Real winners never sneak to finish lines by clandestine or
compromised routes. They do it the old-fashioned way—with talent, hard
work, trust, fairness, and honesty. It’s okay to negotiate tough business
deals, but conduct your business with both hands on the table and
sleeves rolled up."
Huntsman, Jon M. (2008-10-29). Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult
Times, New and Expanded Edition (p. 48).
The fault is not all with Recruiters, the firms, Hiring Managers, and HR hiring
restrictions; every time someone in our business allows a recruiter to dictate

9. their hourly rate actually loses integrity. You just validated that you are worth
less and each recruiter or hiring manager that is allowed to dictate your or my
salary makes it that much easier for them to try it on others to where we are
today where some will not speak with you or pass your resume on for a phone
call if you refuse to work for that rate.
I try to negotiate with them and explain that the focus or my focus has always
been on cost savings I bring to the table, do you thing the customer or hiring
manager can spare at least 10 minutes so I can explain why I am the right
person for the job and once I describe all the areas where I can create cost
savings the hourly rate would be the least concern. I wish I could share
everything but I require an NDA to for full disclosure of my design and after 17
years and millions of dollars saved (3 million on 1 project) I simply cannot
understand why a hiring manager would be more concerned about cost of
implementing a VOS Cloud Solution with Citrix TOS (Top of Stack) utilizing
any hypervisor; thus, maybe they have a large ESX environment, or HyperV,
or XenServer. Citrix VOS works with all hypervisors. The type of hypervisor
is something to consider relative to TCO and ROI but one factor of 30 areas of
true cost saves.
I’m using Citrix as my primary example for two reasons;


They were first to market
They have the best top of stack solution
If you need convincing, read my article “King of the Stack”
at: http://goo.gl/3qDZxq
Globalization and Cloud VOS create massive opportunity for cost saves which
I will outline a few of the 30 that are repeatable processes not unlike a
manufacture of cars or other products and concepts such as Six Sigma.
(Reference: http://goo.gl/mmtx)
Here are some numbers that are repeatable: (Some of many)




10 second logons per VOS [My term – Virtual Operating System,
because it is not a desktop]
12-15 IOPS per VOS
Windows 7 Professional, read-only VDISK, streamed to X # of
users of which becomes a hardware limitation; with a goal of
utilizing 200% of the underlying hardware (cost save).
2 tickets per day per 8000 users (massive cost save)

10. 







2200 Applications hosted on XenApp generates a tiny 50,000 IOPS
Staff reductions at every site, Help Desk
Simply provided training for Desktop Support Teams to become
VOS Operations Support
POD based (2 meter cabinet) design with Dynamic Capacity on
Demand methodology – exists today and cheap.
Citrix, as one example, gives you their software for free; all that is
required is a CONCURRENT LICENSE. Netscaler hardware and
VPX being the exception.
Application Lifecycle - All applications hosted in XenApp, one
single RO XenApp VOS Disk hosted on shared NAS emulating NFS
or CIFS or fiber LUN presented to several servers (shared)
N+1 POD with Hardware LifeCycle
CIR Rate reductions for every remote site (Massive OPEX savings
potential per MONTH)
It is the same with creation of a Cloud Services Platform. Some can paint,
most cannot. Some architects utilize standard practices, others have
proprietary and inventive ways focused on cost saves; ROI, TCO, CAPEX,
OPEX. What are Cloud Services and the small percentage of Architects who
can implement a complete solution stack?
Hiring an Architect should be based on their proprietary design that meets or
exceeds all best practices across all IT towers. Have you hired a contractor to
build a building before looking at their proposal? IT Architects if truly
architects have a picture in their mind and utilize a specific design that is
repeatable and works every time. If they cannot tell you the architecture to be
used and explain the areas in which you will benefit how can you possibly
know your hiring manager or recruiter has not simply sold you a resource
because they accepted a pay cut?
I stated that most implementations fail in 6 months, defined as users unhappy,
more expensive than physical PC’s regardless of the reason(s). The Citrix
VOS Cloud with Netscaler, Provisioning Server, Universal Client, StoreFront,
MDM, ShareFile, Podio, and competing products VMware vCloud and ESX
implementations are akin to installing Microsoft Office Professional and only
using Word. Or, because it is thought of as an OS - and Citrix takes the
blame here by not marketing their own products correctly. XenDesktop is
merely a virtual OS conduit for business applications hosted on Citrix XenApp
which runs on Microsoft Terminal Services.

11. Citrix Provisioning Services allows for one single virtual OS file hosted on a
NAS or a single NFS LUN shared by multiple-fiber connected physical
servers. Since the virtual operating system does not have applications
installed but presented by Citrix XenApp/Terminal Server which is designed to
host segmented but hybrid and complex shared use of DLLs in memory
allowing for more user sessions per host and designed to do this with minimal
impact to processor, memory, and IOPS.
To expound further, you can expect to utilize around 50,000 IOPS per 2200
applications hosted on Citrix - otherwise it was done wrong. The read-only
single virtual operating system allows for a single point of update with all
customization requirements handled by Group Policy and Citrix Policies. This
model works in multi-tenant scenarios, no inventory agents installed in the
OS, no remote control agents required being this functionality is built into
XenDesktop so that Help Desk can shadow a user desktop and obtain critical
information using Desktop Director tool that ships with XenDesktop.
Regardless of 30,000 or 300,000 users makes no difference, the Desktop
Director tool best feature is the advanced search that allows for Level 1 - 4
support teams to quickly find the user desktop, then shadow it and capture the
issue. Generally, there are not many issues assuming you do not install all
the agents from the desktop environment into the virtual operating system /
with Provisioning Server produces a single read-only instance that allows for
automated creation of desktops based on the criteria you define and this can
be a complete 180% difference from customer to customer or business
towers.
Virtual operating system is merely a CONDUIT to the business
application. We often forget that the reason this technology exists is not for
our pleasure but 5o provide access to business applications from any device
at anytime from anywhere using any type of connectivity from 3G, 4G, Dial-up,
Satellite, to congested Internet connections.
In 90% of the implementations I'm asked to fix, maybe it is just me, the "cart
was put in front of the horses". Most VOS implementations die on the vine
despite what all the vendors are stating. The question is why?
It comes down to one thing; however, that one thing has many complex
obstacles in the path making this a very complex and difficult to answer
without offending. Yet, to not discuss it and allow it to continue I might as well
find a new career due to every bad implementation gone wrong leaves the
end users - the reason IT people exist - disgruntled and pleading for their old

12. and dusty physical computers back and management eventually gives up
because it truly becomes a disaster and unmanageable.
Amazing how one thing, addressed at the end by 95% of implementations
today instead of the beginning, can triple your Help Desk calls in 6 months
and now you have lack of resources for projects due to support taking priority
over new projects so you wasted all that money and now have to hire more
resources to support the environment when the goal is reduction in staffing –
unfortunate side effect of proper designed VOS solutions. If you are in any
position to force change, start by getting to know and teaching these simple
concepts to your hiring managers that you employ to work with recruiters
(practically the only way to get a job now in IT – IT now has a middle layer that
never existed 10 years ago, not unlike a large Union with the goal of
representation to every employer and job seeker while getting paid by the
company and will try to do everything they can to dictate my/your hourly rate.
Every consultant in IT that lacks the Integrity to say no, I make this, you will
pay me this because I’ve earned that right and the cost saves (coming up)
some of us bring negate any reason to focus on hourly rate. If hiring
managers would focus on hiring the right person and cost savings rather than
trying to save money at the beginning rather than big picture relative to OPEX,
CAPEX, ROI, and God forbid lower TCO. Next, the recruiter should focus on
the value of experience and accomplishments backed by actual
recommendations from real people not “click the mouse button
endorsements”.
TRAVEL IS FATAL TO PREJUDICE, BIGOTRY AND NARROWMINDEDNESS… BROAD, WHOLESOME, CHARITABLE VIEWS OF MEN
AND THINGS CANNOT BE ACQUIRED BY VEGETATING IN ONE LITTLE
CORNER OF THE EARTH ALL ONE’S LIFE.
—MARK TWAIN
Executive IT leadership, if you really want to know why the VOS solution failed
where others have succeeded and saved millions, start with the people that
hire and teach them the principles of business cost saves, agility, people of
integrity, hiring the best resource for the job versus the person who “talks the
talk” just like anyone can read the PDF or EDOCS and follow the steps rather
than produce an architecture, for example, that is proprietary and requires an
NDA but with proven, repeatable processes utilized and implemented for more
than a single customer and pay them their worth or suffer the consequences

13. of failed implementation within 6 months – based on 17 years in IT, 15 years
as FTE with GMAC now Ally and Ocwen, Dell, and now close to two years as
a sole proprietor having to turn down more jobs than accept for reasons of
pure Integrity.
Every implementation gone wrong is a lot of end-users that now
consider VOS a four letter word due to the person or person’s your
hiring manager interviewed and hired because they just made the cut
and accepted a lower rate putting them at the top of the resume stack
yet if one thing is done wrong, or simply the fact that some people claim
to be musicians or painters; seen all the time on certain television
shows where they seem to actually believe they can sing, yet everyone
is telling them find another profession.
This must stop, before VOS solution becomes a four letter word to the
majority as some leave for other companies, 1 bad experience they tell 10
people, try to implement VOS there and if enough people have already gone
through that bad experience my ability to stay employed continues to decline;
which is truly sad knowing that you still have those 2% of Architects that
implement cost effective, agile solutions that save millions, VOS that boots in
10 seconds, 1 GB of RAM, centralized applications, telecom, file servers, and
ultimate security of data never leaving your network.
The data never leaves your network, all the user sees is a representation of
the desktop like watching TV. The TV is just a receiver for the data, you see it
and hear it but it originates somewhere else and when you turn your TV off,
the data was never actually on your TV, it is merely a conduit. VOS is a
conduit for accessing business applications – centralized applications,
databases, storage, telecom incoming and outgoing lines, with virtual phone
hosted as an application presented to the VOS – just plug in a headset and
with Citrix HDX, the user will never notice because everything resides on one
LAN, WAN no longer part of the equation and as you will read a huge
potential cost save that 98% of consultants miss because it is more of a postimplementation – I call it like I see it.
So, the root of the problem is not the "1 thing that causes all VOS
implementations to fail" but the fact that 10- 15 years ago a sole proprietor
such as myself did not require a middle person such as a Recruiter and bad
hiring managers wanting to buy cheap labor and willing to hire an engineer
playing architect but worse driving the rates down for those of us with more
than 15 years experience. With that said, experience means nothing without
proven, year after year accomplishments and seeking out harder challenges

14. because you love the profession, the technology, and that feeling of
accomplishment when you have built a solution that on average costs 6 cents
per user per usage hour, dynamic capacity on demand, one VOS to update,
one platform to host all applications and present those to the read-only virtual
operating system that boots in 10 seconds and runs perfect with 1 GB of RAM
allowing for 3x the number of desktops alone by not having to use 4GB due to
improper use of virtual operating systems versus their physical counterparts.
The point of using VOS is to not use Desktops and to actually save money
which counter to most examples is possible. Are certain vendors going to
suffer, absolutely - question is will they adapt. Why do you care? As
business owner or CEO to CIO to IT engineer your job is to save the company
money and create agility in IT so it does not create a bottleneck for the
business and rather then being seen as an expense your are now creating
solutions that are dynamic, centralized applications, application lifecycle
management, one read-only desktop for all, no more inventory agents due to
having your applications on Citrix XenApp and using best practices of Role
Based security and Domain Local Groups per application you can tightly
control and immediately report on number of users in that group to assure it
matches your licensing. Not only that, you get published applications that are
restricted to X number of users but leverage concurrent licensing and global
dispersed users where the application has 10 licenses that are also
concurrent (not bound to a user - just a license) but 50 users in the group
using the application over a 24 hour period. The alternative is install the
application on the desktop and buy 50 licenses.
Now, apply this to every application you have and hopefully you are thinking
of all the cost saves on application licensing alone by simply centralizing the
applications to a solution that is specifically designed to host shared
applications, then all it comes down to is tweaking the timeouts, determining
your actual concurrent users out of 30,000 might only be 19,0000 at any given
hour. Next, you but hardware to host that # of users, not 30,000; using a POD
based deployment methodology (think of a POD as a 2 meter cabinet with top
of rack switches, next blades, next storage). Using this methodology does not
eliminate the need for N+1 and Disaster recovery but all those dollars saved
on licensing, elimination of all those vendor contracts for anti-virus agents (this
is another discussion), inventory agents (all applications now on Citrix
XenApp/Terminal Server with access streamlined to a single Active Directory
Domain Local Group assigned to each application and further restriction
policies to limit # of concurrent users, rules that allow users from this IP
segment but not these IP segments (SOX/HIPAA Applications?), Citrix

15. StoreFront Web Interface that supports all clients and mobility where you can
move from device to device work to home and utilizing the Citrix Universal
Receiver for Macintosh, Android, Linux (Ubuntu, Red Hat, so forth), iPhone,
iPad, Chrome Book (embedded HTML 5 Google Chrome Applications that
uses their browsers and found in their Application Store) and the multiple
Microsoft Operating Systems such as XP, Vista, 2000 to Windows 7 and 8.
So I've provided multiple cost saves to consider as to why and how VOS can
be a true benefit from CAPEX, OPEX and ROI. This is nothing compared to
the big picture yet due to corruption, greed, and shady deals between
Recruiters and Hiring Managers that lack the understanding of the complexity
of this type of solution and worse are focused on hiring someone that is willing
to come down on their rate so they get what is paid for as their solution that on
average dies in six months and everyone involved throws up their hands and
says something like "well, we tried it is just becoming too hard to manage and
users are screaming for their physical PC's back - who can blame them?
Confucianism states: “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.”
Zoroastrians are advised that “if you do not wish to be mistreated by others, do
not mistreat anyone yourself.” Muslims are taught no one is a true believer “until
he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” Hinduism warns
never to behave “towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself.” The
Torah says: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole
Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”
Huntsman, Jon M. (2008-10-29). Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult
Times, New and Expanded Edition (p. 149)
One of the biggest cost saves, often missed, is post-centralization of
applications, replacing PC's with small Thin Clients (no moving parts, last 7
years on average) at all remote sites with a device that uses half an amp
opposed to 3x that amount and suddenly you notice your energy expense of
running PC's, that hot air blowing out requiring AC to work harder - remember
no moving parts. And yet, this is nothing compared to turning down CIR rates
on every circuit globally because you just cut your bandwidth requirements
down to maximum of 15K per user, 0K when not being used except for the
occasional HDX ping to verify the session is not disconnected and therefore a
candidate to return to the pool and free up that license.
Imagine if you centralize file services, and applications from every remote site,
no more data or multiple copies of Access Databases with link tables into

16. other databases and MDE front-end run from a network share local to each
site or God forbid run across the WAN. XenDesktop/XenApp supports the
virtual Cisco Phone Client, Lync, SharePoint integration internal and external
if we throw in Citrix Netscaler. Plug in a headset to the Thin Client, send that
encrypted HDX traffic down the dedicated audio or video channel to the
remote site and centralize all your incoming and outgoing telecom to one
location and further reduce bandwidth requirements not to mention all those
remote PBX's with those expensive VOIP cards.
I've shared a few of 30 potential cost savings that I know and have proved that
I can provide. I'll leave the business before I allow someone else to dictate
my pay. Regardless of contract or full-time. I've already decided to leave the
consulting business. The solution is changing the hiring process so I can
stay. Or, someone reads this and hires me direct and pays my worth - I
require an NDA and non-compete to disclose my architecture and 30 critical
cost saves. I look forward to your LinkedIn mail or Inmail.
Last but not least, why do overpaid CIO's outsource IT? CEO/CFO
Business Functionality? CIO Development? Same reason companies
outsource hiring:
So they can point the finger at someone else and keep
their jobs although they hired the outsourcers.
Q&A - How to Change the IT Architect Hiring
Practice
Q&A - How to Change the IT Architect Hiring Practice
Part II of How to Change the IT Architect Hiring Practice
http://www.vcissgroup.com/publications/how-to-change-the-it-architect-hiring-practice
Question:
Every rate is set, in some cases, by business owners / CIO / HR / managers
based on budget and evaluate the market trends based on feedback from
recruitment firms.
Answer:

17. Therein is the problem. Instead of being focused on the bottom line or “budget” they
forget the most fundamental part of business. Hiring the right people for the right
position; again other Architects are provided the ability to show their blueprint aka
design and are judged not only by budget but the quality of work, if they bring
something unique to the equation, the design itself makes sense for that organization,
the combined CAPEX, OPEX, ROI, and TCO should factor into the “budget process” –
yes? My best answer here, senior management is focused on “how low can we go”
rather than hiring someone that can save them millions and has proven themselves in
the industry. Maybe it is time to recruit new Senior Leadership?
Question:
Sometimes the company might pay for a special skill set where there are fewer
resources or the technology is new but it doesn’t get much better – how would
you address this question?
Answer:
This is a great question and it reminds me of another problem. They are willing to pay
for a certain skill set like Six Sigma or Tealeaf – yet if you consider this they are paying
more for a resource that might simply know the technology and is a cost
factor. Knowing Webtrends, HP OpenView Suite, and so forth is a skill that should be
paid but reporting does not necessarily lead to “cost saves”. Six Sigma being the
obvious exception to that rule – like IT Architects? They are willing to pay more for a
unique skill that is essentially a cost long term but when it comes to IT Architects that
create Agility, dynamic capacity on demand, read-only VOS, single VDISKS for certain
infrastructure components that can dynamically power down or up based on capacity
in specific areas then factor in time zone, global, shift differentials and 30 key areas of
cost savings you save across the board. The “board” here defined as; CAPEX, OPEX,
ROI, TCO, AGILITY.
Question:
How would you address the “vendor approval list” where companies have
essentially chosen to “outsource hiring” and in most cases they do this and
utilize a “contract to hire methodology” that allows them to not only pay lower
rates but take no responsibility if that individual makes a mistake and the
management has no responsibility to fire that person?

18. Answer:
Sounds like outsourcing – yes? It is the worst kind. It is one thing to outsource
development it is a different beast to outsource BUSINESS FUNCTIONALITY. This is
what companies are doing when they create a defined list of Recruiters that fight their
way on that list and essentially become the corporate Outsourcer. That is the future
unless certain Recruiters I know take the lead and truly do what is best for the job
seeker and the employer. If companies are going to outsource to companies to hire
their best resources it cannot be done with one brush one color. Architecture is a
discipline, the person hired can destroy or create. Consultants are most dangerous
because everything might seem to work great the 1st month, you have justified the cost
in your mind but it was all cost no save, and by 6 months you are allocating more
resources to Level 1, 2 and 3 to support the environment because now you are knee
deep in Application Lifecycle Management. Which, btw, is the “1 thing” if you read the
primary article!
Question:
How do you change all the Recruitment Firms for IT that paint everyone with the
same brush where the focus is hourly pay and the difference of what the
employer pays and the job seeker will accept is their profit margin? What about
the recruiter paid a commission?
Answer:
This is exactly what needs to change; we Architects are now having to use a broker
(think Stockbroker) that essentially cold calls you by phone or email trying to sell you a
job that half the time has nothing to do with our skill set. What I do is try to explain
what I’m looking for and my salary requirements, ask them to contact me if they find
something meeting my requirements – not theirs. All my accomplishments,
recommendations, publications are public forum on LinkedIn and my profile is set to
“seeking new opportunities”, Member of Most Recommended People on LinkedIn, pay
for Job Seeker Premium on LinkedIn to help keep me at the top of the consulting list
because it truly has become a numbers game. Here is the sad part, this is how bad
Recruiters and the “list” can hit home.
I recently was offered a job at a certain salary for ACME A company; two days later I
get an email from another recruiter offering $20,000 more than the first recruiter but did
not disclose the company. I gave them my resume and it was submitted and rejected
because Recruiter A had beat Recruiter B to the “resume submittal game”. I have an

19. interview with this company in the near future knowing now that Recruiter A is
pocketing $20,000 of my money. Money I could have gotten from Recruiter B if only
they had reached me first. That is not Integrity; and I am bound to honor my
agreement with Recruiter A? All because he submitted my – MY – resume – MY
SKILL – first.
So, a recruiter receives a commission just for finding me and presenting me to a
company that needs me and since they are paid on commission some might become
greedy. Greed brings out the worst in some people, therein is the problem. Instead of
doing the right thing for a commission – providing a cost saving resource,
creating a challenging interview process where each IT Architect has a chance
to share their design and cost saves which benefits the employer and the endusers.
Question:
Some recruiters, by their own accord or policy; or the hiring manager / employer
– choose certain criteria that is a must. For example, you must have this
certification, MBA, all of these skills but none of these; it comes down to
certifications or experience but no standards whatsoever.
Answer:
Another good point because I stopped taking test 8 years ago – why? Because I have
no time – I’m too busy setting new records for cost saves and adding new
accomplishments to my resume. Think about it, speaking from experience – I’ve
interviewed IT MBA’s and hired people with High School Diploma’s because they could
answer my question not quote theory. It is a combination of the two, I have over 20
certifications, over 100 recommendations counting LinkedIn, cards, letters, Kudo
Emails, Spot Bonuses, actual IT awards made of fancy glass. You don’t hire someone
JUST BECAUSE they have a college degree and IT Architect. You hire an IT Architect
based on the same criteria as non-IT Architects, what they bring to the table, the
design, the cost savings, and the uniqueness. IT Architects are artist and scientist
combined with experience and measurable accomplishments. I hopefully predict that
anyone using these same hiring techniques in 5 years will be gone from the
business. They will fade away to Integrity, Honor, and those that survive will have
bridged that gap between IT Architect job seeker and Employer so that the Employer
and ultimately the end-users in a VOS / Virtual Application Cloud Solution MUST
BENEFIT the most.

20. Question:
How do you know that the hiring managers are not declining to hire you based
on your credentials?
Answer:
Actually, I do. This has happened to me, I’m sure it happens all the time. I found out
because I had a former associate, friend, who was already on the inside. The hiring
manager did not know our relationship because I found out they worked for this
employer after I was not hired. Apparently, this hiring manager was “afraid to hire
anyone that had more accomplishments or better on paper” simply because they were
afraid of their job. Yes, there are managers that should not be managers, particularly
hiring managers – same for IT Architects, and Recruiters. Not everyone can paint,
play the Piano, Violin, Sing – but they think they can.
"Those who plant mean, vengeful, and unjust seeds will reap what they
sow."
HuntsmOan, Jon M. (2008-10-29)
Winners Never Cheat: Even in Difficult Times, New and Expanded Edition
(p. 132).
Question / More like a comment:
98% of IT Architects work for Re sellers or major consulting companies. Remaining
they normally or gradually become and remain as Full time Architect to a major
company.
Answer:
True. The market for Independent IT Consultant Architecture is death on the vine. Yet
in the comment is the same problem. Those “re sellers” are billing you out at 125.00
per hour or $200.00 per hour depending on discipline and paying you crumbs
buddy. They are no better than the Recruiter and Hiring manager that dictate our pay
and have made us an outsourced commodity for which the employer and users
pay. Doesn't "re-seller" just sound bad?

21. Question:
Why not just pick a company and apply and interview?
Answer:
Because everyone company I applied for thus far, minus a few, require you to use a
recruiter and the game starts all over again. I wish it were that easy my friend. Easy
being defined as trying to sell yourself on your ability to produce cost saves rather than
take what THEY OFFER. It should not be that way, I’m just trying to give Integrity a
chance over what is obvious wrong.
Again, we are potentially talking about the largest "outsourcing" of resources in
US. Right here, not global.
Question:
You ever ask yourself why CEO's, CIO's outsource?
Answer:
I'll tell you exactly why, so they can point the finger at someone else and keep their
overpaid jobs for doing nothing but pointing fingers then outsourcing to someone
else. It is a tragedy.