Exclusives Featured Tech Field Day Events

Meet Field Day Delegate – Matt Callaway

  1. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Arceneaux
  2. Meet Field Day Delegate – David Ball
  3. Meet Field Day Delegate – Alex Neihaus
  4. Meet Field Day Delegate – Denny Cherry
  5. Meet Field Day Delegate – Keith Townsend
  6. Meet Field Day Delegate – Brian Gleason
  7. Meet Field Day Delegate – Adam Post
  8. Meet Field Day Delegate: Nico Stein
  9. Meet Field Day Delegate – Tricia Howard
  10. Meet Field Day Delegate – Evan Mintzer
  11. Meet Field Day Delegate – Stephanie Ihezukwu
  12. Meet Field Day Delegate – Wes Milliron
  13. Meet Field Day Delegate – Shaun Bender
  14. Meet Field Day Delegate – Michael Davis
  15. Meet Field Day Delegate – Matt Callaway
  16. Meet Field Day Delegate – Scott Driver
  17. Meet Field Day Delegate – Dave Benham
  18. Meet Field Day Delegate – Manon (“Mae”) Lessard
  19. Meet Field Day Delegate – Haydn Andrews
  20. Meet Field Day Delegate – Timothy Dennehy
  21. Meet Field Day Delegate – François Vergès
  22. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jennifer (“JJ”) Minella
  23. Meet Field Day Delegate – Wences Michel
  24. Meet Field Day Delegate – Josh Fidel
  25. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Williams
  26. Meet Field Day Delegate – Kati Lehmuskoski
  27. Meet Field Day Delegate – A.J. Murray
  28. Meet Field Day Delegate – Josh Warcop
  29. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jeremy Schulman
  30. Meet Field Day Delegate – Micheline Murphy
  31. Meet Field Day Delegate – Scott Morris
  32. Meet Field Day Delegate – Remington Loose
  33. Meet Field Day Delegate – Stefan Fouant
  34. Meet Field Day Delegate – Bart Heungens
  35. Meet Field Day Delegate – Markus Leinonen
  36. Meet Field Day Delegate – Greg Ferro
  37. Meet Field Day Delegate – Gina Rosenthal
  38. Meet Field Day Delegate – Vuong Pham
  39. Meet Field Day Delegate – Ruairi McBride
  40. Meet Field Day Delegate – David Samuel Penaloza Seijas
  41. Meet Field Day Delegate – Faisal Khan
  42. Meet Field Day Delegate – Mary Fasang
  43. Meet Field Day Delegate – Kim Pedersen
  44. Meet Field Day Delegate – Tony Efantis
  45. Meet Field Day Delegate – Robb Boyd
  46. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jason Beshara
  47. Meet Field Day Delegate – Glenda Canfield
  48. Meet Field Day Delegate – Ben Mason
  49. Meet Field Day Delegate – Pieter-Jan Nefkens
  50. Meet Field Day Delegate – Tony Bradley
  51. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jim Jones
  52. Meet Field Day Delegate – Neil Anderson
  53. Meet Field Day Delegate – John Deegan
  54. Meet Field Day Delegate – Andy Thurai
  55. Meet Field Day Delegate – Calvin Hendryx-Parker
  56. Meet Field Day Delegate – Lariana Luy
  57. Meet Field Day Delegate – Kyle Jenner
  58. Meet Field Day Delegate – Dr. Avril Salter
  59. Meet Field Day Delegate – Shala Denise
  60. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jerod Santo
  61. Meet Field Day Delegate – Ben Story
  62. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Hildebrandt
  63. Meet Field Day Delegate – Scott Bollinger
  64. Meet Field Day Delegate – Phillip Sellers
  65. Meet Field Day Delegate – Steven Cortez
  66. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jason Collier
  67. Meet Field Day Delegate – Deirra Footman
  68. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jason Gintert
  69. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jamie Phillips
  70. Meet Field Day Delegate – Wolfgang Stief
  71. Meet Field Day Delegate – David Klee
  72. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Cummings
  73. Meet Field Day Delegate – Bryton Herdes
  74. Meet Field Day Delegate – Kerstin Stief
  75. Meet Field Day Delegate – Marc Staimer
  76. Meet Field Day Delegate – Demetrios Brinkmann
  77. Meet Field Day Delegate – Dan Jones
  78. Meet Field Day Delegate – Peter Mackenzie
  79. Meet Field Day Delegate – Mike Wade
  80. Meet Field Day Delegate – Rocky Gregory
  81. Meet Field Day Delegate – Landon Foster
  82. Meet Field Day Delegate – Firas Shaari
  83. Meet Field Day Delegate – Girard Kavelines
  84. Meet Field Day Delegate – Betty DuBois
  85. Meet Field Day Delegate – Craig Rodgers
  86. Meet Field Day Delegate – Tim Bertino
  87. Meet Field Day Delegate – Rati Jokhadze
  88. Meet Field Day Delegate – Vince Schuele
  89. Meet Field Day Delegate – Brian Knudtson
  90. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jim Czuprynski
  91. Meet Field Day Delegate – Lexie Cooper
  92. Meet Field Day Delegate – Martin Duggan
  93. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jordan Villarreal
  94. Meet Field Day Delegate – Dan Kelcher
  95. Meet Field Day Delegate – Paul Braren
  96. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Hayner
  97. Meet Field Day Delegate – Troy Martin
  98. Meet Field Day Delegate – Falko Banaszak
  99. Meet Field Day Delegate – Chris Reed
  100. Meet Field Day Delegate – Jay Stewart
  101. Meet Field Day Delegate – Charles Uneze
  102. Meet Field Day Delegate – Eric Stewart
  103. Meet the Field Day Delegate – Greg Grimes
  104. Meet Field Day Delegate – Kerry Kulp, Founding Partner at Velaspan
  105. Meet Field Day Delegate – Roy Chua, Founder and Principal at AvidThink
  106. Meet Matt Tyrer, Founder and Chief Analyst at the Competitive Corner
  107. Meet Mikael Korsgaard Jensen, Technology Specialists Team Lead at Kamstrup
  108. Meet W. Curtis Preston, aka Mr. Backup
  109. Meet Mike Bolitho, Wireless Engineer
  110. Meet Jon Hildebrand, Senior Product Architect at 11:11 Systems

He’s from Austin, Texas, and he has a thing for Virtualization. You guessed it! I’m talking about about Matt Callaway! Matt is coming to Tech Field Day 19!

You may already know Matt, through social media, VMUG groups and vBrownBags.  Just in case you’re not connected with Matt, you can take care of that by connecting with with him at _vCallaway on Twitter, the web, or the Tech Field Day web site. If you’re looking for a good book, he has a list of ‘recommended reading’ on his website, too. 

First things first! If you could have ONE super power, what would it be?

The first one I’d love to have, would have to be the ability to heal others from sickness and disease. Having a superpower of being able to fly, be invisible, time travel etc… to me, just doesn’t seem to benefit others than only yourself. I’m sure it could benefit others, but would require other components. Don’t get me wrong! I’d love to have all the commonly desired super powers, but I enjoy helping others in need.

What is your favorite movie?

My favorite movie, I’m not sure I have one that stands above another. Top Gun is up there in the top 3 for sure. I enjoy movies that are produced that tell stories about events that have happened in my lifetime. They are generally documentaries, dramas, action; i.e., Capitan Philips, Patriots Day, 13 Hours, Free Solo, Deep Water Horizon. Deadpool was a pretty awesome one too.

“I feel the need… the need for speed!”

How do you perfect your ice cream?

I start with Blue Bell Vanilla Bean. I’ll scope it into a bowl, coat it with hard shell Hershey’s chocolate and then crush up some frozen Kit Kats and M&M’s and POUR them on top. Oh sooo good!

Let’s talk technology! What was your first computer?

I can’t remember the very first. It was one with a turbo button I do remember that. The very first one I purchased myself was an e-Machines 233Mhz Celeron with 128MB RAM and a 30GB HDD. I added a CD burner to it, and ‘high speed’ internet. I was the king in my neighborhood.

How did you get into Technology and IT?

Curiosity. I wanted to know how things worked. When the “internet” was introduced to me back in 1993-ish, I was obsessed to writing down any URL I came across. Little did I know there would be millions of them. I didn’t really think much about technology until early in high school when my buddy got a “CD Burner” and Napster. I was hooked ever since.

What do you do now?

My current role is Senior Manager, IS & Technology for a Molecular Diagnostic’s laboratory here in Austin, Texas. I manage our day-to-day IT operations. Additionally I own the role of IT architecture, design, and strategy from a multi-datacenter level.

If you weren’t working in IT, what would you be doing instead?

I’ve asked myself this question quite a bit. I’d probably do something around water (I grew up around water). Something like a marina manager/owner somewhere in the Florida Keys. Perhaps be a hired Capitan for private yachts. Nautical adventures of sorts.

What are your biggest challenges?

My biggest challenges are finding enough time to learn everything I want to learn. And build everything I want to build. I’m a creator by nature and to create you must learn first.

Where do you see IT going in the next 3-5 years?

I see IT going to the cloud in the next 3-5 years. Right!? But honestly, I see effectively everything in our daily lives relying on some type of ‘IT’. As technology evolves daily, it will become simpler (on the surface), more agile, quicker, faster, smaller. Doing more with less. Humans have to start the A.I. fundamentals (which has already taken place), but I see machines becoming into themselves as we add the last several components to machine learning and A.I. to round out the logical and analytical capabilities of self learning of non-humans. Scary, huh?

What do you do in your spare time (hobbies)?

In my spare time, I try and golf as much as I can. Even though it’s a love-hate relationship, it’s nice to be outdoors. Anything outdoors, I really enjoy. It helps get the mind off the 1’s and 0’s. Hunting and fishing is another one of my hobbies that I enjoy seasonally.

Fishing in February, anyone?

How do you manage your work/life balance?

I work for a company that offers a nice work/life balance. My biggest struggle is allowing myself to turn ‘work’ off. When I get home I want to learn, read and continue to hone my craft and career. So I guess you could say I just close the laptop screen and go play GoldenTee (arcade golf) ,or turn on the TV to drown out the OCD let’s-keep-learning mentality.

We are looking forward to having you as a first-time delegate at Tech Field Day 19. What are you most excited about seeing at the event?

I’m most excited about learning about new products and technologies from the companies I’ll be a delegate for. Aside from that, I’m excited to meet and network with new people in the industry.

Thanks, Matt! This has been great! See you soon!

Don’t miss a minute of Tech Field Day 19 happening June 26-28!  

 

About the author

Mel Zura

Mel Zura is the Operations Specialist at Gestalt IT. She assists in the day-to-day operations of Gestalt IT and Tech Field Day. Mel’s interests include sunny days, beautiful flowers, watching squirrels frolic, dogs, coffee, and music. She’s crazy about Tech Field Day and Tech Field Day delegates... and gifs! Go ahead, follow her on Twitter at @ZuraMel.