On November 11th we celebrate Veterans and Armistice Day honoring those who have served in the military.
To commemorate this special occasion, this month, we will spotlight two Clouderans who have served in the military both in the United States and the United Kingdom.
For this week’s spotlight, I sat down with Clouderan William Dailey who served in the United States Navy. He took me though his military career, his transition into the private sector and then to Cloudera. I learned how his time in the military shaped him and other veterans and the importance of veteran’s contributions to the workforce today.
Meet William Dailey, Senior Educator at Cloudera
William is part of the Professional Services organization at Cloudera by way of Education Services. He educates Cloudera’s customers and clients in Dev Ops, Admin and Security and Data Engineering. Essentially, the lower layer on the technology stack and the bread and butter of Cloudera’s business. William has been with Cloudera for five years and travels all over the world in countries within Europe, Asia and Africa.
Before I could even ask William about what his experience has been like at Cloudera, he declared, “Cloudera is by far the most collaborative technology company I’ve worked for, and I have worked with a number of them”.
“Cloudera is by far the most collaborative technology company I’ve worked for, and I have worked with a number of them”.
He continued, “I can get on the phone with anyone to ask for help and no one ever says no. Cloudera has a culture of getting things done, figuring out how to solve problems and a commitment to the customer. I believe this culture starts with our CEO and continues on to our senior leaders and managers.”
I asked William what he is most proud of while working at Cloudera and he told me about his participation in the development of Cloudera Deploy used in implementing Cloudera’s core products and featured in Cloudera Labs. He said, “I worked with great people.”
Way before William was educating customers on the ‘Dev Stack’ he saw the world through a porthole
The conversation shifted to his time in the US Navy starting from the beginning. “I joined the US Navy out of college to see the world through a porthole,” William smiled as he began to tell his story. William joined up as an Ensign (entry level officer) out of college and his military career spanned 10 years of active duty and 20 years in the reserves. 
At the end of his naval career, he retired as a Commodore of Maritime Squadron One. At that time, he had four boat units, six tactical units, an operations command unit, and an organization of 400 people under his command.
Life lessons learned from the military: Plan, execute, and win
“The military teaches you how to be disciplined and motivated but most importantly how to create a plan and then execute on it.” William told me. “For example, when I left the military, I decided I wanted to join Sun Microsystems. I had some experience with the Unix operating system and studied mathematics in college but what got me hired is deciding what job I wanted, understanding what I needed to qualify and then going after it.” He continued, “The military teaches you how to solve problems and more than any technical skill, knowing how to solve problems for your employer is a key to being successful at a job and in your career.”
“This is what I believe veterans bring to the table, this determination to execute a plan and solve problems”. William asserted.
“This is what I believe veterans bring to the table, this determination to execute a plan and solve problems”.
Veterans Day and veterans in the workforce
I asked William what Veterans Day meant to him, “Honor, courage and commitment. The military taught me to be in alignment with my moral compass. To do what is right no matter what the consequences may be.” William went on, “I think as we celebrate Veterans Day it reminds me that the military brings people of different backgrounds together and that has a positive impact on America.” William witnessed through his naval career the inclusion of women into the Navy and then the promotion of women into positions of authority all the way up to Admiral. In his time in command he worked directly for one of the these 2 star Admirals, who, as he said
“was an amazing leader.” Then taking the skills learned in the military many went on to do great things in the private sector and the US government. “Many of the women in the US congress today, for example, started out in the military,” he remarked.
William told me he doesn’t think it is necessary for people to thank him for his service, but we do appreciate the effort and sacrifice veterans like William have made. Veterans not only have made the greatest sacrifices to preserve our way of life but also bring unique experiences to the workforce–making enterprises stronger throughout the world.
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