Proven Professional Spotlight - Michael Mendola

Name: Michael Mendola

Title: Senior Technical Education Consultant at EMC

Certifications:

• Cloud Architect – Virtualized Infrastructure Specialist
• Implementation Engineer – RecoverPoint Specialist, Storage Area Network (SAN) Specialist, Storage Area Network (SAN) Expert,
• Associate Level – Information Storage and Management Associate

Area of Expertise: Storage networking; Data protection and recovery solutions

---

Michael Mendola started his IT career in the mid-1970s as a mainframe computer operator. From the beginning he knew IT was his passion, and he set out to build his career in the industry. His particular interest lies in understanding storage and networking systems and services technologies, and forming solutions that meet business needs from the applicable products sets available. Growing out of that interest, he enjoys developing and teaching training courses about these components and solutions.

In the years since he started his career, Michael has accumulated well-rounded experience, with a variety of roles including Solutions Architect, Systems Engineer, Sales Systems Engineer, and Course Developer and Instructor. During his time as a SAN Technical Instructor, he was designated the Lead Technical Architect during the design and build of the complete Cisco MDS Series SAN lab for the hands-on training lab environment for a Cisco Learning Partner. He also achieved IPStor Certified Instructor status in his time as a Senior Storage Architect and Senior Instructor at FalconStor Software.

Today, Michael works at EMC, where he is a Senior Technical Education Consultant. He says, “I still can honestly say that I enjoy the IT industry as much as I did when I landed that first IT job back in 1977.”

He recently completed a portion of the training updates for EMC RecoverPoint and EMC PowerPath, and is now part of a team updating the EMC Proven Professional SAN management Specialist-level training. In the future, Michael plans to work on projects to update EMC VPLEX training.

Of course, as part of his work with the curriculum that is part of the EMC Proven Professional Program, Michael has achieved a number of certifications. He most recently earned his EMCIE RecoverPoint Specialist certification. He described the benefits of the EMC Proven Professional Program: “Being a certified EMC Proven Professional emphasizes my personal credibility among peers and internal and external customers alike.”

For anyone considering entering the EMC Proven Professional Program, Michael has this advice:

“Study above and beyond that required just to achieve a passing exam grade. Study and learn to expand your personal knowledgebase and deeper understanding of IT infrastructures and how these work together to serve business. Gain personal experience wherever and however you can. This is what will carry you far. Think of attaining EMC Proven Professional certifications as augmenting your general career path and as a personal differentiator on that road, instead of the goal, itself.”