The Most Important Role In Tech
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They called him Average Al. Al Horford — beloved center/forward for the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Average Al. A cherished player. The guy who always does what’s best for the team. Average Al. Some people only care about accolades, but Al Horford cares about winning. Cares about his teammates. Doing the dirty work. The important stuff no one else wants to do. I worked with someone like Al Horford and his role is the most important role in tech.
Let me tell you about Dave.
Meeting Dave. And Getting Angry?
This story began in sunny Chandler, Arizona, where the forecast is always hot, hotter or face melting. As we always said, “It’s a dry heat.” Fortunately, we had good air conditioning at Intel’s Engineering Computing Help Desk. Too good, in fact. We often wore sweaters as we supported chip designers with Linux, Windows, Storage, CAD tools, and just about anything else that existed in technology. That’s when I met Dave, with his midwestern accent and quirky way of speaking uncannily reminiscent of my Uncle Normand.
You see, Dave came in as someone we were happy to hire. We weren’t excited. A bit more Linux experience would have been nice. Some…
