SNIA – should we care?

Personally Ive never really bothered with the SNIA.  They’ve just never interested me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love storage and get “excited” by new ideas and technologies and the like, but the SNIA has never had that effect.  Even when reading blogs that normally interest me I find myself skipping any posts that mention the SNIA. 

A year or so ago I took a SNIA exam that a friend had told me about.  He laughed so much about how easy and such a waste of time and energy it was that I decided I had to take it to see for myself.  He was right.  That was the last time I had anything directly to do with the SNIA.  What a waste of everybody’s time involved that was – even the nice lady at the reception desk of the testing centre that signed me in!  I formally apologise for wasting her time.  I remember thinking at the time if their exam and certification was such a joke it spoke volumes about the organisation as a whole. 

But Im seeing so much written about them these days, some good but most not (I suppose it depends which sites and blogs one reads), that Im starting wonder if I should take an interest?  For those of you who don’t know, Im just your average storage consultant (I use the word consultant very lightly) who designs, implements, troubleshoots, manages and plays with storage.  Im supposed to be a storage specialist yet I can honestly say that I haven’t visited the SNIA website in about 2 years (even when taking the exam) and dont have a clue what they are up to these days. 

What Id really and honestly like to know is the following (Ive given my current and honest opinions in brackets) –

  • Is club for the boys (the big boys)?  (don’t know)
  • Do the big boys, EMC, HDS, HP, NetApp, IBM… take the SNIA seriously or care about it? (No)
  • Is it possible for EMC, HDS, HP, NetApp, IBM….. to be part of a committee driving storage standards etc when each of them already have their own ways and ideas that they make a tidy profit from?  (No)
  • Does it affect how I do my job?  (Hmmm doubt it)
  • Should I consider what they say about things that Im supposedly an expert one?  (No)
  • Are the SNIA a waste of time space and energy  (Yes)

As always Im open to being wrong, like Ive said - I dont take an interest in what they are doing.  May be I should change and start taking an interest?  The thing is, my time is precious to me and I have so many things demanding it that I dont want to waste my time on a waste of time.

Mackem