About me

My name is Rob Barker, also known as Barkz [/bɑːk/-z]. I’m a solution architect, developer, Lego enthusiast, mountain biker and every so often artist (at least my wife thinks so). The order gets switched around depending on the day of the week. I work out of my home office in San Antonio, TX for Glean as a Solution Architect working closely with customers. My focus is helping customers configure, customize, automate and build apps. Much of this blog will be about all things Glean based on my day-to-day experience. Occasionally you’ll see some Lego or mountain biking posts, my other two passions but for the most part it will be about how to use, customize and develop for Glean.

I’m still getting things going on as I just joined Glean on September 30, 2024. Comment service will be up shortly, some refinements to the layout and other miscellaneous things.

MY BACKGROUND
Prior to joining Glean I was a Technical Director at Pure Storage, Inc. for 9+ years. I like to call it my legacy or claim to fame at Pure was developing the PowerShell Toolkit which turned into the PowerShell SDK 1 PowerShell SDK 1 and SDK 2. Before Pure I worked at NetApp as a Reference Architect speaking, writing, blogging about SnapManager for SharePoint, SnapDrive, SQL Server and the ONTAP PowerShell Toolkit. Last (but not least) I worked at Microsoft for 14 years in a number of different roles. My favorite was as a Technical Evnagelist covering SharePoint, Office and the Information Bridge Framework (who remembers that?). I wrote some books while there for MS Press and worked with customers in the lab to build integrations.For those curious check my LinkedIn profile.

TMI
I love gadgets and buy way too many. I collect Lego, again way too much, and I mean way too much. I love Chinese and Japanese food and pretty much eat that every day, lucky my wife is an amazing chef. I listen to techno, my wife loves driving in the car with me. I do certifications for fun. I’m learning Chinese (slowly) and know enough to embarrass myself and my wife. I have way too many subscriptions to mountain bike training programs. I love to race mountain bikes and ride trails I shouldn’t.

That’s me in a nutshell. Looking forward to sharing my experience of using AI @work. Cheers!