When I started writing this post I thought it would be time to write the mandatory “Thank you for being a vExpert this year post” with all the mandatory acknowledgements. This year, while I was of course glad to receive the vExpert accolade, it wasn’t with the same kind of excitement as last year. Instead, I found myself looking if some of my VMware Community friends made it as well, and I was truly happy that their dedication and their hard work finally paid off.
I think that besides our love for technology and our geekness, we VMware fans, customers, partners and employees are all together on the same boat, trying to help each others learn, discover new technologies and advance in our education and careers.
This lively community has the chance to have a lot of active and creative members who have a very positive impact on others. It gives me a lot of motivation to see that others were able to achieve something, may it be writing a technical article, studying and passing a certification, testing a new technology, speak at an event or organize events for their local community.
In 2011, when I started gathering info about passing the VCP certification, I peeked in on twitter and was intrigued that so many people would discuss online about virtualization, datacenters and VMware. I didn’t have a clue that I would be part of this great adventure way then.
Nearly 3 years later, I don’t have a single regret. Being a member of this community is a great honor, it is absolutely amazing how you can engage with people who are at the very core of VMware technology development, how you can reach out with many wonderful and skilled community members. It is both awesome and humbling, but also very inspiring. Seriously, speaking to some top people is as nice as having a chat with Gandalf or Darth Vader (your mileage may vary, though).
Finally, getting to know a lot of people helped me make a few great friends and this, in my eyes, is the real value of our community: bringing people together.