For the first time at VMware, we launched the vWarrior Hands-on Labs Championship at vFORUM Singapore on 4th October 2018. It was amazing to see the level of participation and excitement during the event. Within the teams, there was a great amount of teamwork as participants worked together to complete the required given tasks. There were a lot of interactions with the audience as they cheered for their favorite teams and friends.
What is vWarrior…?
The vWarrior HOL Championship was a collaborative effort across three teams worldwide – the Global HOL team, SEAK (Southeast Asia and Korea) Marketing team and Systems Engineering team based in Singapore.
Our two Systems Engineers, Wen Bin Tay and Sheryl-Ann Lee were the brains behind the initiative. Together, they led a group of Systems Engineers to develop and organize the tournament.
vWarrior was inspired by the World Cup tournament format which consists of qualifying rounds and knockout stages where teams go head-to-head to be crowned the winners. The objective for each team was to challenge and beat other teams using their knowledge and technical skills across VMware portfolio of solutions in Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) and End-User Computing (EUC).
The championship was created using VMware’s Hands-on Labs environment with customized manuals created explicitly for the event to showcase the teams’ technical capabilities.
How vWarrior works…
At vFORUM Singapore, we had a total of 52 customers and partners, forming 18 teams of 2-3 people as they competed against each other. All teams were briefed a week in advance on the rules and content they would be tested on at the event.
At the event, there were two qualifying rounds that would allow teams to compete and proceed to the knockout stages. In each of the stages, the teams were tested across the VMware Portfolio: NSX, VSAN, vRealize Automation, and Horizon.
It was a close match with teams competing side-by-side and advancing through the stages. In the end, drum roll please, Team Luther: Amirtharaj, Ranjit, Venkateswara was crowned the Champion by passing all four stages and beating all the teams. As for the runner-up, we had Team Nasser: Jai, Ashok, Karthik.
Congratulations to all the teams for participating in our first vWarrior Hands-on Labs Championship!
What’s Next for vWarrior HOL Championship…?
The feedback from participants and attendees were beyond our expectations.
“It was quite fun and very interesting and very good chance for us to understand and discover more of HOL (Hands-on Labs)” – Partner, vWarrior Participant
“We took this as an opportunity to get familiarized in NSX which we are trying to use in our environment” – Satyanarayana Chowdry, vWarrior Participant
“I like this Challenge vWarrior, and I was preparing for the last week. It’s quite good, and it’s a good fight.” – Jai Prakash, vWarrior Participant
The vWarrior Hands-on Labs Championship was a huge success and we are looking to expand this to other regions and events. Please leave your comments and feedback if this would be something you would like to see in a city near you.
Watch the vWarrior Playlist videos to hear about the participant’s experience at the competition.
A big shout-out to the VMware Systems Engineer teams based in Singapore for volunteering their time and putting all the pieces together to make this a spectacular event. Great job, folks!
