Behind the scenes of your favorite VMware Learning courses are VMware Certified Instructors, or VCIs. VCIs are experts in their areas of specialty, developing subject matter expertise on VMware technologies, honing their communication and presentation skills, and effectively conveying their knowledge to a diverse audience.
We love our VCIs and wanted to share the story of Ranjna Aggarwal: one of the VCIs guiding the next generation of VMware learners by teaching courses to IT professionals across India. Her topics of instruction include cloud automation, virtualization, VMware vRealize operations, and more. While she enjoys working with a wide range of students, she also enjoys the personal learning challenges that teaching presents.
Hunger to learn
Ranjna started her career as an instructor for Microsoft, Cisco, and Linux products. She was first introduced to the VMware Workstation hypervisor shortly thereafter, which piqued her interest and inspired her to learn more. She got the opportunity to do so when she was offered a contractor position with VMware that would teach her the ins and outs of the workstation.
After starting her new job, Ranjna quickly realized that she could apply concepts from Microsoft, Cisco, and Linux products to learning the VMware suite. While she found that many features in each product were similar, she noticed the concepts driving the products behind the scenes were not. This presented a unique learning opportunity that motivated her to seek a full-time position with VMware.
“I just wanted to learn what other products we have, and I had that hunger to learn the things, so that’s my reason to become a full-time VMware instructor,” Ranjna said.
Ranjna has now been with VMware for 12 years and worked as a VMware instructor for the last nine years.
A day in the life
Ranjna starts her day by making sure her devices and internet connection are ready to deliver a full day of virtual learning, a necessity because her courses have gone completely virtual post-pandemic. While the transition from in-person to online classes was challenging for her — especially without her handy classroom whiteboard — she ensures that students continue to receive quality instruction.
To beat Zoom fatigue, Ranjna encourages students to stretch and move around during their long days of coursework and does the same herself.
“This was the challenging part, but we adapted,” she recalled.
She teaches a wide range of courses but considers classes on cloud technologies and automation her favorites. She also often finds herself teaching multi-cloud products, a growing interest among many IT professionals.
Most of all, she enjoys keeping up with the latest VMware technologies, a requirement of all VCIs so they can provide the most up-to-date instruction.
“We have to keep ourselves always [more] up to date than others. If you’re working in production, you might be working two or three versions behind, but here, when we are in the trainings, we make sure we learn the latest technologies,” Ranjna said.
When she’s not teaching or keeping up with VMware technology, Ranjna enjoys traveling, especially to the mountains. Her favorite trip is to Spiti Valley in India, a high-altitude region of the Himalayas in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name “Spiti” means “the middle land”, and this mountainous, cold desert between India and Tibet boasts fascinating terrain and a heavy influence of Buddhism.
Making an impact
When she’s not teaching courses, Ranjna gives back to the VMware community by participating in technical webinars that help IT professionals build their VMware skills outside a traditional classroom environment.
She’s also an instructor for VMinclusion Taara, a unique return-to-work program based in India that offers free technical education on VMware technologies to women interested in IT careers. The program empowers women to return to work with confidence and earn opportunities in a traditionally male-dominated field. Ranjna works with Taara learners to grow their VMware expertise and prepare for graduation from the program.
Ranjna’s advice to other aspiring VMware learners? Do your research on the VMware courses you’re interested in, understand your own learning goals, and ensure that the objectives covered by each course align with your own. Put simply, the most successful learners come prepared.
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