*With the below announcement, nominations are now open for winner #4!*
I am happy to announce the newest recipient of the Community Warrior badge is Ariel Sanchez Mora. Congratulations Ariel! Ariel is truly an embodiment of what he refers to as the vCommunity. He encourages, enables, and emphasizes the success of others through his involvement with not just VMTN, but VMUG, vBrownBag, and vExpert.
I received various nominations for Ariel, but there was one that truly stood out. Check it out:
@nscuola: He’s the reason that I and many others are vExperts in the first place. His contributions are not just related to the VMware community. He’s a VMUG leader and a d*mn good one at that. He’s an integral part of vBrownBag. He should basically have a blue check mark on Twitter since he’s always on there promoting community and virtualization as a whole. Ariel is also one of the more genuine, positive people that I know and encourages everyone who he meets to get more involved in the VMware family (not just community). He’s always pushing for people to give presentations at VMUGs, apply for vExpert, take a certification exam, and just try to do more.
@Nscuola, was then able to announce Ariel’s award at the NY/NJ local VMUG meeting – Ariel’s last before moving to Pittsburgh, PA:
As a community enthusiast, I wanted Ariel’s Community Warrior blog to be dedicated to sharing his passion for the different organizations he is committed to. Learn what he gains through his involvement, and how you can gain the same:
VMUG (VMware User Group) (https://www.vmug.com/)
This is where you find people that talk VMware to hang out with. I like to show up early and make sure I meet at least two people I have never talked to before, and I stay around when the event ends. It’s also a great idea to talk to the leaders and ask if you can help, whether presenting or helping do something for any future event. The key here is learning about the day’s topics, but also take the opportunity to make local connections. I’ve been extremely lucky and was able to grab lunch, coffee or a drink with people I met at a VMUG with whom I shared certification targets, VMware design questions, or common setups.
After years of being a participant, I asked to become a leader, and Mike Martino accepted me in NYC. You can see stuff we do at nycvmug.blogspot.com for ideas (and every VMUG has their own ideas) so your focus should be on what you can do for your local one. And if going to an event is difficult, save a PTO day and at least go to the UserCon – these are one day mega events which you just can’t miss!
vBrownBag (http://vbrownbag.com/)
This is where you learn about the latest in tech or get additional help for certification exams. These are 80% online and 20% real life. vBrownBag is a volunteer organization of people trying to help others learn virtualization technologies. Most known for publishing free YouTube videos on all sorts of topics, they are sometimes sponsored to organize live TechTalks at major conferences, such as VMworld. I found this community through word of mouth, fell in love with the format and general vibe, and became a presenter, and later crew member. Getting involved with vBB has been one of the greatest experiences of my life – it’s a lot of positive energy all around. This is where you can not only get better, but also make friends all over the world!
BONUS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6EXOppwAOM – Ariel’s vBrownBag interview with me in my first month working as VMTN Community Manager at VMworld.
vExpert (https://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/vexpert)
This is what you get for helping others – and being a vExpert is awesome! The vExpert program is directly run by VMware to recognize champions for VMware technologies. Those that attain the award get access to perks such as home lab licenses, vendor perks (the Pluralsight subscription is my favorite) but most importantly access to a lot of folks who in many ways are on the bleeding edge of VMware technologies. I love helping people aspiring to make vExpert – reach out on twitter and I will be more than glad to help you! Check out a more thorough explanation of vExpert, including my past submissions, here: https://sites.google.com/site/arielsanchezmora/home/vmware/vexpert
Want to see what the vCommunity looks like? Ariel shared some awesome photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0f3j2qpiltMZGJqOGFQUXBseVU?usp=sharing
Thank you, Ariel! To get in touch with our newest Community Warrior, follow him:
On Twitter: @arielsanchezmor
On VMTN: @arielsanchezmor
On his blog: arielsanchezmora.com
And don’t forget to submit your nomination for the next valiant Community Warrior by reaching out to me on VMTN, @KTbradley, or emailing your nomination to [email protected].
