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Tag Archives: vExpert

VMTN Gets virtuallyGhetto: Community Warrior #4

With the below announcement, nominations are now open for winner #5

It is my pleasure to announce the newest VMware Technology Network Community Warrior Badge is being awarded to one of VMware’s very own, William Lam.

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Congratulations William! @Lamw is well-known for his blog, virtuallyGhetto, but has also been actively contributing to VMTN for almost 10 years. He has earned nearly 25,000 points in this time and attained the Guru badge, consistently supporting others in their endeavors to achieve automation. He has been instrumental in helping the VMware {code} developer program take-off, presents at VMUGs all over the world, and has been a vExpert since the start of the program.

In exploring his online presence, and reading the wonderful nominations I received for him from @LucD, @arielsanchezmor, and @Nscuola, who described William’s following as “cult-like,” I decided I needed to find out more about the man behind the scripts first-hand.

I had the chance to ask him a few questions…

K:   William, you are a very decorated community member, you were just named one of the Top 50 Overall VMware Influencers this year, and you’ve been a vExpert for all 8 years – why and how did you start as a VMware evangelist?

W: The evangelism was really a by-product of the work I had been doing over the years rather than a specific goal I had in mind. Like many in the VMware Community, my career started out as a regular Systems Administrator and at the time, I was supporting a mix of Linux/UNIX and VMware-based infrastructures. Having worked for several large Enterprises, I was exposed to a multitude of challenges which gave me a great opportunity to learn about news things and solve some really hard problems.
I am a huge believer in sharing what you have learned so that others can build on top of that knowledge and do even greater things. This constant learning and sharing of VMware knowledge has always been something I enjoyed and as I mentioned earlier, the evangelism for VMware and their solutions just sort of happened naturally.

K: Very cool! I’m sure a lot of our readers can relate. How did you get to where you are today – with almost 17,000 followers on Twitter and one of the most popular blogs in the community?

W: To be perfectly honest, I still ask myself that every day. I think for me personally; I have always enjoyed learning about new things and sharing that back with the community whether that is explaining a complex topic or building creative solutions to solve real customer problems. I think being passionate about what you do really helps, regardless if you are the #1 blogger or 2,013th blogger. Find that one thing you really love and just keep at it, you may not see it right away, but it will pay dividends in the future in ways you cannot even imagine.

K: That’s great advice. What has your passion led you to lately… What are you currently working on?

W: I had just recently finished a fun little project with my good friend Alan Renouf called USB to SDDC which we also got to present for the first time in public at both the Sydney and Melbourne VMUG a couple of weeks ago. The idea is quite simple, how cool would it be if you could simply plug in a USB key into a server and have automatically provision and configure ESXi, the vCenter Server Appliance and vSAN without any additional user interaction? That is what Project USB to SDDC is all about. You can find more details in this blog post here: http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2017/04/project-usb-to-sddc-part-1.html

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Do you have questions for William?  Reach out to him:

Over Twitter: @lamw

On VMTN: @lamw

Check out his blog: http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/

And for fun, his video of a 109-mile bike ride for charity he participated in: https://vimeo.com/106775852

Then be sure to submit your nominations for Community Warrior #5. Who has stood out in your favorite community lately? What warrior has been knocking down questions left and right? Contact the Community Manager @KTbradley on VMTN or through email at katieb@vmware.com to nominate.

Coming December 19: CloudCred vExpert Badges

Coming December 19, 2016 to CloudCredibility.com:

Three vExpert Badges – vExpert Engagement 2017, vExpert Readiness 2017, & vExpert 2017.

Each CloudCred badge has a different goal, with the overall purpose of helping players move toward vExpert status.

Engagement: Tasks included within the vExpert Engagement badge require players to engage with vExperts & vExpert content in the community. Engagement can be achieved by consuming the resources of current vExperts, by becoming active on Twitter, by taking part of Forums, and by sharing your knowledge back to the community. Completing the vExpert Engagement badge means a player has a good overview and understanding of the vExpert program. He or she understands whether vExpert status is something he wants to pursue.

Readiness: Tasks included within the vExpert Readiness badge require players to produce technical content in line with what is required of vExperts, to assume leadership roles in line with what is required of vExperts, and to complete the current vExpert application. Once a player has completed these tasks, they are then ready to apply for vExpert.

  • Content Creation & contribution, in the form of blog posts, public speaking, forum posts, videos, books, podcasts, magazine articles and so on.
  • Leadership, including VMUG leadership.
  • Application, requiring a completed application for vExpert status.

Once a player has earned the vExpert Readiness badge, he or she should be ready to apply for vExpert.

vExpert 2017: This is a one-task badge, and cannot be completed and earned without vExpert status, awarded through the traditional application process. Once vExpert status is confirmed, the final CloudCred badge is awarded.

Look for these badge sets of tasks beginning Monday, December 19 at CloudCredibility.com.

vExpert 2014 applications are open

Applications for the 2014 vExpert program are now open. Applications will be accepted up until March 6th at midnight PST. Applications received after the March 6th deadline will roll into the Q2 nomination & voting process. 

VMware vExpert 2014

Each year, we bring together in the vExpert Program the people who have made some of the most important contributions to the VMware community. These are the bloggers, book authors, VMUG leaders, speakers, tool builders, community leaders and general enthusiasts. They work as IT admins and architects for VMware customers, they act as trusted advisors and implementors for VMware partners or as independent consultants, and some work for VMware itself. All of them have the passion and enthusiasm for technology and applying technology to solve problems. They have contributed to the success of us all by sharing their knowledge and expertise over their days, nights, and weekends.

vExperts who participate in the program have access to private betas, free licenses, early access briefings, exclusive events, free access to VMworld conference materials online, and other opportunities to interact with VMware product teams. They also get access to a private community and networking opportunities.

Changes for the 2014 vExpert Program
This year we are implementing two new changes to the vExpert program. The first change is fast track current vExperts into the 2014 program. If you are a current 2013 vExpert, your 2014 application process has been shortened. Since you are a proven vExpert all we want to know is what you have been doing since the May 2013 vExpert announcement. Simple, right?

The second change is quarterly nominations into the 2014 vExpert program. We will leave the application open year round and at the end of each quarter we will begin the voting process for new vExperts from the previous quarter. So even if you are not picked to become a vExpert 2014 right away, we will allow for quarterly voting and nominations.

Evangelist Path
The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, VMTN contributors, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people. Employees of VMware can also apply via the Evangelist path. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public or were in a language other than English.

Customer Path
The Customer Path is for leaders from VMware customer organizations. They have been internal champions in their organizations, or worked with VMware to build success stories, act as customer references, given public interviews, spoken at conferences, or were VMUG leaders. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public.

VPN (VMware Partner Network) Path
The VPN Path is for employees of our partner companies who lead with passion and by example, who are committed to continuous learning through accreditations and certifications and to making their technical knowledge and expertise available to many. This can take shape of event participation, video, IP generation, as well as public speaking engagements. A VMware employee reference is required for VPN Path candidates.

Apply for vExpert 2014
Current 2013 vExperts use the 2014 vExpert Fast Track application: http://bit.ly/1ikZ8hi
2014 vExpert application: http://bit.ly/LMJqB5
Recommend a colleague to apply for 2014 vExpert: http://bit.ly/1bobFfF

Questions & Updates

For questions about the application process or the vExpert Program, please send email to  vexpert@vmware.com. Be sure to follow @vExpert for updates on the 2014 vExpert program.

Thank you to all who have participated in years past,
Corey Romero & the vExpert Team