*With the below announcement, nominations are now open for the next Community Warrior*

Please join me in congratulating VMware Technology Network’s newest Community Warrior. This man is a jack-of-all-VMware products, dedicated to sharing his knowledge with others, and well known throughout the communities… @a.p.… Congratulations!!

André has several reasons to be proud of his involvement on VMTN. I will take the liberty to name a few…

• May 18 André celebrated 10 years of membership on VMTN
• He holds the #1 spot on the All-Time Communities Leaderboard
• He has achieved both vExpert and User Moderator status several years in a row
• His peers, for example @Wila who nominated him, speak of his knowledge and selflessness…

“He’s the real warrior as he is able to – and does – help out all across the board with the most advanced topics. He has an incredible amount of knowledge and is very good at getting problems solved.”

The facts outlined above speak volumes, check out what André had to say for himself:

K: How were you originally introduced to communities and what inspired you to stay involved?

A: I subscribed to VMTN after moving to a new company – a VMware partner – almost exactly 10 years ago. For the first ~2 years I used communities as a resource to learn and search for help. Inspired by all these great people on VMTN, like Troy, Ulli, Woody, Brian, Wil, and many others, I started contributing, and I still enjoy helping people around the globe, no matter whether it’s a newbie question, or an issue which requires advanced troubleshooting. Another reason for me to stay active in the communities is that I’ve been a user moderator several years now.

K: What have you gained through your involvement with VMTN?

A: Short version: Knowledge and friends!

Long version: VMTN is one of the most active communities that I’m aware of. As an IT consultant it’s important for me to be up to date. Vendor documentations usually describe how things are supposed to work, but the communities also contain a lot of information about issues, and possible fixes, quite often prior to the knowledge base. It’s always great if users provide feedback once their issues are resolved. Over the years, quite some users contacted me to say thanks. What more could one want?

K: What is your area of expertise when it comes to VMware products?

A: My main focus is on server and client virtualization, i.e. vCenter Server, ESXi, Horizon View. In most cases my customer projects include setting up the required servers, networking, SAN, storage, and backup too. I’m also familiar with several other VMware products, but cannot focus on a single vendor’s products.

K: How did you become so well versed in the technical depths of so many products?

A: I’ve always been interested in technologies, and spend a lot of time reading documentations, KB articles, and community posts as well as “playing” with the products in my test lab. I also attended a few trainings at the beginning, and learned a lot from colleagues. It’s certainly also a matter of time, and experience to get the technical depth. I also had the opportunity to work as a Technical Editor on Brian Atkinson’s VCP-DCV 5.5 study guide, which “forced” me to deep dive into several product features.

K: What method would you recommend for someone trying to attain your level of knowledge?

A: Simply try to forget a lot of what you learned, and you will soon be on my level ;-)))

Seriously, the method (if it can be called a method at all) is to be interested, work with passion, willing to spend time, reading a lot, talking with others (face-to-face or e.g. on VMTN), setting up a test lab, break and fix. If possible, attend a training to get a good base knowledge on which you can build upon.

Thanks André for the amazing support and content you have added to communities over the past 10 years! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary!

If you’d like to contact André, please reach out to him by messaging him on VMTN: @a.p.

Do you see someone frequently answering questions in your favorite forums? Did someone provide server saving support to you recently at a VMUG or over Twitter? Any community involvement counts. Head to the Community Warrior page to nominate, or email katieb@vmware.com.