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Posts Tagged ‘vexpert’

Our weekly podcast is usually a loose and casual conversation, but VIRTUMANIA Episode 16 was definitely "off the hip". Regular co-host Marc Farley is back, Rick Vanover joins us as always, and very special guests John Troyer and Eric Siebert round out a great discussion. The following is the podcast summary:

VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 16 – The One About vExperts And VMWorld. Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of StorageRap.com are joined by regular Rick Vanover (@rickvanover) of RickVanover.com. Very special guests this week are VMware’s John Troyer (@jtroyer VMTN Roundtable Podcast) and Eric Seibert (@ericsiebert) of vpshere-land.com. The conversation covers everything from VMware’s 2010 vExpert program, hyping VMworld 2010, to social media tools and preferences. Although no “stretched analogy” was used in the actual episode this week, the spontaneous recording is almost like a cafe conversation from an episode of Friends. Thanks to Greg Knieriemen (@knieriemen) of Chi Corporation for this Infosmack Production.

Listen to the podcast with the embedded player or subscribe to get a weekly copy so you can listen when convenient.

Check out the VM /ETC VIRTUMANIA Page to listen to past episodes as well as episodes of Infosmack.

The following links offer more information on some of the topics mentioned in VIRTUMANIA Episode 16:

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Along with others yesterday, I received email notice from VMware’s @jtroyer that I was designated a vExpert for 2010. I was thrilled to win the award in 2009, VMware’s inaugural year of the program, and I’m just as thrilled to be named again this year. But being named a vExpert is now more to me than just winning an award. It’s a virtualization community honor with a responsibility.

First, let’s be honest.

vExpert is not a certification. VCDX is the badge for the VMware technically elite. Those that have endured the study, passed the tests, and triumphed in the design defense have earned the rare status of true VMware guru. There are many VCDXs that are also vExperts, but do not confuse the two. A vExpert should always stand at attention, salute, and then listen closely when a VCDX enters the room and speaks. They are the battle proven Generals. They’ve walked the walk.

Second, let’s be real.

Not all VCDXs are vExperts today, and I would suspect that as more are certified the ratio of VCDXs that will not get recognized for community contributions will rise. That’s not a negative. Let’s call this the “Epping Curse”. For example, when you are that good you end up working for VMware and you can’t win the vExpert award. It’s a problem to have in my opinion. Then there will always be some VCDXs who do not contribute to the community at all. Nothing wrong with that either.

Third, let’s recognize the effort and the honor.

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VMware announced this week that nominations for 2010 vExpert are being accepted until April 30, 2010. Be sure to vote for your favorite “bloggers, book authors, VMUG leaders, event organizers, speakers, tool builders, forum leaders, and others who share their virtualization expertise” by filling out the official application found at the new vExpert 2010 Landing site.

For those who do not know, the vExpert Award was introduced by VMware in 2009. Best described as an award similar to Microsoft’s MVP, I was lucky enough to be named one of the 300 vExperts awarded last year. Check out my acceptance speech post from last February. All joking aside, the award distinguishes those “who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year.”

The application process is not a contest or an election campaign, so if you have a candidate that may not be as well known in the vEcosphere already but has significantly contributed to the VMware and virtualization community be sure to fill out an application for him/her. All it takes is one application to recognize someone for their efforts in 2009!

vExpert Meeting Location, and Panoramics So Far

VMware PEX officially starts today, but it’s been a full 2 and a half days of pre conference sessions, meetings, and get-togethers for me already. This post is a random mix of video, information, and links. Sorry for the mess!

Video: PEX2010 Panoramics So Far

Here’s a quick 30 second video of my conference so far. The photo quality stinks because all I have is my Blackberry to take pictures, but the video is fast and the music is upbeat.

vExpert Meeting Location and time

I’ve been emailed that somewhere around 30 vExperts are attending PEX2010. Tonight there will be a vExpert meeting with VMware at the Alumni Lounge starting at 5:30 pm. Watch for more information from me and others on Twitter or here in this post.

update: The Location of the meeting is changing since not all vExperts will be able to get in to the Alumni Lounge. I’ll post here again when I know the new spot.

latest update: The vExpert meeting will take place in Breakers K. This is apparently a VMware employee room. The meeting time is still set for 5:30 PM.

This February has been a month of highly anticipated award traditions. With their red carpet fashion, televised ceremonies and acceptance speeches, and then exclusive after parties, The Grammys (02.08) and the The Oscars (02.22) came and went, but today the best awards of the month (in my opinion) began with nothing but a tweet in the middle of the night:

Now, all over the world, but primarily on the coast of France in a city known for it’s own festival and awards, VMware vExpert recipients are opening their email and being notified they’ve been recognized.

vExperts are making their own acceptance speeches, but you won’t find those on televsion. Winners are announcing themselves via Twitter, blogs, and web sites, and will probably continue to do so all day long as the sun moves west across the planet. You’ll have to visit Planet v12, Tweetgrid, or do a “vExpert” search on search.twitter.com to catch the vExperts at their virtual podiums.

Consider this post my “acceptance speech”. I am honored to have won a 2009 vExpert award, and I am truly in a distinguished company of fellow vExperts! Congrats to all the winners!

I am sure that John Troyer and VMware will publish a list of all winners once all the vExperts have been notified. For now you can go to the VMware vExpert Landing to learn a little more about the title and the program.

Oh, by the way, I’m walking my ugly green carpet back to bed. It’s 2:30 a.m. in my part of the world. What I’m wearing is definitley not designer!

updated 02.25.09 – I discovered that John added a post about the vExpert awards on his VMTN blog after I published this post.

If you follow virtualization bloggers and experts on Twitter or if you regularly check sites like Planet V12n, you’ve no doubt heard that VMware is announcing a new award for key virtualization community contributors. Some speculated the recognition would be modeled after a successful program like Microsoft’s MVP with perhaps a similar title such as VVP for Valuable VMware Professionals. Well, John Troyer has officially announced the new program tonight with his VMTN Blog post Are you a VMware vExpert? Announcing a new community award.

John explains:

“VMware is very proud to introduce the VMware vExpert Awards. The VMware vExpert Awards will be given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the overall community of VMware users over the past year, either online or offline. You might be contributing online to blogs, forums, wikis, or other online sites. You might be organizing VMUG meetings or otherwise getting the word out to local IT professionals. You’re helping spread the word about virtualization and making people successful in deploying this game-changing technology. [omitted]

Here is the nomination form. You can nominate yourself or someone else. We’re also taking nominations from people and programs within VMware, so you actually don’t even have to nominate yourself and you still could wake up one day with an award. [omitted]

Awardees will get an award certificate and a little gift, but the real award is being able to call yourself a VMware vExpert for the year, getting listed in a public directory, and getting access to our private community. The vExpert award is not any sort of technical certification like VCP, and in fact vExpert isn’t really about your raw technical expertise at all. However, the people who get this kind of award tend to both (1) display a lot of technical expertise as they help others; and (2) work their tails off in the community on top of their day jobs.”

So, here’s your chance to say thanks to those guys that wrote that script that saved you so much time deploying or troubleshooting your VI, or published that “how to” that gave you the missing piece of a configuration you just couldn’t get to work right, or answered your questions quickly on the VMware forums, or even organized a VMware User Group in your area. Say thanks to those that keep you informed on the new products and technologies in the always changing world of virtualization.

There are so many individuals that deserve this award I imagine the VMware committee that has to choose who the 2008 vExperts are will have a very tough time deciding.