Just a few days before my vacation, I received an email from the vExpert program with a flashy first line: You’re in!
First let’s get to the vExpert program itself: It is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. It rewards IT Professionals who are sharing their VMware knowledge and contributing that back to the community. You can find more information about the program on https://vexpert.vmware.com/.
Now back to my journey on becoming a vExpert 2019. Since I changed my employer at the beginning of this year and started with this blog, I intentionally missed the application for the first half-year and concentrated on the new tasks and my blog. The first months of the year passed faster than expected and on June 7, 2019 the application phase for the second half of the year began. At first I wasn’t sure if I should apply at all, but at some point I thought to myself: What have I got to lose? I had already published a handful of blog posts, appeared as a speaker at internal events and was generally active on Twitter. So I decided to give it a try. However, I didn’t tell anyone about the application.
I regularly listen to various podcasts, including the VMware Communities Roundtable Podcast, and remembered that one episode was specifically about applying for the vExpert program. Here is the direct link to the episode #461 – How to do a Great vExpert Application w/Corey Romero. Before I applied, I listened to the episode again and looked at the example application on the vExpert homepage. By using these two resources, I was sure I knew what to put into my application.
For the actual application for vExpert, I collected everything I did in connection with VMware in 2019. Whether it was this blog, internal meetings with knowledge transfer or participation in events, I wrote everything together so that the decision makers could easily understand the information. The sample application gave a good overview for the presentation of the desired information. It took me about an hour to get all the information into shape and send the application on June 24, 2019. A few days later I wrote another blog post and updated my application again. That wasn’t a problem either. So if you are thinking about applying don’t wait for your last post to be ready, but finish your application and adjust it afterwards if necessary.
Now I had to wait. The registration deadline closed on July 12, 2019 and the announcement of the results was scheduled for the end of July/beginning of August. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to make it this year. But on July 26, 2019 I received the happy news. It was my last working day before the holiday and I still had some things to do. So I just saw the email in the evening and couldn’t believe it at first. Only slowly did I realize that I had made it. But there was not too much time to celebrate. Suitcases had to be packed 😉
And what remains after two weeks of vacation? On the one hand of course the joy of having made it into the program, on the other hand the awareness that there is still a long way to go to make it into the program in 2020. I guess it’s time to roll up the sleeves and go on! I already have some new topics in the pipeline but also some old projects to complete. So stay tuned!
