Personal Goals for 2022

Goals have been updated as of July 27, 2022.

It’s been quite some time (too long, in fact) since I’ve published anything to my personal blog. I remember thinking back in late 2019 that with my new TAM role at VMware, I was going to have the additional time needed to work on creating new content for the #vCommunity, both on this blog and over on my YouTube channel, as well. Unfortunately, I haven’t been very disciplined in that regard, as I’ve had maybe one or two blog posts since then. I also see that my last “Personal Goals” blog post was back from 2019.

With this being the start of a new year, however, I really want to try and get back into creating more content for 2022. My hope is that putting this post out into the world, I’ll hold myself more accountable by sticking with it. Here are some of my other personal goals for this coming year:

✅ Maintain VCP-DCV Certification for 2022 [Completed]

✅ Maintain vExpert status for 2022 [Completed]

✅ Present at another local VMUG meeting [Completed]

⚪️ Create and publish at least 10-20 (or more) new blog posts in 2022

⚪️ Create and publish at least five new YouTube videos

⚪️ Participate in Blogtober, where bloggers create five new blog posts in the month of October

⚪️ Reach 40 hours of community service

At the time this post was published, the applications for the VMware vExpert program are currently open through 28-JAN-2022. If you have questions about the program, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or other vExperts in the community for help. I also encourage anyone who’s currently a vExpert to get their applications in or updated before the deadline. (Even if you’ve not been able to contribute much to the community this year).

I’ll be sure to check back and update this post throughout the year. As always, I appreciate you reading and stopping by!

Advertisement

My Personal Goals for 2019

So… I’m REALLY behind in getting this post published! Last year, I my “Goals for 2018” post was written and published by the 2nd week of January. This year, however, I’ve clearly fallen behind in getting this post out to the world. (BIG ‘Whoops’). It’s been in a draft state since mid- January, but I never took the time to sit down and put the rest of the post together. But, better late than never I suppose.

Last year, I missed the mark on a few of my goals, and I hope this post continues to serve as a reminder of what I hope to accomplish this year. As a matter of fact, because I waited so long to get this post published, I’ve actually accomplished two of the six goals listed, already.

I’m Officially a Pittsburgh VMUG Leader!

Hey everyone! I’ll be kicking off the start of 2019 with some exciting news! I am now officially the newest member of the Pittsburgh VMUG Leadership Team! Though I’m technically the rookie of the group, I’ll be helping the other leaders plan meetings, find venues, coordinate food and drink, find presenters, find sponsors, and of course, set the meeting dates (among other things). I know I’ll need quite a bit of guidance at first, but I also know I have a great team that’s here to help!

So why did I want to become a VMUG Leader? Years ago, when I first started coming to these meetings, I was just as an attendee looking to learn what I could from others. Over time, I kept seeing familiar faces and began making friends. Then in October 2017, I was finally convinced to give a community presentation about how I learned PowerCLI. That changed everything! After that talk, I wanted to:

• Get even more involved in the vCommunity
• Share even more knowledge and experiences with others
• Help others overcome fear presenting in front of others
• Help others grow and excel in their careers
• Attend other VMUGs outside of my region to learn more and meet others
• And of course, continue learning

My Upcoming Central PA VMUG Presentation

Hey everyone! I wanted to spread the word about my upcoming presentation at the Central PA VMUG on Thursday, November 1st in State College! Last year, I spoke at the Pittsburgh VMUG on the topic of PowerCLI and my journey into scripting. This year, I plan on revisiting that presentation with several new updates and maybe even do live demo (assuming I can get my home lab completely set up and configured in time)! Plus, I’m looking forward to catching up with the Central PA VMUG crew as well as meeting many others in the #vCommunity!

For those who may not know, October 2017 was my first time ever presenting at a local VMUG meeting. In fact, I wasn’t really engaged in the VMware Community all that much until about April 2017, when I started my blog and began using Twitter a lot more. Sure, I’ve been using VMware’s products and services since about 2010, but the only real ‘engagement’ I’ve done in the community was attend the occasional VMUG or UserCon.

Western PA VMUG Follow-Up

Hello again, everyone! First of all, I just want to take this opportunity to extend a HUGE “Thank You” to everyone who was able to come out and attend the recent Western PA VMUG! The day was packed full of information, as we got to hear a lot of great presentations about running VMware on AWS, AppDefense, vSphere APIs, and what’s new with PowerCLI. What I like most about these kinds of events is the ability to share, learn, network, meet new users, and catch up with those whom I already know.

As several folks already know, this was my very first time presenting at a VMware User Group meeting. Sure, I was a little nervous at first, but once I got up to present, things just seemed to flow. For me, it was reassuring to know that many in the audience were VMware customers who may have been in my shoes at one time, or perhaps still are. You never know. Although my presentation was mostly focused on some recent PowerCLI scripts I had developed to automate and simplify repetitive tasks, I also talked about my personal journey from avoiding scripting to actually doing it. And in my presentation, rather than just showing lines of code on a screen and explaining what the script does, I highlighted the workflow and thought process behind why I scripted it the way I did.

My Upcoming VMUG Presentation

Hello everyone! I want to take this opportunity to let you all know that I’ll actually be presenting at the Western PA VMware User Group meeting on Friday, October 20th! We’re going to meet at Alloy 26 (100 South Commons in Pittsburgh’s North Shore) starting at 11:00 AM. Official registration and full meeting information can be found on the official VMUG page. If you’re a VMware user working or living in the Western Pennsylvania region or surrounding areas, c’mon out and use this opportunity to collaborate and network with other users I’m the VMware community! After all, events like this are put together specifically to get VMware users, administrators, engineers, etc. together to talk about their experience in using VMware products and services.

I will actually be presenting after Kyle Ruddy’s (@kruddy on Twitter) “PowerCLI and vSphere REST APIs: Your Path To Automating All the Things” session. My presentation will cover automation using PowerCLI to manage things like RDM disks, virtual standard switches, NTP settings, and more. You’ll learn how I develop the scripts to simplify repetitive tasks, but also how I use PowerCLI to perform tasks that you may not even be able to do in the GUI! Not only can scripting save time, it can also maintain consistency across within your environment! My goal is to show give you some examples and insight into how you can utilize both PowerShell and PowerCLI to augment the management of your vSphere environment.