To the Mothership!

I know there have been a lot of these kinds of posts lately and I have been trying to think of ways to start off this post and not go into the detail of my career back story like a lot of folks have done. I am instead going to focus on how VMware has played a part in my career.

I have been in awe of VMware tech for over a decade. My journey started with VMware Server back in 2008. I was amazed at the ability to run multiple OS's on one physical piece of hardware. I worked with VMware Player as well early on and I had always been a windows guy prior to this, but wanted to start learning Linux. This was a great way for me to try it out and get more familiar with it without all the pain of finding the correct drivers and getting all the hardware to be recognized etc, so I could get a functional machine. I used it as a testbed and learning platform to get more familiar with it.

VMUG Leader Summit 2019

I had the privilege of flying out to Palo Alto to VMware HQ to attend the VMUG Leader Summit last week. I had so much fun connecting with old friends and meeting new ones. Leaders from all around the world were hosted by VMware on campus. We had a great lineup of speakers and activities waiting for us when we arrived. We had the honor of a special talk from VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Here are some of the quick stats they showed in the opening of the meeting:

• 350 years of experience
• 30+ countries
• 116 communities
• 350+ years of leadership experience
• 39 new leaders
• 66% first time attendees

I was excited to be one of those new leaders and a first time summit attendee. It was a bit surreal to be sitting in the Elastic Sky theater listening to a talk by Pat Gelsinger that he had made special for us!

The Power of the vCommunity

Now that my twitter feed has calmed down a bit from the good news VMTN posted, I wanted to get down a few thoughts. I am humbled and honored to have been selected as the Q1 2019 VMTN Community Warrior.

I have always been grateful to be a part of this community and wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't been mentored and showed many tips from all of you along the way. I wanted to take the time and thank some of those that have helped along the way:

• Britton and Heath Johnson both have always been encouraging and helped me step out of my comfort zone.