Thank you – VCDX 195

I got up this morning to receive news that I had completed the qualifications for the VMware Certified Design Expert certification. This is a group of around 200ish individuals who have completed this exhaustive process which included three exams, submitting an enterprise design and then defending that design in front of a panel of other VCDXs. From the VMware education site:

VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) is the highest level of VMware certification. This elite group is comprised of design architects highly-skilled in VMware enterprise deployments and the program is designed for veteran professionals who want to validate and demonstrate their expertise in VMware technology.

VCDX5-DCV certification is achieved through the unique design defense process, where all candidates must submit and successfully defend a production-ready VMware Solution before a panel of veteran VCDX-DCV holders. This process ensures that those who achieve VCDX status are peer-vetted and ready to join an elite group of world-class consulting architects.

I wanted to use this time to thank some very important people who have helped me along this journey. A VCDX is earned by an individual, but I don’t think that it can be achieved without some help. To start with, I have to thank my family for being so supportive. It’s often joked that before qualifying to defend a VCDX design, you must first get approval from your spouse because of the incredibly long hours and additional work that must be performed after coming home from work. This can certainly eat into family time, and my Wife and Son were VERY supportive about desire to pursue this endeavor. I can’t thank them enough. Love you guys.

Next, I have to thank my employer. I started working at Ahead a little over a year ago and it has been a great place to work. There are always new challenges, we’re pushing into new areas of technology and my coworkers are some of the brightest and most driven people I’ve ever met. I really can’t say enough about this whole organization but would be remiss if I didn’t single out a few individual who really helped. Ahead already boasted three VCDXs so they already familiar with what I was about to go through. Chris Wahl, Brian Suhr and Tim Curless were very helpful in providing guidance along my way, and providing both negative and positive encouragement throughout the process. Steve Pantol (BOSS MAN) was incredibly encouraging throughout the whole thing and kept me level headed when I would freak out, which was about every other day for three months. Not only that, but being one of the smartest VMware people that I know, Steve was a keystone of my journey and I could not have done it without him.

Fellow Co-worker Tim Carr was my partner in crime since he was also pursuing the VCDX during the same time that I was. Having a buddy that was going through the exact same stresses and trials that you were, was a great relief to me. We did a mock defense together and would constantly bounce ideas off of one another. While we did completely separate designs, I felt like we were in it together.

This has been a really long journey (it feels like) but I’ve never learned more in my entire life about my craft. Thank you to Mom and Dad, family members, coworkers and perfect strangers that I may have cutoff in traffic because my mind was preoccupied with this thing. Now on to something else. Maybe a bar-b-que.

NOTE: at the time of this writing I was notified by VMware Education that my VCDX number was 196. A few hours later I received another email stating that I was given the wrong number and that I was actually number 195. This has led to a little confusion, hense the URL for this post has 196 in it.