Today I was honored to be recognized as a VMware vExpert for the second year in a row!

What is a VMware vExpert? Well let’s get this out of the way…it has nothing to do with how smart you are. Although, most of us that are vExperts like to think we are smart 😉 . Being a vExpert has everything to do with “giving back” by sharing your knowledge with the VMware community.

For many it’s by means of blogging. For others it may be taking part in a leadership role at their local VMUG group. And yet for others it might be advocacy of VMware/virtualization technologies through social media platforms. Or you may be like me and do a combination of them all. Whatever the case maybe, the main point is to spread knowledge, experiences, and maybe even some of your IT horror stories to save the next guy or gal from a RGE (Resume Generating Event).

What do you get out of it? Well there are perks to being a vExpert. Just to mention some:

• 365 day evaluation licenses to most VMware products for home lab
• Exclusive various gifts from VMware partners
• Access to private betas
• Chance to win a free pass to VMworld

But to me the best perk is the networking. There are some really smart (there’s that word again) guys and gals in the VMware community and you have access to a private channel to communicate with them via the vExpert slack. Also there’s access to a private vExpert community forum through communities.vmware.com. And yet still there are other perks.

So if you every wondered if it was worth trying to attain the vExpert status….trust me…IT IS!

If you missed out on applying for the first half of the year, you still have another chance to apply during the second half applications in June to be a vExpert for 2017.

So now is the time to start blogging, start sharing, start “giving back” and take part in the BEST IT community out there!