In case you’re coming across this in 2017, I’ve tweaked the post below but it’s still correct I believe as I’ve been a vExpert for 6 years now. Just reach out me to on Twitter if any questions – @andriven I may write a followup post soon about what vExpert has meant to me over the years.

Well, not exactly how I became a vExpert but at least what I submitted for the application process — details on the overall VMware vExpert program here and selection criteria here Right now there are just over 400 worldwide. If you’re feeling too lazy to click through, the general details are….

The annual VMware vExpert title is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year. The title is awarded to individuals (not employers) for their commitment to sharing their knowledge and passion for VMware technology above and beyond their job requirements.

The vExpert program is rather interesting to me — for most certifications or recognition you often alter your regular behavior. You study for a test (VCP and many others), you create a design (VCDX), you present to a group, etc.…but for being a vExpert it’s more about simply looking at what I already do on a day to day basis and framing that in light of what VMware is looking for in the program. There’s also no hard and fast rules….so it does feel something like a shot in the dark.

I submitted under the “Evangelist” path simply as I don’t have a VCAP yet (see some notes in the comments on that). Furthermore, Varrow as a whole has (4) vExperts in total which is pretty amazing to me — Jason Nash, Joe Kelly, Martin Valencia, and myself.

Having said all that, here’s what I submitted pretty much verbatim (although reorganized a bit and anything that would be customer specific taken out).

• Blogging – spread between various parts of the submission form.
  • Owner and sole poster at http://www.thinkmeta.net
  • Massive blogging while at Partner Exchange 2012
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/2012/02/session-notes-compendium-vmware-partner-exchange/
  • Similar while at VMworld
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/category/vmworld-2011/
  • Multiple more general but tech+business posts – example here.
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/2010/11/innovation-without-imitation-is-a-complete-waste-of-time/
  • Three other blog posts… (noted in another section)
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/2011/02/scarcity-in-an-it-world/
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/2011/04/driving-change-without-relationships-impossible/
    • http://www.thinkmeta.net/2011/03/career-scalability/
• Presenting and/or Customer Facing
  • I spoke at the Charleston VMUG in 2011 on storage + VMware (Varrow was a sponsor) and also attended multiple VMUGs to support contribute.
  • As a Technical Consultant (VCP 3,4,5 (#31396) plus various VSP’s & VTSP’s) for a VMware Premier Partner, I’m very customer-facing and often in front of 10+ customers per week helping further virtualization discussions and initiatives. See this URL for a sample whiteboard from a DR workshop at a customer — SRM being a critical component (and a full walkthrough on that).
    • I’m not going to include the URL here…..but was a whiteboard fully showing 2 site SRM, Storage replication, RPO & RTO Discussion.
  • I’ve also done multiple “What’s new with vSphere 5 + SRM 5” onsite 1-2 hour workshops with customers using Jason Nash’s slide deck (he works at Varrow as well so was with his knowledge/permission) — helping people understand the benefits of new features and how to apply to their environments.
    • http://jasonnash.com/2011/08/04/slide-deck-from-the-vsphere-5-srm-5-presentations/
  • Last from a customer-facing perspective, I’ve given multiple vCenter Ops demos/presentations with customers and have multiple customers running vCOPs with many more looking at it. Just a very exciting product to me…
• VBCA Competency
  • Finally, Varrow is one of the first 10 members of the VBCA competency — I’m participating in that in multiple ways (Tier 1 app virtualization at several of my large accounts, attended a VBCA partner dinner to give input, etc.).

Some or all of the above was sufficient for vExpert this year at least and hopefully helpful for those thinking of applying next year.