For a while (~3 years) I have had great interest to see where the vision of VCDX certification was going. After all it was the first ever certification from VMware in which you didn’t have to remember stuff but should have had real world practical design/architecture  experience with VMware technologies to prove your capability.

I liked that and I also liked the fact that such certifications are the most valuable. Since then I have been learning the underlying aspects of VMware technologies (not the max and min values though they are relevant) to make a real difference to my own professional knowledge and it in the end helps my employer.

To this effect I focussed my learning on things that many people don’t start with – I started to read patents on VMware technologies that had some unique insights, read R&D white papers (whichever I could come across) and read deep dive articles/white papers.

My goal after seeing the latest batch of VCDX achievers (they truly have achieved and deserve this level) is to be a part of them.  This is not about a child ‘wishing’ for something but a professinal ‘craving’ for that one goal that will place them on a different level than their peers.  And the reason I am posting this on my blog is so that my vision is clearly articulated before I achieve it. There’s a different kind of fun in such achievements – because you are working towards something.

I also want to be able to look back and say later (when I am successful) that I was able to aim and achieve.  It’s incredibly tough and I fully understand that – there’s a reason why there are so few of them. But everyone has to work hard and intelligently to achieve their goals and no goals are achieved without trying.

With full honesty, I have never attempted certifications before – partly due to various reasons like – employers did not offer support,  certifications were more about paper than real experience,  lack of time and various other excuses or real situations that I can throw out.

But VCDX is something I am going for and I will go through the qualifying certifications too – it’s the journey.  Like everyone else, I have an incredibly busy family life with my daughter just starting kindergarten, a very hectic professional life with full time employment, VMUG leadership, blogging, learning and plenty of other stuff.

And here is where I plan and aim to commit myself. Let’s hope this journey is enjoyable (painful is fine) and something I can cherish later. It’s a great career path too. I will reach out to many distinguished and experienced professionals to learn from them on the way and feel quite optimistic in getting the support and guidance that’s needed to make this effort a sucess.

Besides, being the first VCDX from Winnipeg would be awesome!