First off, I want to say thank you to VMware for selecting me as a vExpert for 2015. I will be honest in stating that it was a stretch goal for me last year to feel qualified enough to fill out the application for vExpert. I am honored to be included with so many worthy individuals who contribute back to the community and get me excited for the challenges we face daily!
The great part for me is the challenge I have set for myself to do even more this year — both professionally and personally on the virtualization front and in the community. I like to challenge myself, and working on the things that excite me (Hadoop, Mesos, Docker, etc.) help me to always be improving. Right now I have my head down in studying for the VCAP exams, automating operational tasks through PowerCLI and evangelizing Big Data Extensions internally to teams who are trying to work through many of the challenges facing them with intelligent cluster deployments. It is pretty easy to keep myself busy for 16+ hours a day right now.
One of the things I am working through in my head right now is how to extend Big Data Extensions further — by making it possible to initiate cluster deployments through the OpenStack API. What does that look like and how challenging is it to accomplish?
This was the first year I applied for vExpert and the first time I was selected. I plan to continue to challenge myself to keep this going for several years and give back to the community that has given me so much!
