That was 2014 and 2015 will be even better!
It’s still January 2015 so it’s not to late for a 2014 review. I was busy the last few weeks so I had only time for some quick posts. That’s why I haven’t done a review before the end of 2014. Reading through all the “2014 in Review” posts from my fellow blogger friends makes me thoughtful about what was and what will be (sounds like an Babylon 5 Intro). Inspired by the posts of Christian Mohn and Scott Lowe I thought I should do something similar.
At the beginning of 2014 I attended VMware Partner Exchange in San Francisco for the first time. It was also the first time it took place in SF, former PEX where in Las Vegas. From my personal point of view Partner Exchange is not as good as VMworld. I think I would not attend a second one if I would have the chance. From the community and networking side it was great. One of the best sessions at Partner Exchange was the VCDX/VCAP boot camp. Because I decided to go for VCDX this session was a MUST.
In late February Eric Siebert (@ericsiebert) started his annual Top vBlog Voting. It was the first time my blog was ranked in the vLaunchpad and I jumped straight from 0 to #139 which was pretty awesome for me. I hope I can hold this position in 2015. The complete list of results can be found over here.
The most important milestone for me was, when I was elected as vExpert 2014 in April. After beeing not selected for the 2013 award, the 2014 award shows me that hard work pays off. Therefor a big thanks to Corey Romero (@vCommunityGuy) and the whole VMware Social Media & Community Team! You’re are doing a great job with this program.
Because one of my plans was to became VCDX in 2014 I was attending a second boot camp in Frimley and after that I went for vacation in London with my wife. It was almost 2-3 days after the vExpert announcement I received a tweet mention me as one of the new PernixPros. I can’t explain how I felt after such awesome week! 🙂
There was also something big happing at the VMware community side in Austria. Andreas Lesslhumer (@lessi001, www.running-system.com) and I decided to revive the VMUG Austria Local Group. We will see how it goes and than we decide what we will further do. Here is the link to the announcement.
In October I attended my sixth VMworld and I was really lucky that VMware provided me with a blogger pass for that event. It was an awesome event where I meet old friends and also new ones. You can read all my posts about VMworld 2014 here.
Prior to VMworld another dream came true. I joined VMware as Technical Account Manager (TAM) in Austria. It was my third try and I was very happy that it worked this time. So far it’s a really cool job and I learn everyday something new. You can read the whole story here.
At the end of the year I was awarded Cisco Champion for the first time, which was a really surprise for me. I’m really thrilled and honored to be part of this awesome group. I also passed the second exam for the Cisco Certified Network Associate – Datacenter Center certification. In December I also done my first #vBrownbag session which was a great experience in learning an preparing for this session and I loved it. You can find the recording of this session here. Don’t be to harsh, I know I have a lot to learn when it came to presentation and speaking fluently.
Looking from the certification side, 2014 was not so stressful. I did only 5 certifications:
- VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Cloud Administrator
- VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Administrator
- Veeam Certified Engineer
- Citrix Certified Professional – Networking
- Cisco Certified Network Associate – Datacenter Center
One of my lows in 2014 was that I have to cancel VCDX for this year. I have done the Conceptional Design but when starting the rest I was not so perfect self-organized that I could make it in time. Another problem was that my body reacted to my self-made preasure not so well (head-ache, bad-sleeping, dandruff). After canceling the VCDX approach my body went back to normal.
How 2014 went for my blog? Here are some statistics I gathered from my tools.
| 2014 | 2013 | Difference in % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pageviews | 41000 | 5900 | +595% |
| Single Post Views | 602 | 157 | +284% |
| Views average monthly | 3297 | 1207 | +173% |
| Views average daily | 108 | 33 | +227% |
| Users | 23900 | 10900 | +119% |
| Posts | 35 | 29 | +20% |
| Countries | 171 | 107 | +60% |
As I saw all the values and the difference between 2013 and 2014 it was like “WTF is going on”. 2014 was a really big improvement in visits, page views and articles. It’s still light years behind other bloggers but I’m not in competition with others so I’m really happy with this statistics. My blog is primary for knowledge sharing and helping other people who have similar problems.
Here are also my Top 10 blog posts for 2014.
What to expect for 2015?
This is a short list of my 2015 bucket list:
- Become a Dad – Yes you heard right. My wife and I are pregnant (yes my belly is also growing! :)) and the expected date of delivery is June, 14th. After that I think I will not have much time for blogging for a while!
- VCDX – it’s still on my roadmap. I will try to get additional work done and head for the October defense, but with a new born this could be challenging. My personal goal to get a number under 200 is already moved out of my reach, but that is no longer important for me.
- Write more blog posts
- Become vExpert 2015
- Hold my place or moving up in the Top vBlogs annual voting (currently #139)
- Attend VMworld EMEA – This could be challenging but I hope I will get an approval from my wife!
- Certifications – There are still some new certs around I should take care of, e.g. VCIX-NV, VCP-NV, VMCE v8 to name a few.