VMware : VCDX journey – Thank you !!!!!

I was with family in Serbia enjoying time off, when I received this email from the VCDX team.

To be honest, I didn’t expect to receive anything that day, it was already 04 PM and I remembered receiving result in the morning on my 2 previous attempts, so I definitely didn’t expect that coming!! 

I had to read that mail a few times, just to be sure I was reading correctly and the name was mine. 
The journey wasn’t easy for me… but totally worth it.  It took me almost 3 years and 3 attempts, but I finally did it !!!.

I was a bit shaking and had multiple feelings going on at that time.
The biggest feeling was: “DAMN, I DID IT”, “I CAN BE SO PROUD OF MYSELF” (something that I don’t say that much to myself).  The second was a huge feeling of relief: “IT’S OVER, FINALLY …”.
I can’t count all the sacrifices, hours and weekends I spent home working on my design and preparations, instead of going out with friends/family and enjoy. Or the amount of time I said to friends “Sorry, I can’t, I have something to do”.

From the day I started the journey (January 2017), there wasn’t a day without thinking about the VCDX process.
There was always a situation that reminded me about the process, the documentation, how to defend a decision, what’s the alternative, what’s the risk, how to mitigate it, prepare shorts answers, what if I wouldn’t have that constraint, etc… The list is endless.

What is really valuable to me, is that I have seen my own progression during the journey and the whole process helped me to be more confident not only in my daily job but also in my personal life.

I don’t want to spend too many words on my journey at the moment, I will dedicate it to another blog post. But I can tell you, I have so much to share and hope it would help future candidates aiming for VCDX.

Now, is the thanks time

First of all, I would like to thank my family who supported me from day one, especially during bad moments, even if they kept asking me “Why are you doing this?. Why are you putting that ton of effort and time?”

I would also like to thank 2 guys that I consider as family who helped me to be who I am today: 

• Fouad El Akkad @vroomblog (NPX #18 / VCDX #283 / Partner joint VCDX submission), I owe you everything. I still remember the day you drove me into the process saying it will take us 6 months. Well.., you were right, we did it.
• Bilel Kammoun @BILKAM2, thanks for everything, my brother.

The second thanks go to a bunch of guys

• Bilal Ahmed @Dark_KnightUK, you are a brother. Many thanks, for all the support, your helping and believing in me.
• Paul Meehan @PaulPMeehan, many thanks, Paul. Thanks for your support, your time, your advice. Thanks for believing and keep saying that I can do it.
• Kiran Reid @Apollokre1d, thanks for your support Kiran! I still remember our first mock almost 2 years ago, was such a terrible experience… I was burning inside.
• Brett Guarino @Brett_Guarino, oh boy, you grilled me a couple of times…
• Manny Sidhu @MannySidhu2, thanks, my friend. Thanks for waking up multiple times at 05 AM for mocks.
• Dominik Zorgnotti @vDominikZ, thanks, Dominik!!! How much time did we spend exchanging on slack on various topics?
• Abdullah @do0dzZZ, thanks for your help, time and support brother!
• Ben Mayer @benediktmayer, thanks my friend, we have been in touch for the last 3 years. I hope we can finally have a drink.
• Thanks to Simon, David Pasek, David Quinney, Pawel, Jason, Shady, Chris, Brett, Samuel, Per, Kim, Mike.

Last word for the community

All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the community. I am just so grateful to the people that were willing to help me without even knowing me personally. 
I still remember the face-to-face mock we did 2 years ago at DellEMC Tower (London) organized by Gregg Robertson @GreggRobertson5 (thanks Gregg), when I said to Fouad, “I can’t do this.., not really from a technical perspective but the level of confidence, control, preparation and experience required is just too high for me”.

Everyone has a different learning curve, and hard work pays off.

All VCDX can be found on the VCDX directory: https://vcdx.vmware.com/

List of people who helped on my journey (without any specific order)

Fouad El Akkad @vroomblog
Bilel Kammoun  @BILKAM2
Bilal Ahmed @Dark_KnightUK
Kiran Reid @Apollokre1d
Dominik Zorgnotti @vDominikZ
Ben Mayer @benediktmayer
Paul Meehan @PaulPMeehan
Abdullah @do0dzZZ
Manny Sidhu @MannySidhu2
Sylvain Huguet @vshuguet
Brett Guarino @Brett_Guarino
ShadyElMalatawey @ShadyMalatawey
Chris Porter @uprightvinyl ‏
Simon Z @RockingKeats
Jason Gierson @JasonTweet7889
David Quinney @quinney_david
David Pasek @david_pasek
Mike Brown @VirtuallyMikeB
Samuel Rothenbühler @bancswissunique
Per Thorn @per_thorn
Romain Decker @woueb
Magnus Anderson @magander3
Bas Raayman @BasRaayman
Pawel Piotrowski @vv_piter
Gregg Robertson @GreggRobertson5
Rebecca Fitzhugh @RebeccaFitzhugh
Ramandeep Singh @rdsinghc
Nabil RIZK @nabsriz
Kim Bottu @Kim_Bottu
Paul McSharry @pmcsharry
vincenthan @vincenthan
Anton Davidovskiy @adavidovskiy
Mat Jovanovic @matjovanovic
Abdoulaye A Fadiga @fadios07
Daniel RIVIERE