Suggestions for becoming a actual Expert in VMware technologies

[puzzle1212]

Good afternoon,

Currently, I'm working in an environment strictly for Vsphere. I would like to build my own home lab that would fit my needs for expanding into different things like vRealize log insight, NSX, Horizen, vRops to name a few. Does anyone have any suggestions or a cheap means to do this? I know I could go out and buy my own Tower but I'm wondering if there is a better way to get to this Knowledge so I can succeed?

[TheBobkin]

Hello puzzle1212​,

Welcome to Communities and vSphere.

There are an abundance of free training resources including technical overviews and deep-dives of VMware products available here:

VMware Learning Zone

While building your own lab is definitely worthwhile (doesn't need to be fancy - nested running on Workstation on a PC can suffice), temporary labs for a number of VMware products can be spun up in mere minutes at zero cost here:

VMware Learning Platform

Aside from these resources, you should try to figure out in more detail what you need/want to know about different products in the VMware product ecosystem and to what depth (and which products are most important to your career) - at that point you can start focusing on deeper learning of your chosen specific products. Start looking for good blogs to follow that go in-depth in the products you are focusing on, subscribe to the sub-Communities of these products and start to learn what kind of questions and issues people deal with in these.

Most importantly though, try to focus and prioritise on what you actually need/want for your job/career/personal preference - developing expert-level understanding of even a single VMware product can take years of continuous daily application and effort. That being said, getting a basic understanding of a number of products may not take much time but may not be as valuable as mastering a single product.

Bob

[nachogonzalez]

I think TheBobkin​ response summarizes it pretty cool.

I would like to add some things:

First: this is a matter of perseverance, read every day one hour. Do as many labs as you can, go every meeting you can. Be involved on every project you can. This will take time ( and i speak not as an expert but someone that's trying to become one)

Second: I don't know where are you based, but for me it was pretty useful to work for a VMware partner. There i learnt a lot of useful things and got hands on experience on a handful of new products.
If you ever look for a new job. Please keep that in mind.

Another thing i should add is: be involved in the VMUG communities, there is one each country, there you can get a lot of resources.