Year in Review - 2021 | 2022 Goals

Get-Review 2021

2021 was a good year for me with my career. I spent the entire year working from home and I find myself to be more productive when WFH. My wife and I moved into a different home and I now have a dedicated office area on the 2nd floor away from everyone. I still share my office with Belle (Rescue Dog adopted in 2020 before covid) everyday and she loves the fenced in back yard that she can run around in without a leash.

In 2021, I started living the “Salt Life”. In July, I installed SaltStack Config for the first time and started taking a serious look at Salt. I went from zero to doing a presentation about SaltStack at VMworld 2021 in October and another presentation at SaltConf21 in November. Having a session selected for VMworld 2021 was a career “Bucket List” for me.

After creating a vRealize Operations Dashboard on “Right Sizing” that I use in production, my vRealize Account Executive setup a meeting for me to meet Iwan ’e1’ Rahabok, who is the co-creator of the book “Operationalize Your World”. Iwan liked the Dashboard I created and included some details about the Dashboard in his book “Operationalize Your World”.

I always say if one person finds anything I post helpful, I will consider my efforts successful. In 2021, between the presentations and blogs posts, I feel I have given back and helped some people. I shared the knowledge. 2021 was a successful year for me.

Highlights of 2021

• VMworld 2021 session (Presentation): Manage Windows Workloads Through vRealize Automation SaltStack Config [MCL1895]
• SaltConf21 session (Presentation): Managing Windows with SaltStack Config
• (6) of my personal Blogs were shared by the VMware “vExpert Cloud Management Community” on the Vmware Blog Web Site.
• I did several vRealize Automation Presentations at VMware HVC (Healthcare Virtualization Community) Events.
• PowerBlock Customer Showcase - VM “Right Sizing”
• I did a IDC interview for VMware on Automation that will be released in 2022.
• I did a VMware Customer Reference Interview that will be released in 2022. Link to Customer Reference
• I shared a vRealize Operations “Right Sizing” Dashboard on the code.vmware.com web site.

My Top 10 Blog Posts of 2021

1. How to use PowerShell modules with vRA 8.2 | 978
2. How vRealize Operations can help with “Right sizing” VMs | 799
3. vRA 8.1 ABX PS | 508
4. Automating Automation | 415
5. VMware vRealize SaltStack Config as a Windows Server Admin part 1 | 333
6. VMware vRealize SaltStack Config as a Windows Server Admin part 2 | 280
7. vRealize automation 8.1 PowerShell abx | 216
8. VMware vRealize SaltStack Config as a Windows Server Admin part 4 | 195
9. VMware vRealize SaltStack Config as a Windows Server Admin part 6 | 164
10. VMworld 2021 SaltStack Config session | 147

What the top 10 list shows me is there is a lot of interest to use PowerShell with the vRealize Products, VMware admins are interested in Right Sizing and since VMware Purchased SaltStack people what to get started with the product.

*Stats from Google Analytics.

Set-Goals 2022

• I do a lot of posts on PowerShell and I use it everyday. I want to take some time in 2022 and learn Python. I have done a little bit of Python but not enough to call myself a Python Programmer. I think there are some use cases with vRealize Automation and SaltStack Config that knowing Python may help.
• I want to spend more time with Salt. Salt is a powerful tool and I want to expand my knowledge with Salt.
• Get a session approved for VMworld 2022 and SaltConf22.
• Do more VMware PowerBlock Presentations.
• Create more Blog Posts.
• Never Stop Learning…

Thanks for visiting in 2021!

• If you like wearing Crocs and want to get a pair like I wear, follow this link to Amazon: My Favorite Crocs
• If you found this Blog article useful and it helped you, Buy me a coffee to start my day.