My Top 10 Breakout Sessions to see at VMware Explore 2022
Introduction
In whats becoming an annual post, I have gone through the VMware Explore US 2022 Content Catalog and picked out the top 10 sessions I would attend. For each session I detail a link to the session, the speaker(s), the excerpt and finally why I would see that session.
From SE to VP: Amanda’s Journey to the Americas CTO at VMware [PCB1232US]
Content Catalog Link: PCB1232US
Excerpt:
Join this fun career session to learn about the technical and soft skills Amanda learned to become VMware’s first woman CTO. Learning the fundamentals of any position is necessary to be successful. However, the career path and the skills required to move from systems engineer to chief technology officer have never been documented—until now.
Speaker:
If there is one session from one person I would always make time to see it’s Amanda’s. In previous years her sessions have provided practical knowledge to help your career. Amanda’s career is one to watch, and this session will show you how she did it. This is the session you must see.
Learning from Log4j: Getting Ahead of the Next Incident [OSB1813US]
Content Catalog Link: OSB1813US
Excerpt:
Log4j caught nearly everyone by surprise. And the first questions on everyone’s minds were do we have an exposure, and are we using it? It’s often been said that the open source you know about isn’t the open source you should worry about. In this session, you will hear from Brian Behlendorf, the OpenSSF executive director, about some of the lessons learned from Log4j and the changes triggered. Discover how you can be better prepared for the next time.
Speaker:
Log4j was a nightmare for Sys Admins. I remember hearing about it on a Saturday night and by 8pm we were already working on it. Not how I want to spend my weekends. Anything that will help me and my organisation prepare for the next big incident is a session worth watching - your future self will thank you for it.
5+ Ways vSphere+ Can Transform Your On-Premises Workloads and Your Business [CEIB1573US]
Content Catalog Link: CEIB1573US
Excerpt:
You trust vSphere to run your business critical workloads, whether on-premises or in the cloud. Your on-premises apps get the benefits of economics, locality, performance, latency, and more, but they can benefit significantly from innovations available in the cloud. Moreover, in a distributed environment, your IT teams have to manage in siloes, which can be challenging and inefficient. And your developers and DevOps teams need all the support they can get to drive up productivity and velocity to market. Join this session and learn how vSphere+, the multi-cloud workload platform, can help transform your on-premises infrastructure and your business by delivering the benefits of cloud services, without disrupting your workloads.
Speaker:
vSphere+ has recently been announced and this is one of a few sessions on the product. I only have experience of vSphere on premises so I am interested to find out how the cloud based component of vSphere+ can assist the vSphere admin.
Acquiring Practical Cloud Native, Kubernetes and Open Source Skills [OSB1812US]
Content Catalog Link: OSB1812US
Excerpt:
Open source skills opens doors, and expands your resume. Join Linux Foundation’s General Manager of Training & Certification, Clyde Seepersad as he discusses the results from the recent Linux Foundation Survey on Job Skills and Hiring. You’ll hear about who’s hiring for what, the skills and certifications that are in top demand, and what’s on the horizon. Learning paths, certifications, and courses to boost your skills in open source, especially cloud native applications, Kubernetes and cloud architect.
Speaker:
I remember many years ago I had a manager that hated Open Source software and banned it from the organisation. Oh how times have changed! My skills in Open Source, Cloud native, Kubernetes are pretty much non existant but I know I need to skill up. This session will help all those ‘traditional’ Windows/VMware admins.
Adventures in Technical Career Progression [VIB1558US]
Content Catalog Link: VIB1558US
Excerpt:
Winner of the VMware Explore People’s Choice Awards. A career in the tech industry can have many entry points. The path forward for an individual isn’t necessarily a straight line. Let go of the feeling that you are trapped, and realize you have options. If you are not considering what is next for your career, today is the day to begin learning from the experience of others. After interviewing almost 50 guests through 170+ episodes since July 2018, hosts of the Nerd Journey podcast bring you a digest of lessons learned from their career storytellers. We’ll discuss topics such as determining if people leadership is for you, becoming a top-level individual contributor, value in making lateral moves, determining if you’re burned out and what to do about it, communicating with your management, and using relatable experience to get that next job you didn’t realize was possible.
Speakers:
Hosts of the excellent podcast Nerd Journey (seriously go add it to your podcast list) host a session distilling all the learnings they have gather in over 170 shows. I find the information from the podcast to be of excellent value to me personally in my career. If you want to further your career, watch this session.
The Multi-Cloud Universe: Bold Innovations and Insights to Accelerate Your Business [GEN2906US]
Content Catalog Link: GEN2906US
Excerpt:
Whether you are a creator embarking on a new path of discovery, or a decision-maker aiming for the outer reaches, your journey starts here.
Speakers:
- Raghu Raghuram
- Sumit Dhawan
- Kit Colbert
- Amanda Blevins
- Kelsey Hightower
- Jacob Morgan
- DaShaun Carter
- Teresa Chen
- Dave Morera
It’s the General Session where we hear from Raghu and senior staff at VMware. The General Session is where we will hear about VMware’s vision for for next 12 months and hopefully upcoming technology. A must see!
10 New and Exciting Things About vSphere That You Absolutely Need to Know [CEIB1574US]
Content Catalog Link: CEIB1574US
Excerpt:
Yes, this is the vSphere session you’ve been looking for. Join us to get the latest and greatest on ‘What’s New with vSphere’. We will share the latest news and timelines, and give you an overview of what’s coming, as well as technical details with the newest demos, to cover 10 new and exciting things about vSphere that you absolutely, positively need to know.
Speakers:
Tanzu, Carbon Black, NSX, all the buzzwords, but the bedrock to VMware is vSphere. It may not be cool or a hot technology but it is a critical part of your infrastructure. I personally get excited with new vSphere releases but keeping track of the details in the flood of news is difficult. I hope this session gets me up to date.
Advanced Troubleshooting of ESXi Server 7.x for vSphere Gurus [CXS2145US]
Content Catalog Link: CXS2145US
Excerpt:
With the VMware ESXi server forming the base foundation for your VMware multi-cloud environment, are you interested to ensure that your Day 2 operations are made easy and stabilized? As the ESXi server has evolved, our tools and managing techniques have transformed. Gain a deep-dive understanding on what is new with ESXi architecture, management, storage and networking, and troubleshoot some of the most common issues. Hear from the experts on some of the common problems identified and the ways to mitigate them. We will also discuss how we can generalize our troubleshooting approaches for other products and services within VMware vSphere and provide an introduction to VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics.
Speakers:
Another session on ESXi - who said hypervisors are boring? When ESXi has problems you can have a bad day, so this session should help you when that day comes. I’m interested to hear the common issues that GSS face as the basics are sometimes overlooked. It’s important to keep te foundation of your environment in good order and technologies like VMware SkyLine can help you find those problems sometimes before they can even cause a problem. Go see this session if you look after core vSphere.
vSphere+ and vSAN+: The Next Evolution of VMware Enterprise Workload Platform [CMK2208US]
Content Catalog Link: CMK2208US
Excerpt:
VMware vSphere+ and VMware vSAN+ bring the benefits of cloud to your on-premise workloads by delivering high-value cloud services for IT admins and developers to supercharge IT productivity and accelerate developer velocity for existing and next-gen applications. VMware is unleashing this compelling value without teams having to move or make any changes to existing workloads or hosts. It’s completely non-disruptive to the business and designed for easy adoption. This session will introduce new product innovations in vSphere+ and vSAN+ that help customers improve workload performance, enhance operational efficiency, and increase time to value for DevOps. The subscription offerings enable VMware to deliver new value to customers faster via the VMware Cloud Console, such as advanced use cases like disaster recovery as a service, ransomware protection, vRealize integration, and many others as they become available. During the session, you will also hear from Lexmark – a long-time vSphere customer and early vSphere+ adopter – who will share about their transformation journey.
Speakers:
VMware vSphere+ and VMware vSAN+ are the future of how we will consume core vSphere services. I understand the core value add is the cloud management of both your on premises and cloud based vSphere installs so I’d like to understand what specifically it can bring to on premises customers. I’m also looking forward to seeing how a customer is already leveraging these new capabilities.
Career Growth Fireside Chat: DevOps Path [PCB2364US]
Content Catalog Link: PCB2364US
Excerpt:
Join us to discover how to take your DevOps career to the next level. Hear firsthand from a senior DevOps professional about their personal career journey. The guest speaker will share lessons learned, tips for success, and unexpected surprises they encountered along their career path.
Speaker:
You get a DevOps, Everybody gets a DevOps! DevOps isn’t a tool, software product, job title, culture, etc. Depending on which podcast, blog post, job posting, the definition changes. In this session you will hear from someone ‘doing’ DevOps and how they got there. I’m personally not convinced that DevOps is ‘right’ for the traditional vSphere admin (Platform Engineering is the way) but there is no denying DevOps practices can benefit us.
Wrap Up
I am sure you will find something in this list that appeals to you, and if not spend some time browsing the Content Catalog to find what interests you. With over 800 sessions I guarantee you will. What are your must see sessions? I’d love to know in case I’m missing something good.
In my next post I will focus on my top 5 VMware {code} sessions at VMware Explore 2022.