September recap

Even though we’re approaching the half way mark in October and the weather took a turn for the worst, at least in the Netherlands it did, it’s still a good moment to look back at September.

As I’ve mentioned in my first post I already knew September would be a “different” month. For starters I would be enjoying a (if I may say so) well deserved holiday with the family, but also because it turned out to be a busy month.

Away we go!

My wife and I been waiting a long time before making a decision whether or not we would go on holiday, and in the case of a “yes” where we would go. Eventually we made the decision to go to the same place our neighbors went, as it was a small and quiet village in France.
So away we went, making some extra miles while avoiding the obvious COVID-19 hotspots (like Paris) and after a (long) while we arrived at our destination in Andryes (France).

We really enjoyed being away from home for a while, which gave us the opportunity to charge our batteries. Seeing as I brought my road bike I had the chance do to some nice rides and enjoy the scenery, the change of terrain (from flat as a pancake to a hilly terrain) was a welcome addition as well!

Hitting the books

Next to some time off I also thought it would be a good idea to pass some more exams, I had plenty of time, right?
Seeing as I’ve recently passed both VCAP exams in the Desktop and Mobility track I was keen on getting my VCIX in the Datacenter Virtualization track as well.

I quickly noticed that to be eligible to receive a VCAP DCV certification I would need to “renew” my VCP certification first.
So I scheduled the exam and decided to just have at it. Unfortunately I faced an issue during the exam, or better said before the exam, as the proctor never appeared and thus the exam never started.

Having read the horror stories about Pearson support I was fearing this would take a considerable amount of time, so I continued with my VCAP preparations, deciding I would just take the VCP exam later once I got everything sorted.

Luckily Pearson got it sorted quickly and I managed to schedule (and pass!) the VCP exam within just a few days. A few days later I sat and took the VCAP Design exam, which I passed on the first attempt as well!

You got to be kidding me..

Now all I had left was the Deploy exam, which I had to take at an exam center. Luckily the location I previously went for the DTM exam still had a spot, so the exam was scheduled and the preparations continued.
I dusted off the old trusty homelab and built a new environment based on vSphere 6.5 (as I would be taking the 6.5 exam) and went through the blueprint, covering all items.

Showing up on time at the exam center I was feeling confident. Having read several blog posts about this exam I expected a better experience than the one I had with my DTM exam.

Upon starting the exam my bad luck continued, the questions didn’t load…
After some failed attempts by the proctor to get me started and a call to Pearson, who just said to send me home and open a ticket, the proctor gave it one last attempt and the questions appeared!

After the rough start and the 40 minute delay the rest went smooth and I actually had the experience I expected. A good amount of questions, asking relevant questions (still looking at you Mirage) with plenty of time. Once finished it was just a matter of waiting for the results.

Change of scenery, new job!

The month off and the extra exams were building up to the highlight of the month (well, technically the next month), joining AnyLinQ!
As of October 1^st I joined AnyLinQ as a VMware Specialist, where I’ll  take the next steps in my career.

I’ve had a blast working at Ictivity, and if I had the time I would thank everybody personally. But unfortunately the situation doesn’t allow for that. As the saying goes “the world is a small place”, we’ll meet again!