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Every year I see more and more requests for the VCDX Workshop (Formerly known as the VCDX Bootcamp), to be held at various locations. We decided initially to partner up with VMUG HQ to align various presentations of the workshop to the larger VMUG conferences. This was done both for budget and speaker resource availability. That being said I also wanted to explain the difference between the VCDX Workshop and the also offered 3-Day VCDX Prep Class. You can find the list of updated 2015 VCDX workshop dates on VMTN.
VCDX Workshops
The VCDX Workshop is a 4-hour free session that was once known as the VCDX Bootcamp. I’ve made an effort to alter the name in 2015 primarily because traditional VMware “Bootcamps” are run for partners as part of an enablement and accreditation plan. Traditional VMware Bootcamps have an end result of some sort of “accreditation” for the partner, and we all know attending a 4-hour VCDX Bootcamp did not result in any achievement of certification. For that reason the name has been adjusted to better reflect what it is…..a workshop. So what is covered?
The 4 hours takes prospective candidates through the VCDX process, requirements, pre-requisites, tips and tricks, and some examples of design and troubleshooting scenarios. Most often attendees are people either starting the process, or who are mid stream into the VCDX process. There is no individual design reviews, or mock panels conducted mainly because the timeframe available and the class can have between 25-50 people. This is meant to give some free insights into the process and allow for a lot of audience participation.
3-Day VCDX Prep Class
The 3-Day VCDX Prep class is very different and is offered to any candidate INVITED TO DEFEND as a paid class, and these are currently held the week before the actual defenses. These are conducted by VMware Technical Trainers and the 3 days is spent in a smaller group, (Maximum of 15), to dive much deeper into defense preparation. This is where each candidate gets a chance to do mock defenses as well as design and trouble shooting scenarios. All the time spent is to help the candidate become more confident in heading into the defense the following week. Candidates use their real designs to work in the mock defenses and scenarios used are “retired” ones that are no longer used in real defenses.
This class truly gives each invited candidate a chance to hone some skills in front of a trained mock panel of technical trainers. Advice will be given to each candidate to help them be better prepared. This class is optional but recommended to folks if they really want to dial some things in. Bear in mind NO CHANGES can be made to the design documents since they have already been submitted to panelists, but you may find areas you were not aware of that you needed to “bone up” on through the preparation class process.
VCDX Q&A WebEx and Truncated Workshops
I am looking into creating a 2-hour online version of the workshop to run via WebEx as well as holding some live Q&A sessions. the trick as always will be getting people to attend them once I select the dates. Any help there is always appreciated, but the Q&A I did on the Virtual VMUG had some great questions. I’m constantly trying to find other way of helping educate people on the process.
