Virtual Design Master Season 3: My Journey

Well if you’d notice I have not been blogging for a while and that is because I am caught up with few projects at work and enrolling into Virtual Design Master Season 3.

I literally do not know where to start when talking about this overwhelming experience, first of all I am not a solutions designer and my course of work I only do implementations and do some recommendations on designs but never the actually end-to-end design. So this is something new to me, and knowing myself I like to be challenged this is what triggers me to actually do stuff.

First of all I had to kiss my sleeping time goodbye, and I actually got a little mattress and set it up next to my home desk so that to sleep uncomfortably at the very minimum. Also you need to get your family involved with such activities because if you don’t have their support especially the wife well it won’t be a pleasant journey and you will end up with all sort of unpredictable confrontations :-D.

Second you need to be dedicated and focused, it is very much tempting to drop all of this and just get back to your normal life but believe me the journey is very much rewarding as you advance and your skills starts to hone. Frankly I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to quit, it was Ramadan at the beginning and we were fasting also afterwards it was Eid holiday and I remember spending it at home for the 3rd challenge.

Most important is that you have fun while doing it, live the challenge and live the story line don’t think of it as an ordinary design that needs to get delivered and make sure you broaden your imagination and get dipped into the scenarios.

I can speak about my experience and write pages of wisdom all day long but I won’t bore you with that :-P, just know that whether you do designs or not the Virtual Design Master is an end-to-end full throttle learning experience that WILL get you in shape for almost anything that hits you in terms of requirement and preparation.

Please find here under the challenges, my design documents and the defense events:

• Season 3 Premiere

1. Challenge 1 << My Design 1 << Challenge 1 Judgement Day
2. Challenge 2 << My Design 2 << Challenge 2 Judgement Day
3. Challenge 3 << My Design 3 << Challenge 3 Judgement Day
4. Challenge 4 << My Design 4 << Challenge 4 Judgement Day
5. Challenge 5 << My Design 5 << Virtual Design Master S3 Finale

Ahh I forgot something important, I finished second place thankfully :-) and I am more than happy with the results, and I will be regrouping to continue with my VCDX journey stronger, better and with an appetite for zombies %).

I was generously rewarded with:

1. The opportunity to take on the challenge and being judged [This is the real reward, the journey itself].
2. 500$ in cash.
3. 500$ on vCloud Air.

Finally a simple thank you wouldn’t suffice to give the Virtual Design Master team the credit they deserve in return to what they are bringing to the virtualization community.

A big thanks to my fellow challengers for making the time to work on their designs and for their commitment to give their best which made competition harder and more interesting.

I am grateful to our judges for being there and sparing their time to review our designs and being true to us through our progress from challenge 1 to challenge 5.

I also appreciate the generosity of the people whom contributed and sponsored the challenges, thank you for your support and putting your trust in the community.

(Abdullah)^2