Keiran Shelden First off, Happy New Year everyone. Thank you to all those I had the pleasure of meeting or working with in 2016. What a year it was, aside from a busy work schedule with some busy projects, I also welcomed my first child. This has obviously added to what i felt was already a busy schedule, but all I can say is that I am very grateful to have her in my life and things have certainly changed and will continue to change.
That being said, I realise I was not very active on my blog in 2016, however it does not reflect the amount of articles I wrote that I didn’t publish because it is not 100% completed or because I just didn’t like feel comfortable it was ready. Most of what I wrote was merely notes for myself or just jotting down sentences and paragraphs to ensure I was reciting what i knew. In 2016, I started to explore new horizons for myself. I started using Nutanix CE on Ravello to understand all the hub-bub around. I decided that I would make the switch from using Windows 10 to Linux Mint and then on to Ubuntu on my main computer, this created some challenges from an administrative perspective, but I feel as though I have increased my brain power just that little more. I managed to add to my lab increasing it over 3 times my previous lab. I have started testing Linux and other OSes in my lab to get a better understanding and broader knowledge. Each one of these things and a ton of other little bits and pieces I have changed or picked up are going to make 2017 a much better year for my IT future.
This brings me to my outlook for 2017 and what I plan to be a good year full of learning. This year I am hoping to finally knuckle down and get my VCP out of the way and hopefully complete a VCAP or two. When I look back, I realise how unfocused I was and how much my ego stood in front of me when I studied and then going in for the exams – going back and re-reading/re-learning how to install ESXi or how to vMotion a VM does not show weakness but shows strength knowing the very fine detail and understanding. I have now changed the way I study and now add more time and extra steps to ensure I fully understand before moving on. There are some smaller exams I would like to also get and also looking at CCNA and having more foundations covered.
For 2017, I plan to write and publish as much of my study log and notes I can, and hope that someone might find them useful for their own studies. This will hopefully be joined by many more blog posts to help make my blog active again.
In closing, I hope that you all have a very happy and safe 2017 and I look forward to meeting new people, creating friendships and working with many of you through the large list of communities.
