Today was the annual health checkup day at my organization. Maybe it was the empty stomach since last night, but I woke up feeling awful. Still, two emails totally turned my mood around and put a smile on my face! And those messages? Of course — the well-known 'You're in!' emails!
What made me especially happy was getting vExpert VCF for the first time! I've been active for years as both a VMUG Leader and a vExpert, but up until last year, my focus had mostly been on vSphere. That started to shift around mid-2024 when VCF became a hot topic in the Japan VMUG community. We began holding study sessions with a group of volunteers, and through that momentum, I decided to go for the VCP-VCF exam myself.
There were plenty of twists and turns along the way, but in February 2025, I finally managed to pass the VCP-VCF Administrator exam on my first try. I shared the whole journey during my session at the Japan UserCon in February 2025.
Thanks to my VCP-VCF certification and the VMUG Advantage benefit granted to VMUG Leaders, I was able to quickly publish a Japanese blog post detailing the steps to obtain the newly refreshed evaluation license.
At Japan VMUG, home labs and company labs are always hot topics. I finally managed to put together a lab using repurposed resources from my organization, took on the challenge of a VCF bring-up, and shared the whole experience at a Japan VMUG vExpert Meeting.
I’m planning to keep building up the VCF environment in my lab, but with VCF 9 seemingly just around the corner, I’m both excited and a little anxious about hardware compatibility. Lately, I’ve been focusing more on speaking at events and sharing session videos rather than blogging, but I think it’s time I set aside some energy for writing again too.
This post ended up a bit long, so I’ll save the vExpert Pro topic for next time. For today, I’m just going to enjoy the sweet taste of being awarded for the subprograms.
To everyone in the world’s greatest vCommunity—thank you so much!
Cheers !!
