This week, Sam Larch and Vince Wood discuss vRealize Automation with Nathan Bennett and Dale Hassinger. In addition to the What and Why, Nathan and Dale share some experience using vRA to motivate you the listener to take action andn automate some of your repetitive tasks. We also cover some things to consider when starting your vRA journey.

If you think we missed something, Join us in Slack and let us know:

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Pluralsight vRA Getting Started Course

This week, Michael Stanclift, Matt Crape, Ariel Sanchez Mora, and Vince Wood discuss the role of Technical Account Manager.

As a result of the COVID-19 economic downturn, many find themselves looking for new work. While doing so, some may be considering completely new roles & opportunities. With that in mind, ITR will be exploring different roles over the next few weeks in the hopes of enlightening job seekers to roles that may not have been considered otherwise. Next Role to be explored will be the DevOps Engineer. If there are any requests, Join us in slack or on Twitter and let's talk.

Conversation Questions:

• Define it, What is a TAM?

Helpful Links on the topic:

• VMware Techincal Account Management Services

Want to join the ITR group in Slack?

This week, Ariel Sanchez Mora searches for 4 VMUG chapters to provide a Twitter profile health check.

Health Check tip:

• Profile photo is important. Good headshot is even better so that it is easy for VMUG members to recognize you.

VMUG Chapters in this episode:

• Boston VMUG

Ariel Sanchez Mora Website

So you want to start your own podcast? The message reached IT Reality and we have responded...

Unfinished Business with Chester and the Shrew on Instagram - Matt Murphy & Drew

From John Nicholson of the Virtually Speaking podcast:

Content creation is more important than the gear. Focus on the practice/skills.

“What is or is not podcast?”

Choose a topic that you enjoy so that you are motivated to stick with it as you likely won’t make money creating a podcast.

24 minutes in and we finally start talking gear…

Just get started! You can learn the process before ever actually releasing content. Let that be your little secret.

Get on Twitter and find the profile of a VMUG Leader or vCommunity member. You likely won't have to scroll very far to find them mentioning vCommunity. What are they referring to? Most likely, it is 1 word to decribe the group of IT Professionals familiar with some aspect of virtualization that go out of their way to help one another and share knowledge. There are no club handshakes or membership fees. One only has to be willing to contribute and help out other community members. Would you like to know more? Give this episode a listen and after doing so, if you are ready to get involved, reach out to anyone mentioned.

Voices heard within:

As IT Pros, we have first hand experience that could be leveraged to dramatically improve the support experience. Whether we are talking about the engineer or the customer roll, if we take a moment to engage the brain instead of just reacting, we each have the opportunity to make a difference. Jim, Nathan, Wences, and Vince share some tips on how to make supporting others a more pleasant experience.

• Jim Jones - How to cold call me

Jim Jones on LinkedIn

This week, Paul Wilk and Vince Wood discuss Linux in IT and the skills required to be successful. Below are just a few of the many items highlighted.

• SELinux Guide

If you would like to join the ITR Podcast crew in conversation, The following link will work for the next 12 days. Join ITR on Slack!

Listen to the IT echo chamber and you will hear about automation. Different products and tools but the message is no more manual, one off configurations. Several phrases used that we will discuss. Common responses, why? Why now? How? Where does one start? This week Aaron Strong, Nathan Bennett, and Vince Wood start down the rabbit hole that is Automation. Based on the conversation, A part 2 is in the works.

In Part 1, We spoke to the following points:

• Mutable vs Immutable Infrastructure

Links

• Want an example of automation in action? How about KubeDoom?

This week, Richard Kenyan and Vince Wood cover communicating methods E-Mail and Chat in the IT space in 2020.

• Pros & Cons

• E-Mail - Slower/more detailed

• Misuse

• Of purpose

• Reference: “This meeting could have been an e-mail”

Links mentioned in this episode:

This week Vince Wood and Joe Houghes discuss the VMware vExpert Program with Matt Langguth and Matt Crape. Matt and Matt are both VMware vExpert Pros. Based on their experience with the program, we explore the details as well as give advice for current and future vExperts.

Conversion points include:

• For those who don’t know, what is it?

VMware Community Podcast #469 - Matt Langguth & Corey Romero - vExpert Application Process 2019