vExpert Spotlight: Tim Smith

Tim Smith

Today’s vExpert Spotlight interview is with Tim Smith. Tim is a Data Center Consultant from Ohio who 1st began blogging after “reading a coworker’s blog entry“. Whoa, Super Cool!  Sit back, relax, and learn a lil bit about our vExpert homie, Tim Smith…

The Interview

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Trek

Peanut Butter? Crunchy, Smooth, or No Thanks!

Smooth. Crunchy PB&J is blasphemy!

Favorite Adult Beverage?

Mt Dew

What was your 1st IT gig?

A County courthouse in Ohio. I was on the GIS team, and we were responsible for converting from old mylar and paper maps, to digital maps and aerial underlays. A single NT server and 5 workstations. It basically ran itself.

What is your current job title and role?

Data Center Consultant.
In my role, I’m responsible for architecting solutions for our client’s data center needs, as well as implementing those solutions. I focus on Cisco UCS and HP servers, EMC storage, and VMware (and its associated sphere of solutions)

How many years have you been a vExpert?

4 years

What advice would you give to others involved in the VMware community who are looking at becoming a vExpert?

First things first – be selfish (no really!) and glean information from bloggers, VMUG, and twitter. If you aren’t ingesting information from the community, you can’t give back to it – which is the goal of all vExperts. But, and this is important too, don’t feel like you aren’t skilled enough to contribute. Whether you work on tiny environments with 3 servers, or huge cloud implementations – there are others exactly where you are looking for guidance and support, and someone to bounce ideas off of. Every contribution is valuable.

Do you currently have a Home Lab environment?

Yes. 3 HP DL160 g6 servers running vSphere 6.0 and VSAN. Mostly for running nested ESXi clusters.

How do you use VMware products or services in your daily work life?

Most of my work with VMware products is new installations, upgrades, and migrations for my clients.

What certifications do you currently hold (if any)?

VCP-DCV (3,4,5)
VCAP-DCD (5)
MCITP
MCSA

Tell us something about yourself that the community may not already know.

I enjoy target shooting and camping.

What’s your go to song or music genre when work stress becomes too much?

I enjoy Christian rock. Bands like Red, and Fireflight.

Do you have a blog that you would like to share?

http://tsmith.co

Let us know how to contact you via social media.

Twitter: @tsmith_co
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TimSmith-vExpert
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tsmithcoblog

Well Tim thank you for being a part of the vExpert Spotlight series! I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to chat with me.

Please follow Tim on Twitter & also check out his LinkedIn. And lastly, please visit his personal blog. 

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