Veeam Vanguard – 8 Years of Reflection
When I look back at my time in the Veeam Vanguard program, it is hard to believe that I have been part of one of the best evangelism programs for eight years. Being part of such an amazing program with amazing people is truly an honour. You know it will be a great year when you receive an email stating you have been accepted or renewed for another year.
The Journey Begins
While the program began in 2015, it was just after VeeamON 2017 in New Orleans, where Veeam invited me, all expenses paid, and this marked the start of my journey in the Veeam world and this great program. I applied to the Veeam Vanguard program in 2018 and, to my surprise, was accepted for my inaugural year. It was at this point that my career began to take shape, setting me on a path that has allowed me to grow into the Enterprise Architect role I currently hold at ThinkOn, a managed service provider. I have worked with Veeam since then and watched it grow over the years into a powerhouse application for Data Protection. I have had the opportunity to attend numerous “insider” sessions over the years, which have enabled me to preview upcoming features and witness the product’s evolution and growth. At the time of joining the program, I believe there were approximately 50, and since then, it has grown into the current Veeam 100, which encompasses Vanguards, Legends, and MVPs within Veeam.
Career Growth
I feel that I have grown tremendously as a person, IT professional, and all-around individual due to the Veeam Vanguard program. It has taught me many things and fostered some really great friendships over the years, which continue to this day. I genuinely don’t think I would be where I am in technology today if it were not for the Veeam Vanguard program and the wonderful people who are part of it. Moving from a System Administrator to an Enterprise Architect has allowed me to expand my technology portfolio and learn many new things, including AI. All of this growth can be attributed in some way to the Veeam Vanguard program.
Growing as a Person & Speaker
It has also led me to another path within the Veeam ecosystem and that being a Veeam User Group (VUG) Leader for Canada. This is where you get to hold events with sponsor and talk all things Veeam-related with customers, partners, and Veeam employees. Being part of this fantastic program has allowed me to hone my presentation skills as well as speaking skills. I have even been part of the V100 shows that come on each month to speak on topics that are close to my heart or a project that I have worked on to show my skillset with Veeam. I have even been part of Veeam Partner webinars such as Object First discussing topics that relate. Does not hurt being part of the Object First Aces program either.
Becoming an Author & Blogger
One of the many other things that a great evangelist program can do for you is start you on a path that you possibly would never have thought to explore. For me, that was becoming an author of a series of books called “Mastering Veeam Backup & Replication” through Packt Publishing. I was approached by Packt Publishing back in 2020/2021 about authoring a book for Veeam, so, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to give it a try. It took a lot of hard work and many nights after work to put together the very first book on Version 10. The book was released, but lo and behold, Version 11 had already come out, so I contacted Packt and we worked on a Second Edition book for Version 11 and released that. This book was a hit, and more so than the v10 book. So when Version 12 was released, I contacted them again to begin work on a third edition of the book, which was also a great success, being a new author. So wouldn’t you know it come 2025 and the early release of the Veeam Software Appliance v13 and I am already signed up to do a fourth book with Packt, but this time with a twist and guest co-author for one of the chapters – Rick Vanover! I asked if he would collaborate with me, and I was delighted when he agreed. Look out for chapter 4 on the new Veeam Console. You will find links to my books at the end of this blog post.
This leads me into the next part of my chapter, which is also about becoming a blogger. I had never considered it originally when I got involved in the Veeam Vanguard program, but as I learned, things evolved into a great set of blog articles over the years. You can check these out at the link below for my blog site.
Final Words & Thank You
To conclude, if you are ever considering joining an advocacy program to help grow both professionally and personally as an IT professional, I would highly recommend the V100 program. As there are different parts to the program – Legends, Vanguards & MVPs you will need to determine which one you feel would be the ideal pathway for you. MVP is for internal Veeam employees, so that one is only achievable if you work for Veeam. You might start out as a Legend and then work up to Vanguard. Whatever path you choose, you will be better for it, trust me.
I would like to thank Veeam, the Veeam Vanguard Program, Rick Vanover, Nikola Pejková, Madalina Cristil, Safiya Mohamed, and my fellow Veeam Vanguards & Veeam 100 for making this program the best! This program fosters growth, self-motivation, and lifelong friendships, while providing access to Veeam applications.
As a member of the Vanguard program, the following benefits are provided to each member:
- Access to Veeam Product teams
- A forum to provide feedback and perspective
- Sharing of unique perspectives in the industry and exclusive networking opportunities
- NFR licenses for all Veeam products.
- Access to pre-releases and betas.
- Exclusive access to Veeam Forums and Support.
- Exclusive access to Veeam events, such as VeeamON.
Veeam also offers another program that you can participate in on the Veeam Community, called the Veeam Legends Program. For more information, please visit Veeam 100 Programs. I am happy to say I am also a part of this great program.
If you have the opportunity, I suggest attending any one of the yearly VeeamON events. You can meet many great people through the Veeam Vanguard/Legends/MVP programs.
To learn more about Veeam, please visit my book publications and blog at the following link.
Blog – Personal Blog