Day 1 at VMUG Connect Minneapolis 2026 is officially in the books.
And if I had to sum it up in one sentence: it’s a great reminder of why I always encourage people to get out to these events whenever they can.
It was a packed day. Great sessions, a lot of learning, and even better conversations with people who are working through the same challenges I am — just in different environments, at different scales, with different constraints. That combination is hard to find anywhere else, and it doesn’t happen if you don’t show up.
Here’s how the day went.
VCF Deployment, Automation & Networking — Real Talk from the Field
I kicked things off with a session on VCF Deployment, Automation, and Networking.
What stood out wasn’t just the content — it was the perspective behind it. This wasn’t a slide deck built around a best-case scenario. It was a real conversation about how teams are actually deploying VMware Cloud Foundation in the field, where things get messy, and how automation is being used (and sometimes misused) in day-to-day operations.
You start to see patterns after a while.
You see where automation genuinely saves time versus where it becomes its own maintenance burden. You see where networking decisions made early in a deployment either simplify or complicate everything that comes after. You start to understand that design choices that look minor on paper have real consequences six months down the road when something breaks at 2 AM.
That kind of insight doesn’t come from documentation. It comes from people who’ve been through it.
That’s what made this session worth the early start.
Why Breakout Sessions Are Where the Real Learning Happens
I say this every time there’s a conference worth attending, and I’ll keep saying it: the smaller breakout sessions are where the real value lives.
Not because the general sessions aren’t good — they are. But in a breakout, things slow down just enough for actual conversation to happen.
You can ask a more specific question. You can share what you’ve run into in your own environment and get genuine responses instead of a rehearsed answer. You can compare approaches with three other people in the room who’ve solved a version of the same problem and landed somewhere completely different. That exchange — no gatekeeping, just practitioners talking to practitioners — is what the VMUG community has always done well.
It’s also where the learning actually sticks. Passive absorption of information and active conversation are very different experiences. Breakouts push you toward the latter.
If you go to one of these events and only hit the general sessions, you’re leaving a lot of value on the table.
VCF Certification in 2026 — Time to Just Go for It
One session hit a little closer to home than the others.
There was a focused discussion on VCF Certification in 2026 — the landscape, what’s changed, and what it looks like to actually pursue the certification in the current Broadcom era. If you’ve been following the Zero to VCAP series, you already know where I am with this: I’ve been building out labs, working through the training, and documenting everything along the way.
Sitting in that session made something click.
I’ve been doing the work. I’ve been studying the blueprint. I’ve been showing up to labs and putting things on paper week after week. At some point you have to stop preparing to take the shot and actually take it.
So I made a decision in the room: I’m going to attempt the VCF Administrator exam tomorrow.
Here’s my thinking. It’s a free attempt. There’s no penalty for taking it, and there’s real value in knowing exactly where I stand right now — not where I think I stand, but where I actually stand when the exam is in front of me. Win or lose, I’m walking away with better information than I have today.
That’s progress. That’s the whole point of the journey.
Hands-On Labs — Where Everything Comes Together
I wrapped up the day in the Hands-on Labs, which is always one of my favorite parts of any technical conference.
There’s a meaningful difference between hearing about something, watching someone demonstrate it, and actually doing it yourself. The labs are where you cross from the second into the third — and for things like VCF deployment and configuration, that gap matters.
You take everything you’ve absorbed throughout the day and immediately put it into practice. The concepts that felt clear during a session get tested when you’re actually in the interface making decisions. Sometimes things go exactly the way you expected. Sometimes they don’t, and that’s a lesson too.
Either way, that hands-on reinforcement is huge, especially when you’re actively preparing for a certification that’s going to expect you to know this stuff in context, not just in theory.
If you’re at VMUG Connect and haven’t made it into the lab space yet — go.
Final Thoughts — Why These Events Still Matter
I came into today knowing it would be a good event. I came out convinced it was the right one to be at right now, at this point in the Zero to VCAP journey.
In one day:
- I heard real-world perspectives on the exact technologies I’m studying
- I had conversations that added context I wouldn’t have found in a white paper
- I made a decision that I’d been circling around for weeks
- I got hands-on time that tied it all together
That’s a lot to take away from a single day.
And the thing is — none of it happens from behind a desk. You have to be in the room. The content exists online. The conversations don’t.
What’s Next
Tomorrow, we go for it.
VCF Administrator exam attempt. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to go, but I know I’ve put in the work. And at some point, that has to be enough to take the shot.
Win or lose, I’ll write about it honestly — that’s the whole point of this series.
If you’re here at VMUG Connect, come find me. Would love to connect.