Meet Central Ohio VMUG Community Local Leader, Kurt Bohman

What is your life like outside of VMUG and VMware?

I spend most of my time with my wife, our three young daughters, and their activities. The oldest is in Irish Dance and softball, the middle in soccer and piano, and for now, the youngest is only taking swim lessons. I also coach my daughters’ softball and soccer teams, which I really enjoy. By creating lineups and tracking stats, coaching has tremendously increased my Microsoft Excel skills and has resulted in my newfound love for Sports Team Management apps. More personally, I am a big fan of College football and basketball, and I love all things related to gadgets.

Tell us a little about your background with VMware:

I got started with VMware when Workstation was released in 1999. I was doing application packaging, and Workstation’s snapshot technology was a tremendous time saver. I started using ESX with version 2.5, though I really started focusing on virtualization with version 3.0. Throughout my career, I have focused on engineering server infrastructure. At Nationwide, I tackle the challenges presented by enterprise scale virtualization and more recently the designing and building of a software defined data center.

How did you get involved in VMUG:

I honestly do not remember how I learned about VMUG, but I am pretty sure I started attending meetings around 2008 or 2009. As my personality lends itself to asking lots of questions during the meetings, one of Central Ohio VMUG leaders, Eric Mitchell, took note and recruited me to become a leader in 2010. I am so grateful for that!

What do you hope to achieve as the VMUG Central Ohio Local Leader?

To keep the community thriving. Our measure of success is the engagement of the community – not the numbers. Whether it is 10 or 50 people who attend a meeting, if they are engaged and getting something out of attending, then that is success in my mind. The connections and learning opportunities are what VMUG is all about.

Why is VMUG Important to You?

It has been a tremendous mechanism for building my peer network. I have met lots of very knowledgeable people, some of which have become good friends. It also led to my current position at Nationwide, because a fellow VMUG member, who worked at Nationwide at the time, told me about the opportunity.

VMUG has also been invaluable for learning about virtualization. The presentations and demos at VMUG meetings and UserCon’s are very informative. Talking with others who have experienced challenges in their environment, which are often similar to your own, is priceless.

Currently you are planning the Central Ohio UserCon – tell us about that:

This will be our 8^th annual UserCon. Though the agenda is not finalized, I believe we will have Kyle Gleed and Josh Atwell as keynote speakers. There will be a great lineup of VMware and Sponsor sessions and exhibits. We will be giving away a homelab, and the whole event is free. So there is really no good reason not to attend!

Are you a VMUG Advantage Member?

Yes. As a VMUG Advantage member, I recently utilized the 20% off discount to take the VMware Certified Professional 6 – Data Center Virtualization Exam (I passed). Though I know the EvalExperience is by far and away the most popular part of being a VMUG Advantage member, I have not utilized that benefit yet. Perhaps I will have the time to do so when my kids go off to college.

What advice would you give to VMUG members?

I would say make it a priority to attend the meetings as much as possible. Do not be afraid to speak up; there are no dumb questions. We are all there to share and learn. Also, take the initiative to introduce yourself to someone you don’t know – you will find that you have lots to talk about.