Happy #Blogtober, everyone! In this #Blogtober post, I want to give a brief description of exactly what #Blogtober is and drop in some details on how I intend to use it. I hope to include an overview of ideas (so I don’t forget and so that you can hold me accountable) that I’ll post over the month. Big should out to Matt Heldstab who encouraged me to participate. For more info directly from the source head over to blogtober.net.

 

What is #blogtober?

#Blogtober is a commitment for rookie and accomplished bloggers alike. The goal of #blogtober is pretty simple – create five blog posts in the month of October. In announcing the program, Matt lists the following three reasons –

• #Blogtober gives new bloggers visibility in the community and issues a challenge to be held accountable to
• We’re in conference season – There are many different conferences in the industry (VMworld, MS Ignite, etc.) that can provide blog topics
• vExpert 2017 – Blogging can help earn vExpert status by sharing your knowledge with the community

 

To me, #blogtober is a more consumable version of #vdm30in30 which takes place in November. #vdm30in30’s goals are very much the same, but the requirements are loftier – 30 posts in the 30 days in November.  I want to participate, but I just don’t have that much content… yet!

 

How do I plan to use #blogtober?

That’s where #blogtober comes in. To me, this program will give me an easier, more consumable challenge. Five posts over the course of a month allows me to get into the mindset of blogging while also allowing me time to research how to start thinking like a blogger. I want to post technical content. I get so much useful information from others in our community. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of what I post will end up being about soft-skills or other observations. We’ll see what happens…

 

What topics are you going to cover, James?

I had a list of ideas that I wrote down specifically so as to not forget them. I’m pretty sure I threw it away. Great job, self!

What I remember:

• Home Lab Setup – A description of my initial home lab setup followed by config changes and difficulties making said changes. Likely to be two separate posts.
• DevOps – A discussion on  company culture and Deming’s 14 Points of Management. I may drop DevOps out of this. I’m not an authority on it and it feels buzzword-y. Open to suggestions.
• VMUG – A discussion about how VMUG has influenced my career.
• Project Work – A retrospective of a to-be-completed project (pending approval).
• Maybe more if I can keep going?

Also, I’m open to ideas! If you think something is worth  expanding on, please let me know.

 

Want to get involved?

It’s October 3rd and there’s still plenty of month left! At the time of this writing, there’s approximately 65 people who are participating in the program! If you want to challenge yourself and/or get more involved in the community, this is a great starting place.

Step 1 – Head over to www.blogtober.net and comment on the blog post.
Step 2 – Write some neat stuff and post it on your blog (acquire a blog, if necessary… then blog about it!)
Step 3 – Throw the post out to the Twitterverse with the #blogtober hashtag

It’s really that simple.

Here’s to hoping that I can stick with five more posts for the month of #Blogtober (remember, this post doesn’t count!).