I thought I'd put together a post describing my journey as a Veeam legend and how I managed to get accepted into the programme.
My journey as a Veeam Legend started in August 23 as a part of the 2nd intake of 2023. It was a proud moment to get accepted into the group but how did I get here and what has being part of the program given me.
With over 30 years experience in the IT industry, I've spent the last 10 Years focusing on Infrastructure and Data Protection from a Service Provider perspective and this is where I was initially introduced to the Veeam platform. It was during this time that I became aware of the Veeam R&D Forums (https://forums.veeam.com/). Over the years I started to interact more answering posts and providing guidance where I knew it added value as well as seeking Feature Requests.
In Feb 21 I became aware of the Community Hub (https://community.veeam.com/) and started to interact with the community there as well. I found the groups particularly useful and watching the number of groups grow over the past few years has been great.
So what benefits does being a member of the program bring and what does being a Veeam Legend involve. For me being a legend means using my knowledge and experience to provide advice and guidance to others via the forums & community hub as well as interacting in discussions etc.
The Legends programme has 2 intakes every year so you do need to ensure your level of interaction is consistent across the year to maintain your status.
You get a number of benefits as part of the programme and I will describe some of them below.
- Access to the Veeam 100 Community
- Community Badge
- Early Visibility of the Roadmap
- Access to Product Management & Product Strategy team
- Regular calls with your Peers
- Invite to the Veeam 100 Summit
- Swag of course
- Entry in the Veeam 100 Directory (https://community.veeam.com/p/veeamlegends2025?)
Being a part of the programme has also brought some additional benefits such as getting to speak on a panel at the VeeamOn Tour 24.
Although the biggest benefit for me is the people. I've met some amazing people during my time in the programme.
The other major benefit for me was being invited to become one of the UK Veeam User Group (VUG) leaders. This role allows me to engage and collaborate with users all over the UK and try to expand the community, allowing knowledge sharing between the community members.
If your interested in joining the programme, join the community groups, engage and interact with discussions etc. Reach out to you local user group and some of the other special interest groups and look to present your ideas or a project that you’ve been involved with.
You won’t regret it if you do and the best bit will be the people you meet along them way.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helps inspire some of the next generation.
Mark