August Update... 2020 a Year for Growth

About-Updates · 16 Aug 2020

In this previous post, http://captainhyperscaler.github.io/2020/01/09/2019-year-in-review/, I provided a summary of how I continued to grow, develop, and spread knowledge within the Azure community last year. In this article, http://captainhyperscaler.github.io/2020/01/09/2020-a-year-for-growth/, I provided some ways that I have thought of to continue sharing and growth in 2020. This article provides a “mid-ish” year update on my progress.

Social Media contributions. Today, I have begun the first item on my list, and that is continuing (and stepping up) my social media/blog contributions. When I started this blog a few months ago, I had an initial plan to provide a new article every month. My plan is to double that output in the coming year plus add more video content and demos as well. I haven’t gotten quite to two posts per month but I’m close. You will see in the updates below, I have been doing more video content. The Azure Advent Calendar was such a fun project and I enjoyed the video portion of that post, so I definitely plan to do more.

In addition to my own blog site, I want to continue to assist other contributors in the community where I can with their calls for content. This will include participating in the Azure Spring Cleaning event in February. I have contributed in the past to Skylines Academy and hope to continue to assist them in the coming year, including Skylines Summer Sessions, https://youtu.be/MJSfpfs–UA.

Community Training Workshops:

To continue to utilize my MCT, I have been looking at ways this week to find ways within the community to educate more individuals on Azure. This includes looking into high school STEM programs that may have a need or want to learn about cloud hosting technologies and build the certified Azure workforce pool. I will be getting more involved in the local MeetUp groups for Azure and Cloud users and help them fill any training and education gaps.

UPDATE: I had the privilege and honor of being the guest speaker at FOCUS:HOPE’s virtual graduation in the spring (http://captainhyperscaler.github.io/2020/05/01/inspirational-day-speaking-at-a-virtual-graduation-ceremony/). I loved hearing the great stories from some of the graduates and sharing my own career journey.

In May, a contributed two videos and a live session for Global Azure Virtual in Ireland/UK. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6SpVz6lkAbOjAlvMxL8TmA. What a great experience!

In the spring, I started an Azure and M365 user group. We have had monthly meetings and are getting great contributions from the Azure community, including some MVPs! https://maz365usergroup.github.io/

In June and July, I did a series of exam prep workshops for Cloud Lunch and Learn, https://www.cloudlunchlearn.com/. One of these workshops was for Becoming an Azure Developer Associate and a six part series on Becoming an Azure Solutions Architect Expert. These sessions can be found on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CloudLunchandLearn. With more sessions to come soon.

In August, I began a YouTube video series, Breaking Down the Azure Network Chains, http://captainhyperscaler.github.io/2020/08/06/breaking-down-the-azure-network-chain-youtube-series/, with weekly videos each week on an Azure network service.

Azure Back to School premieres in September, https://azurebacktoschool.tech, with a daily video or article from members of the community. Filling the gap from Azure Spring Clean to Azure Advent Calendar.

MCT Regional Lead:

Becoming a MCT Regional Lead was very important to me and to be selected to me is a privilege. I plan to do everything that I can to support Microsoft educational programs and help out my MCT counterparts on a continual basis. This will include being involved in the MCT Regional Lead summit in a couple of months.

UPDATE: I’m so happy and privileged to be a part of this great group. Helping provide guidance to new MCTs and providing them with key information as it becomes available is very fulfilling. I’ve tried to get a group together quarterly, but it has been a bit slow in getting interest.

Certifications:

The last point of emphasis for me in 2020 is with certifications. Much of 2019 for me was focused on getting Azure certifications. Though I will continue to learn and grow, I only have a few certifications that I am focusing on for 2020. Those would be to complete the DP-201 exam and obtain my Data Engineer Associate certification, complete AZ-400 as the second step and achieve my DevOps Engineer Expert certification, and attempt to get my M365 Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. I also am going to work toward the Microsoft Certified Educator certification.

UPDATE: My certification focus has changed as the year progressed. I still plan to complete my Data Engineer Associate in the fall. I have received the Fundamentals exams for AI, Data, Power Platform, and Microsoft 365. I also passed my Teams Administrator Associate exam. I’m working on more of the M365 certifications as well.

As you have read, I have put in place some clear ideas to continue my community growth and provide value to the Microsoft Azure community. As is usually the case, plans require adjustments, which I have made as you’ve seen in this article.

I want to continue to provide value to the people that come to my blog page. I welcome your comments and hope that you can follow my blogs. Provide any suggestions that you may have for topics that you would like to learn more about. You can do this through the comments at the bottom of the blog site, or reach out to me through Twitter.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog articles. If you are looking for other blogs and contributors to follow, I recommend reviewing the following link: https://blog.feedspot.com/microsoft_azure_blogs/

Have a great day!