The Flying Maverick

Happy New Year everyone! To kick off the new year I’d like to share with you what happened in 2021, what it meant to me, and where I plan on going in 2022.

So let’s kick off my 2021 year in review!

Year in stats 2021

• Twitter: 1284 followers
• LinkedIn: 587 followers
• GitHub: 25 followers, 75 repositories
• Blog (all time): 149.7K views and 116.3K visitors
• Medium: 163 followers
• YouTube: 0 subscribers (just opened an account in December)

What I achieved in 2021

2021 was a busy year. I was fortunate enough to keep busy on a large on-prem migration to Azure while also working on numerous app modernization projects in .NET working with Azure Functions, Azure App Service, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure App Configuration, Azure Key Vault, Azure Storage, Azure Cache for Redis, Azure Static Web Apps, Azure Logic Apps, Azure API Management, Azure Front Door, Azure CDN, Azure Data Factory, Azure Cognitive Services, and Application Insights / Monitoring. It was like being a kid in a candy shop. It’s amazing what you can build with these services, each of them having their appropriate place in the larger picture/architecture.

Here is a short summary of some of my highlights:

• Microsoft MVP (Azure) renewed for a 4th consecutive year
• Spoke virtually across the globe
  • Local .NET and Azure user groups
  • Best of Build 2021 Canadian Edition (Microsoft)
  • Global Azure 2021 bootcamp (Microsoft)
  • Roadmap for MVP Series Event about Selecting an MVP hosting / Cloud Computing Platform (Azure) for Silicon Halton
• Taught an Azure Workshop for Light House Labs (Microsoft)
• Submitted a video to the Festive Tech Calendar
• Mentored numerous people
• I was fortunate to be able to take further training in Azure related material
• Worked on successful cloud a migration project
• Worked on numerous app modernization projects
• Started a YouTube channel in December
• Hosted the first live YouTube session for Canada’s Technology Triangle User Group

This year I continued to work from home and I like it as I get to spend more time with my family and with 3 young kids, I get to see more of them during the day and have those special moments that I would have otherwise missed had I been in the office. On the other hand, I do miss the social setting and engaging with my co-workers in person, and it felt like I was living in Teams for half my day.

What didn’t happen

• Certifications. Once again I had planned out 2 Azure certifications for the year but ended up pushing to 2022 due to priorities with clients and just trying to deal with another year of Covid.
• Blogging. This year I focused on learning more Azure and sharing that with the community with virtual events. As a result my blogging was side lined. There were numerous days where I wanted to write about something but I writers block in transitioning the idea to a post. Good thing is I have a bagful of ideas now to write about in 2022.

What’s to come in 2022

I see 2022 as a year of exciting opportunities and light on the horizon with regards to the global pandemic (Covid-19) coming to an end (hey I can dream). I’m looking forward to finally adding some Azure certifications and continuing to expand my knowledge deeper into Azure. I will continue to speak at user groups and conferences. Speaking of which I’ll be doing monthly YouTube live sessions for Canada’s Technology Triangle User Group that I run and I’d like to start doing my own YouTube videos. With regards to presentations and user groups and conferences, I already have a few speaking engagements lined up for January, February and March, and I will be submitting a few call for speaker topics for the Global Azure Bootcamp (Mississauga) in April and hopefully, we do another Best of Build 22 Canadian Edition later in June.

I had a lot of fun teaching Azure workshops last year that I’m going to look for a few more to do this year. There is always something new to learn in Azure and sharing that with the community and helping organizations better leverage the cloud is a very fulfilling experience.

I already know that there will be no in-person Microsoft MVP Summit this year and that it will be online and virtual again, so I’m excited for that event to connect with the MVP community and to learn what I can from the Azure product teams. So far I’ve only been able to attend one in-person summit and I’m hoping my Microsoft MVP is renewed again so that I have another opportunity in 2023. Hopefully, the world is in a much better place for in-person events like this to resume again.

I doubt there will be a Microsoft Build or Ignite conference this year in person, but that would be a conference I would look forward to attending in 2023 if possible. Only time will tell.

I also want to take some vacation to Mexico, but that might be something for 2023, well see.

Happy New Year, and may you all have a fantastic year! Stay safe and I look forward to connecting with you at some point.

Enjoy!