Category: Community

CommunityMVPPersonal Development

Callon Campbell awarded 2022-2023 Microsoft MVP in Azure

on July 10, 2022

This month I received an exciting email from Microsoft that I was re-awarded for a fourth year now for the 2022 – 2023 Microsoft Most Valuable (MVP) award in Azure. Receiving the Microsoft MVP award is both a humbling and exciting experience. It means you’re a member of a select group of experts of just over 3,000 MVPs from around the world, but I like to think of it as doing something I’m passionate about with other like-minded individuals, having fun and always having something new to learn and share with the community.

“The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high-quality, real-world expertise with users and Microsoft. All of us at Microsoft recognize and appreciate Callon’s extraordinary contributions and want to take this opportunity to share our appreciation with you.” – The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award Team Microsoft Corporation

Since becoming a Microsoft MVP, I’ve learned a lot about the community and continued to share my passion, knowledge and experience within the community around Architecture and Development in Azure, Serverless, API Management, and DevOps technologies. I also keep a keen eye on what’s happening on the data technologies like Cosmos DB, Azure SQL, Synapse, and Purview.

Pictures of MVP Events

First MVP Summit, Microsoft Redmond Campus
Microsoft Ignite | The Tour Toronto
Microsoft Ignite | The Tour Toronto, speaker preparation

If you’re interested in learning about the Microsoft MVP program and seeing what it takes to become a Microsoft MVP, or how to get awarded, I encourage you to take a look at the Microsoft MVP website and also the following article on “How to become a Microsoft MVP” where they explain some of the details of the program.

To wrap up this post I would like to congratulate all the other newly awarded or renewed Microsoft MVPs all over the world! You truly are an amazing community and I’m truly humbled and honoured to be part of this group.

Enjoy!

References

Microsoft MVP Award

How to become a Microsoft MVP

Callon Campbell MVP Profile

AzureCommunity

Azure Spring Clean 2022 — wedoAzure

on January 25, 2022

Now in its third year, Azure Spring Clean returns this March to help with all of your Azure Management needs. The event will run from Monday 14th of March through until Friday18th. Each day, there will be articles from the following blend of topics: Azure Monitor Azure Cost Management Azure Policy Azure Security Principles Azure […]

Azure Spring Clean 2022 — wedoAzure
AzureCommunity

Global Azure 2022 is happening!

on December 29, 2021

Ready for another #GlobalAzure event? Global Azure 2022 is happening May 5-7. Please take a look at this blog post for more details and how you can help.

https://blog.globalazure.net/Blog/Post/283/It-is-time-for-Global-Azure-2022

Enjoy!

CommunityMVPPersonal Development

Callon Campbell awarded 2021-2022 Microsoft MVP in Azure

on July 2, 2021

This month I received an exciting email from Microsoft that I was re-awarded for a fourth year now for the 2021 – 2022 Microsoft Most Valuable (MVP) award in Azure. Receiving the Microsoft MVP award is both a humbling and an exciting experience. It means you’re a member of a select group of experts of just over 3,000 MVPs from around the world, but I like to think of it as doing something I’m passionate about with other like minded individuals, having fun and always having something new to learn and share with the community.

The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with users and Microsoft. All of us at Microsoft recognize and appreciate Callon’s extraordinary contributions and want to take this opportunity to share our appreciation with you.

The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award Team
Microsoft Corporation

Since becoming a Microsoft MVP, I’ve learned a lot about the community and continued to share my passion, knowledge and experience within the community around Architecture and Development in Azure, Serverless, and DevOps technologies. I also keep a keen eye on what’s happening on the data technologies like Cosmos DB and Azure SQL.

Once again the MVP Summit back in March was virtual due to COVID-19, but with a little luck I’m hoping for an in person experience in 2022. This is an amazing experience to connect with the product teams and MVPs from around the world – even if it was virtually this year.

If you’re interested in learning about the Microsoft MVP program and seeing what it takes to become a Microsoft MVP, or how to get awarded, I encourage you to take a look at the Microsoft MVP website and also the following article on “How to become a Microsoft MVP” where they explain some of the details of the program.

To wrap up this post I would like to congratulate all the other newly awarded, or renewed Microsoft MVP’s all over the world! You truly are an amazing community and I’m truly humbled and honored to be part of this group.

Enjoy!

References

Microsoft MVP Award

How to become a Microsoft MVP

Callon Campbell MVP Profile

AzureCommunityEvents

Best of Build 2020 |Canada Community Edition | Virtual Event

on June 5, 2020

Did you miss this year’s Microsoft Build 2020 virtual event? Do not worry at all!

Microsoft Canada and our community leaders are getting together to share some of the excitement with you – do join us on June 13th as we plan this Canada wide virtual event – delivered by some of the best we have, from East to the West of Canada!

I’ll be discussing Azure Static Web Apps – go from code to scale in minutes, plus other CI/CD announcements from Build.

Register TODAY !

Register on Eventbrite

Resources

https://lnkd.in/e9JCzFC

AzureCommunityEvents

Speaking at Global Azure Virtual 2020

on April 23, 2020

The Global Azure event has expanded to cover 3 days, April 23-25 and will be an online virtual event due to the Covid-19.

This year I will be speaking at 2 Global Azure Virtual events. The first is with the Global Azure Virtual 2020 UK & Ireland, where I will be contributing a recorded session on Exposing services with Azure API Management. This virtual event will have 50+ sessions with 20 live sessions over the course of the 3 days. The second is with Azure Virtual Community Day – Canada Edition where I will be doing a live stream on Bringing serverless into the Enterprise. This event will have 2 live tracks on Apps + Infrastructure and Data + AI and will have 12 sessions and 2 keynotes.

My first session on Exposing services with Azure API Management is happening on Friday April 24 09:00-10:00 UTC and the link to watch it is https://bit.ly/3aClNGx/.

My second session on Bringing serverless into the Enterprise is happening on Saturday April 25 15:00-16:00 EDT (UTC -4) and the link to watch the live stream is https://aka.ms/AzureCan2020-Track1-Afternoon.

I’m very excited to be speaking at these awesome community events and I really appreciate the opportunity to be part of this global community and share my passion for Azure. So

I hope you will join us on these days these to learn all about Azure from your world community.

Enjoy!

Resources

Global Azure Virtual 2020 UK & Ireland

Azure Virtual Community Day – Canada Edition

Global Azure Virtual 2020

AzureCommunityEvents

Virtual Azure Community Day is today!

on March 31, 2020

Today is Virtual Azure Community Day and if you missed the sessions, they’re available online here https://azureday.community/#schedule. There are a total of 4 tracks offering lots of content.

Where do all the sessions go when events and meetups are being cancelled all over the world? We thought it would be fun to create a platform where we, as a community, can virtually get together and enjoy those sessions you don’t want to miss out on.

Join us for the first ever Virtual Azure Community Day! No stickers or socks, but 8 hours of technical geekery. There’s multiple streams hosted from Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Central and Eastern European countries.

Enjoy!

Resources

https://azureday.community/

AzureCommunity

Azure Spring Clean 2020

on January 27, 2020
Spring Bit Graphic

As the month of February 2020 is just around the corner, there will be an online community event promoting well managed Azure tenants.

Here is the scheduled list of articles which starts on February 3 2020:

03/02/20Azure RBAC – Best PracticesAlan KinaneAzure Foundations
04/02/20Azure Policy for AKSSam CoganAzure Policy
05/02/20Monitoring Containers on Azure with Windows Admin CenterDave RendónAzure Monitor
06/02/20How to use Tags to organize your Azure resourcesWim MatthyssenAzure Foundations
07/02/20Azure Governance – Best PractisesAmine CharotAzure Foundations
10/02/20Getting Started with Azure Monitor REST APIMartin EhrnstAzure Monitor
11/02/20Azure Cost Management – Best PractisesSarah LeanAzure Cost Management
12/02/20Protect your network resources with Azure FirewallLuis BeltranAzure Security Principles
13/02/20Monitoring Azure Site RecoveryKarel De WinterAzure Monitor
14/02/20Using Azure Advisor to baseline your platformSam HodgkinsonAzure Foundations
17/02/20Using Azure Resource Graph To Assess Your Azure Environment Quickly & EfficientlyJack TraceyAzure Foundations
18/02/20Azure Monitor – Best Practices for SanityKam SalisburyAzure Monitor
19/02/20Azure Storage and Backup Lifecycle Best PracticesDwayne NatwickAzure Foundations
20/02/20How to Use and Monitor Azure Update ManagementVukasin TerzicAzure Fundamentals
21/02/20Azure Security: my top 10 best practises to make your tenant secure as possibleShabaz DarrAzure Security Principles
24/02/20Simplify Large Scale Deployments with Azure BlueprintsIsham MohamedAzure Foundations
25/02/20Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) securing Clusters and ApplicationsAdil TouatiAzure Security Principles
26/02/20Azure Monitor – Autoscaling Resources Based on PerformanceAnthony MashfordAzure Monitor
27/02/20How to Avoid a Billing Shock With Azure Serverless SolutionsStanislav LebedenkoAzure Cost Management
28/02/20Securing Your Azure Platform Web ApplicationsTidjani BelmansourAzure Security Principles

Check out https://www.azurespringclean.com for all the details and keep an eye on the Twitter hashtag #AzureSpringClean.

Enjoy!

Resources

https://azurespringclean.com/

AzureCommunityEvents

Hack the North Recap (2019)

on September 18, 2019

Last week was Canada’s biggest hackathon called Hack the North, where 1,500 students from all around the world at the University of Waterloo to build something amazing over 36 hours. I had the opportunity to be a mentor and help these smart kids out with their creations.

This is my second hackathon, the first being the UofTHacks VI from earlier in the year. Both are very different from one another but had the same drive and passion from the students and it was amazing to see what they were building.

Here is a gallery of the day.

Hanging out in the mentor hub to share all things Azure, AI, and anything to help with this event.
Just hanging out with the gang. I love events like this!

That’s a wrap. I look forward to my next hackathon in 2020.

Resources

https://hackthenorth.com/

CommunityEvents

UofTHacks VI Recap

on January 23, 2019

sshot-1028

This past weekend I got the opportunity and had the pleasure of participating in my first hackathon at the UofTHacks VI, which was at the University of Toronto campus from January 18th to the 20th at the Bahen Centre for Information Technology. The event consisted of over 500 hackers, and spanned 36 hours, and would ultimately prize 3 winners.

hack•a•thon

An event, typically lasting several days, in which a large number of people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming. We look past this traditional definition of a hackathon and take it to new heights. UofTHacks is the University of Toronto’s annual hackathon. At UofTHacks, we bring people together to make new friends, learn new things, and bring new ideas to life.

I was participating as a Microsoft sponsor. This meant I was available to help mentor the students who had questions on Microsoft Azure or anything for that matter, and provide them with an insider perspective of how things work in the industry. I also then got to be a judge for the Microsoft prize which was based on projects that leverage Microsoft Azure services.

It was a lot of fun to work with these students as they had such drive and passion for what they worked on. The judging aspect was probably the best part as I got to take a look at over a dozen projects and see what they built, why they built it, how they built and then where would they take it next. Almost all the projects had real world applications and some even created business plans as part of their sales pitch.

Some of the big sponsors at the event were Microsoft, Google, IBM, Interact, Intel, Standard Library, ChainSafe, Lyft and SmartCar, plus many others.

As for the Microsoft prize, it was 4 Xbox One X 1TB consoles. This was presented to team Blink who created an application that would sit in your car and monitor the drivers eyes for signs of fatigue, drowsiness, or any other impairment. They leveraged the Microsoft Custom Vision Service and built their own data model that consisted over 250 images they gathered from the event of peoples eyes. They eyes were that of different ages, different skin colors, with and without glasses. They also retrained this model a number of times over the course of the 36 hour event, including the morning of judging session when the room had different lighting conditions. Their was a mobile and server components of the app that would send out SMS alerts to the registered emergency contact in the event impairment was detected and also alert emergency services. It was a well put together hack that had a clear application for issues we encounter today.

Here are some pictures of the event

IMG_20190120_082107IMG_20190120_075244IMG_20190120_075251IMG_20190120_082203IMG_20190120_083846IMG_20190120_102713IMG_20190120_082200IMG_20190120_104332IMG_20190120_133621IMG_20190120_140242IMG_20190120_151045

This might of been my first hackathon but it definitely won’t be my last. I will keep an eye out for something more suited for the working developer that is maybe limited to a day, otherwise I hope to come back next year and help these students out and see what they create.

Enjoy!

Resources

https://uofthacks.com/

Team Blink – A machine learning eye detection app which determines if the driver of a smartcar is impaired & alerts 1st responders

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