My 2019 in review – bring on 2020

Ah, the last blog entry for 2019. I’m writing this while sitting and enjoying some much needed family time (and a cold seasonal beer) at the end of the year. I’m finding that while I had set goals to do some last minute reading, learning, and “up-skilling” during the staycation, it has been put on hold in lieu of just relaxing with my friends and family before a fresh start in 2020!

Seeing as I just started blogging in September, these past three months have proven just how much a whirlwind this year has been! 2019 was a fantastic thrill-ride of a year, with a TON of great things that happened, as well as a ton of challenges, learning, and overall tech intensity:

  • Really settling into a new Manager of Microsoft Applications role, responsible for Active Directory, Azure and M365 (Architecture, Security, and Design), a key Microsoft Strategist for the business, on-premises server and private cloud management, and new ownership of Enterprise client/OSD processes (with deployment of MEMCM)
  • The ability to hire a good friend as a new role for “Microsoft Specialist”, and mentor 24/7 helping him deliver to the best of his abilities
  • The pursuit and successful achievement of four (4) Microsoft Certifications:
  • The initial opportunity to write a Windows Server 2016 cookbook (finished the outline, and was about to pull the trigger to begin writing, but then got this strange gut feeling that something better was coming…)
  • Weeks later, responding to and accepting the opportunity to tell my personal story about #Neurodiversity at not just any conference, but Microsoft MSIgnite 2019 with a fantastic supporting cast (you all know who you are – Love you all!)
  • Realization that it’s ok to talk about ADHD, GAD, and OCD in public and at the workplace, and that there should no longer be ANY reason to hide this from the world or your employer
  • Launching this blog in September 2019 AND kicking the #ImposterSyndrome to the curb (where it belongs), making what I previously thought was “Impossible” now absolutely POSSIBLE
  • Meeting hundreds of new #HumansofIT of whom I now consider close friends and confidants
  • Embracing an online advocate role for anything public and private cloud related
  • Joining and crafting a new Mental Health and Well-being committee at work, utilizing all of the new skills learned over the past year
  • Accepting and finishing a vLog for the #AzureAdventCalendar on Azure Sentinel, and having the Azure Sentinel PM tweet out one of my slides!
  • Having a SCCM PFE visit us for on-premises training, only to have him defer to me (of all people) to train and demo roughly 4-5 hours of content over the 4 day engagement using our well-architected environment
  • Gaining the trust of not one, but three new mentors not only for tech, but successful life and “hustles” in general (thanks Jess, Dona, and Ryan!)
  • Many more, but I’m trying to keep this short…so the important game-changers are listed above!

I wanted to take a few moments to really say that this year wasn’t possible without a ton of learning and failure. As I tell my mentees, in order to achieve quick successes, you must fail (rapidly), but also have the “no f*cks given” mentality to get back up and continue the drive for better, stronger, and faster. A LOT of this drive is due to a fantastic supporting cast of friends, colleagues, followers for both my tech and food/BBQ antics, blog readers, and pretty much anyone that takes the time to read the stuff I write. Through your interaction with the content shared, providing true human feedback on what I have to share for the community and what I can do better to help you, the community, continues to be an invaluable experience. With you, the reader and supporting cast of my life, I would not be as successful in my daily hustles, so a huge THANK YOU is well-deserved as you all give me the drive and energy to keep going!

I can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for us all, and I look forward to experiencing the next decade with you all, wherever you may be when reading this! Happy New Year, thanks for the memories, let’s continue our learning desires, and continue to make NEW memories together!

CG

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