At this point in the year, I always take some time to reflect on successes, failures, and general thoughts for the past, present, and future. Here’s my review of 2020, with the hopes for an even more incredible 2021 for everyone!
Achievements:
- Guest on TheUptake Podcast with Ana Chu and Paul Warren
- Guest on the Cloud Family podcast with Gregor Suttie and Richard Hooper
- Invited as member of FY21 Humans of IT Community Ambassadors
- Became a Microsoft Azure MVP
- Became a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)
- Moderator of the “Let’s Talk Mental Health” network as part of the Community Mentors app
- Mentored 7 fellow #HumansofIT on their journeys through tech, neurodiversity, and general soft skills
- Gave training and workshops internally on:
- Azure AD SSO and Hybrid Modern Authentication
- PowerShell best practices, tips and tricks (this NEVER gets old)!
- Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager
- Modern Workplace and Microsoft Teams administration
- Azure Key Vault, M365 Customer Key and Customer Lockbox, and M365 Governance and Best Practices as well as shared-responsibility models
- Upskilled for and passed the following certification exams:
- PL-900: Power Platform Fundamentals
- AZ-104: Azure Administrator Associate
- AI-900: Azure AI Fundamentals
- DP-900: Azure Data Fundamentals
Blessings:
- Spent almost EVERY day of 2020 with my family, enjoying lunch and mid-day conversations with my kiddos and wife
- Turned commute time into play/learning time with the kiddos, and saw my children create a real sibling bond that might NEVER have happened otherwise
- Built a tiered raised garden teaching the kids general carpentry as well as gardening skills and responsibilities
- Got the chance to watch nature more closely from my WFH location – my daily dose of our rare albino squirrel!
- Transitioned from a balance stool to a complete standing desk – 9 months later, still standing and loving it! My back has never felt better, and has never been stronger!
- Upskilled my family on cooking, baking, and culinary techniques that I have learned over the years
- Had the rare opportunity to BBQ/smoke all types of food on our Trager weekly, experiencing and reinvigorating my LOVE for all things BBQ!
- Safely helped school our children in a remote learning environment, helping them to navigate any learning friction
2021 goals:
- Complete the AI:100 exam that I just barely missed passing earlier this year
- Complete the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (took the incredible ACloudGuru course, so why not schedule the exam to prove some multi-cloud abilities?!?)
- Share even more that I have in 2020 and continue that legacy
- Participate in more conferences/talks to advance the community and share things I am passionate about
- Grow the local and global community in any way I can, especially in Azure and cloud services (maybe an Azure Apprentice approach?!?)
Thanks and Shout-outs:
- My mentors for helping me strive towards my goals and dream big
- My mentees for teaching me that kindness and authenticity go a LONG way, and reverse mentoring is incredibly valuable to all parties
- My family for being there day after day, being super supportive of all of the long hours, calls, rearranging of rooms and schedules, and keeping me grounded
- My employer for keeping my position steady and stable
- Both my textable tribe AND the community for being there through thick and thin, being supportive with every turn of this Rollercoaster year and experience
Mantras:
- Be intentional with who and what I carried into 2020
- Share everything you learn with others
- Continue to build a legacy
Summary:
Yeah, 2020 was hard for everyone. However, we all learned new and innovative ways of getting things done, having the hard conversations to make a difference, doing the things we SHOULD have been doing all along, spent even more time with our loved ones, and were inspired to help when/where we can. We all did enough, which is more than anyone could ask for in 2020. Thank you all for being enough!
Configuring Clouds 