[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_fullwidth_post_title categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” text_color=”light” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#3d3d3d” custom_padding=”200px||100px||false|false”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_post_title][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.11″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font_size=”20px” header_3_text_color=”#e05206″ header_5_text_color=”#00a9e0″]In May we sat down with some of our Azure experts to do a deep dive into their experience, how they like to work, and discuss current and future trends within public cloud. Here’s what Ellis Goodman, Piotr Gbyliczek, Joe Parr and Tim Rohde had to say…
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,1_4,1_4,1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_blurb title=”Ellis Goodwin” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Ellis-Goodwin-1.png” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ header_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center”]<\/p>\n
Azure CAF Lead<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_blurb title=”Piotr Gbyliczek” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Piotr-Gbyliczek-4.png” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ header_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center”]<\/p>\n
Azure Platform Engineer<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_blurb title=”Joe Parr” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Joe-Parr-1.png” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ header_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” border_radii=”on|20px|20px|20px|20px” border_width_all=”1px” border_color_all=”rgba(0,0,0,0)”]<\/p>\n
Azure Platform Engineer<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_blurb title=”Tim Rohde” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Tim-Rohde-1.png” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ header_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px”]<\/p>\n
Azure Platform Engineer<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.11″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Roboto|300|||||||” text_font_size=”18px” header_3_text_color=”#e05206″ header_4_text_color=”#e05206″]<\/p>\n
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EG: <\/strong>I started in IT as a first line support analyst and after a few years, got into project work. I spent the next couple of years moving between projects and companies, before an opportunity came up to deploy a small public cloud offering. The project quickly snowballed and resulted in the creation of a new Cloud Team, which I led for the next two and a half years.<\/p>\n JP:<\/strong> I fell into an IT apprenticeship after not making the cut for a mechanics apprenticeship. I found my vocation though, as I progressed from a helpdesk role to an internal support role, and finally to managing the internal IT of a business.<\/p>\n PG:<\/strong> I started working with Linux based servers about 25 years ago, and never looked back! In 2006 I came to the UK and landed a job as a First-Line Linux Support Technician at a small IT company. I then progressed through support roles to projects and architect roles.<\/p>\n TR:<\/strong> I started my IT career on the Computer Sciences Corporation helpdesk approximately 11 years ago and worked my way up from desktop support to Infrastructure, then into Cloud.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG: <\/strong>Using my knowledge of Azure and large enterprise cloud adoption to help businesses adopt cloud in the right way for them, whilst still using a scaffold of policies, guidelines and best practice. My role is one of the first of its kind, outside of Microsoft\u2019s own teams.<\/p>\n PG:<\/strong> I work closely with customers, drawing out their vision for a project and providing advice based on my experience. Usually the customer has already decided on the public cloud provider or database they want to use, and we help them get there. That means building reliable, cost-effective environments, automating the build process and connecting it all with CI\/CD pipelines.<\/p>\n JP: <\/strong>Supporting the Azure platform, from rolling out infrastructure to migrating legacy applications and a lot of other things!<\/p>\n TR:<\/strong> The same as Joe\u2019s – cloud project work and working to automate deployments and processes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG:<\/strong> Never be afraid to ask for help and always be honest. I’ve learned that anything can be fixed and it will only take longer to fix and cause more of a delay if somebody isn’t honest.<\/p>\n PG: <\/strong>I agree with Ellis. There\u2019s always somebody who can fix what\u2019s broken and help you gain knowledge. You need to know your team and find people you can depend on \u2013 to help you find that \u2018somebody\u2019 quicker. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n JP:<\/strong> To add to that, I\u2019d say don\u2019t just admit to your mistakes, learn from them.<\/p>\n TR:<\/strong> You always need to be bettering yourself with training, whether that\u2019s certifications or developing your soft skills. Always keep learning!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG: <\/strong>When you\u2019ve listened to the requirements of the person giving you the job, defined clear objectives, made suggestions and agreed on them before you start working. It\u2019s easier to manage expectations this way.<\/p>\n PG: <\/strong>When I\u2019m satisfied with what I\u2019ve implemented and I\u2019ve delivered a solution that the customer is happy with and confident to use on his own.<\/p>\n JP: <\/strong>When everybody involved in the process is happy.<\/p>\n TR: <\/strong>And also when a customer wants you working for them again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG: <\/strong>Terraform, as it’s super powerful and is very easily manipulated to reuse the same code to deploy multiple environments, with just tweaks of variables.<\/p>\n PG: <\/strong>Ansible and Az CLI. Ansible is just super simple, clear and powerful thanks to its usage of YAML for playbook definitions. Az CLI is a go-to tool for anything that may not be fully supported by Ansible Azure modules yet, or that\u2019s too hard to use via an azure_rm_resource module.<\/p>\n JP: <\/strong>Currently it\u2019s PowerShell. However, after starting to learn Terraform, that could overtake PowerShell!<\/p>\n TR:<\/strong> I\u2019m with Ellis – Terraform.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG:<\/strong> PaaS technology in the cloud. The ability to just deploy and use a full service and it be so configurable (yet still managed in all the right places) really changed my opinion on how the industry should work.<\/p>\n PG: <\/strong>Containers. Docker, Kubernetes and initiatives like RedHat’s OpenShift are behind the biggest shift in the IT industry. Cloud changed the way infrastructure is deployed and budgeted, but it was containers that really changed the way we think about what that infrastructure will be used for, and how to make it more efficient.<\/p>\n JP: <\/strong>Definitely the movement into the cloud.<\/p>\n TR:<\/strong> Agreed – cloud hosting.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n EG: <\/strong>When quantum computing is finally stable and becomes available to the consumer, it will result in a technological jump greater than we’ve ever seen before. The difference in speed of calculation between our current architectures and quantum computing means that we’ll be able to calculate things in minutes that would normally take years.<\/p>\n PG: <\/strong>I often think of William Gibson, father of cyberpunk, who wrote Johnny\u00a0Mnemonic<\/em><\/a>, a story about \u00a0a human storing megabytes of sensitive information in his brain. We are past the storage mark, but not yet at the point of storing anything in the brain. I think the future will be next disrupted when AI meets biotechnology, when we\u2019re able to run AI\/ML workloads in the human brain. We\u2019ll have to resolve the moral side of it first, though.<\/p>\n JP:<\/strong> In the more immediate future, there will be a surge of movement into the cloud, as businesses widely adopt cloud computing.<\/p>\n TR: <\/strong>Yes and I think we\u2019ll see businesses of all sizes \u2013 from huge corporations to start-ups \u2013 continue to move to the cloud.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Whatever stage you\u2019re at in your Azure journey, our experts are here to help. Find out how we can help with our Azure Service Tiles<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.4.5″][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_text_color=”#e05205″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_blurb title=”Find out about the Azure Service Tiles” url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/azure-service-partner\/” url_new_window=”on” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Webpage_Grey-150×150.png” font_icon_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” link_option_url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/azure-service-partner\/” link_option_url_new_window=”on” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#e05206″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ font_icon__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”]<\/p>\n Our Azure Service tiles are a best-practice, accelerated approach to Azure adoption in-line with Microsoft\u2019s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF).<\/p>\n Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_blurb title=”The Beginner\u2019s Guide to Microsoft\u2019s CAF” url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/2020\/05\/13\/beginners-guide-to-microsoft-cloud-adoption-framework\/” url_new_window=”on” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Blog_Grey-150×150.png” font_icon_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” link_option_url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/2020\/05\/13\/beginners-guide-to-microsoft-cloud-adoption-framework\/” link_option_url_new_window=”on” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#e05206″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ font_icon__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”]<\/p>\n Interested in Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) but unsure where to start? Have a read of our introductory blog.<\/p>\n Read blog.<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_blurb title=”How Not to Screw Up Your Move to Azure” url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/how-not-to-screw-up-your-move-to-azure\/” url_new_window=”on” image=”http:\/\/content.n4stack.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Video_Grey-150×150.png” font_icon_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” link_option_url=”https:\/\/n4stack.io\/how-not-to-screw-up-your-move-to-azure\/” link_option_url_new_window=”on” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#e05206″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ font_icon__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”]<\/p>\n A deep dive into our experience of delivering hundreds of cloud migration projects, including lessons learned and must-do activities.<\/p>\nWhat does your role involve?<\/h4>\n
What\u2019s the biggest lesson you\u2019ve learned in your career?<\/h4>\n
How do you define a job well done?<\/h4>\n
What is your favourite tool to script Azure automation?<\/h4>\n
What\u2019s the biggest innovation you\u2019ve seen in the industry?<\/h4>\n
If you had to predict something for the future of the industry, what would it be?<\/h4>\n
Further Insights<\/h3>\n