 Everybody this is Christian Buckley doing another MVP buzz chat and I'm excited to to get in talk to to a brand new Azure MVP, Matthew. So Matthew, welcome. Hey, Christian, thanks for having me on the show. Really appreciate it. Well, for folks that don't know you who are you where are you and what do you do. Hi, my name is Matthew Brown. I'm a cybersecurity administrator for a company called NTS in County Limerick in Ireland. And I was awarded the MVP in the Azure category. And how long ago did that happen? That only happened yesterday. So you see how I'm on top of these things people, you know, No, it's, it's kind of funny. We were just talking briefly about this, but I just kind of monitor LinkedIn and and see through friends of friends and who do I know and, you know, but I try to get a mix of people that have been in the program for a long time and brand spanking new MVP so congratulations. I still remember. Yeah, so that's very exciting. So why don't you tell us. So kind of what was your journey to becoming an MVP? Did you was it a focused path? It was intentional or was it kind of blue? No, it was out of the blue. I was actually so my MVP journey. So my tech journey started about 10 years ago originally. So I've been, I've been about a decade in the tech sector, working help desk, support, onsite, remote, everything. So I suppose in the last two years, I've been predominantly a lot online and, you know, connecting in with people. When I, when I got certified as Microsoft certified professional, I kind of opened up doors that I never thought it would. So I connected with people on I got into LinkedIn again and I connected with people and one of the one of the individuals I was connected with his name was Dan Ray. He's an MVP in the US for the Microsoft Teams category. And I saw his stuff on LinkedIn and it was really interesting and I had no interest in teams whatsoever, but it was really interesting. And just the funny aspects he had in the videos is I suppose his whole personality was jolly. It was upbeat. So I connected with Dan and I was in London at the time. And I said to Dan, look, I'd love to get involved with you, start something up. And he was like, have you ever heard of MVP? And I was like, no, no, never heard of it. And he said, how long have you been in tech? And I said, 10 years now. And he said, have you been online much? No, no. I said, I only started with LinkedIn again the last few, the last few years. Maybe in tech and not be online. That doesn't equate. Yeah, so I was online, but it was on the wrong things. I was getting my profile set up with Microsoft, CamTA, other providers, but I wasn't getting involved in communities enough. So when I met Dan online, I started to get involved. I started our new journey to the cloud webinar series. And it just, it hit off from there, Christian, like we broke a mainstream limit after two months, which was amazing. And Dan decided he would nominate me in the Microsoft Azure category. He had seen my work with my certifications, mentoring people through the BCS, which is British Computer Society and Irish Computer Society within Ireland and the UK. And then I suppose I branched out from there with Dan to the US, Canada, Switzerland, basically anybody that would have us. We got involved in Tech Day Pakistan, meeting the Microsoft team in Microsoft One Place in Dublin, reaching out to LinkedIn, the garage. Claire Smith was, she was the rock behind it all. She just pushed everything for me over the last two years. She really supported everything I did. And she showed me where I went wrong and how I could improve. So I could ask Claire, she does an unbelievable job that no one ever hears of to manage the amount of MVPs in the UK and Ireland is a tough job. So well done to her. Well, you just, you just named off three really important things for anybody that's interested becoming MVP. I think it's, it's great. I see these patterns again and again, but, you know, one first form is like partnering with an existing MVP and creating new content. You know, there's, that's a great way if you know somebody or friends with an MVP or become, you know, connected to them and have ideas and say, Hey, would you like to do this together? It's a great way to get your, your, your toes dipped in the pool into becoming the MVP. Second thing was starting to do more, you know, community events, especially international was so much during the pandemic that moved to virtual. There are so many opportunities like we're always looking for speakers in Utah, for example, for the user group here, you know. Third finding mentors, especially if you can find a Microsoft person to be a mentor to give you the good and the, in the bad about the things that you're doing out in the community, the space. Those are some of the three most important steps for those that are interested in becoming MVP. So, I suppose, I suppose the biggest thing, and I just want to say it because I know a lot of people watch our show Christian. Claire Smiths, Lorraine Lawrence and Christian Fegra were true to the most inspirational people in my Microsoft journey of the last few years. In general, both online and offline and behind the scenes. And I just want to give a shout out to them. Without Lorraine. I'd be where I am today. And the same with Christian Fegra. Both of them are senior, senior managers in Microsoft. And obviously Claire Smith is the R&D for the MVP program in Ireland in the UK. So just a real shout out to all three of them and thanking them for their continued support of last two years. That's great. And it's a, I know that the process is of becoming MVP. It's kind of a black box, you know, where there's things that we can do. There's a lot of good people doing fantastic things out in the community that never get that recognition. So part of it is, is getting the visibility into Microsoft people and other MVPs. That's a key part of that. So I think you can be strategic, you know, in connections that you make, but it comes down to the same thing like doing the work. Give it back to the creative the content. I suppose as you just on that and doing the work, doing the work is great. But the biggest thing to remember suppose for aspiring MVPs is doing the work regardless of recognition is really important in the MVP space. It's like to be seen to be doing something is never good, both in your job and with MVP. What you want is to be seen to be doing it. But to be really enjoying what you're actually doing to love what you do is the most important thing about the MVP program. And for anyone looking to go down that route, just do what you do love what you do show the show the sport for younger generations older generations get people who aren't necessarily tech savvy started in tech. And there's with Microsoft learn there's so many paths and nobody needs to be an expert in anything so you can start from the very basics and work your way up and that's what that's what I did. I started with my fundamentals. It's so the point is authenticity. Yeah, people see through it they I mean they know if there's look and I know against some good people but they're pushing so hard with that goal to become MVPs. And everybody like calls them on it it's like yeah but what it doesn't quite fit you're doing it for the purpose of the goal, rather than because of who you are and give it back to the community. A common refrain from MVPs is that look I would and I say this all the time, I would be doing the same stuff I'm doing today, regardless of the MVP I was doing it before for years I was doing it before. And I'll do it after I'm an MVP. Although I'd like to hit the 25 mark I'm just saying. I think I think that is every MVP's aspiration to get to that mark, because it look it just shows you're dedicated to the communities. You have an in depth knowledge of what you do you're sharing that knowledge with generations of tech professionals that might not necessarily do the same stuff as you do, but might inspire them to be better at what they're actually doing. So that's yeah 25 years Christian I can't wait to see it. A good friend, you know how how hustler that I do am a panels all the time with and he just had his 25 year. I just I can't fathom that but you know but you know that's dipping into my retirement time frame so yeah. But anyway, you know, it's so what else, what are you passionate about right now I mean what what is going on like, well let me ask you first. What is your focus in Azure specifically and then what are your passions within that space. Okay, so I suppose my focus is Azure AD connect surprisingly to a lot of people. So is your super exciting to me super so exciting and it actually it actually is it actually is Azure AD connect is really interesting because in the way we are at the moment. In Ireland anyways, it's not the same for every country but in Ireland because our broadband connection isn't as good. And we're still, we're still behind the times and we're looking at a more hybrid model with Azure. So some things in the cloud, some things on premises, some things that might be synced between both, which provides a good solution and stable solution for companies that cannot afford the cast of going to the cloud and migrating over fully. So my passion with Azure AD is the back end side which is the likes of where you might have scenario a user sinks an account. They create an account in Office 365 or Azure to create an account in AD connect, but the accounts in Office 365 have been there since day dot. So they have problems with the unique IDs and immutable IDs where they're not quite connecting together. So my my back end knowledge on that is to try and educate people and how to fix those kind of issues and how to make something that's a very big issue into something very small issue and showing the I suppose the methods behind us. And because that not everyone has that in their hand. Yeah. So what about it was so what what what new what's exciting to you now. So what what's exciting is my passions are cybersecurity. That's where I've branched out to up last year and a half. I enjoy all things cybersecurity. I'm particularly interested in the socks seem solutions. And that's what I'm kind of, I suppose, blue, blue teaming and defending against threats is what I'm looking at. So in the last year or two, I completed my country is a certification and at night I'm actually doing my degree in cybersecurity. So that's that's where I'm headed towards. So anywhere from Azure to cybersecurity are my biggest interests, not to say that I don't have interest in other things. I've worked on the likes of Windows Server, Windows OS, Hyper B, bean products. I've worked with some soccer team solutions like Splunk. I have a huge interest obviously in Microsoft Azure. I became in Azure Solutions Architects after two years of intensive training over COVID. So I suppose my interests are predominantly Azure and cybersecurity, but I have worked on other platforms and other things and supported other infrastructure. Well, there's a lot of room for growth. I mean, in that field, I mean, it's one thing that we're, you know, you think of all the expert like the where we are lacking in personnel where, you know, we can't hire enough people that have those certifications and security that are focused on identity and authentication topics. They're all critical to all the systems that we work on. So it's a huge area that's expanding. Yeah, I'd absolutely agree with you. Yes. I suppose zero trust being the buzzword at the moment and technology transformation. Yeah, I suppose you need to read, read in between those topics and to discover what what they're really about. Microsoft recently, I suppose, shouted out to that and created the cybersecurity solutions architect to showcase their individual ability on that side of things. I suppose that's that's where it's headed. And if you want to, you know, work closer with cybersecurity side to things with Microsoft, though that would be one of the certifications to get and it would be it would be a stellar one to have on your CV, look, even if you're a student in college and you're starting out your degree, as you go along your four years, it, it would be recommended to look at Microsoft certification. And, you know, they're, they're anti accredited. They count towards your college and it's a great way to start getting I suppose interested in different topics and learning your strengths. And I also add that's a great way to start with the networking and making contacts in the community aspect as well for a lot of those tools and there's free learning resources that are out there through LinkedIn learning and other sources that are out there as well. Yeah, I recommend it. So I've got a son that's about to graduate from university here in December with a degree in atmospheric sciences. So we of course we're in the family he's weather boy. And, you know, of course, but, you know, so I tried to push him at the beginning of his of his schooling, like hey should really consider like looking at some of the certifications things that I can get your discounts or, or potentially free through my profile but you can get access to a lot of this great data and stuff that's out there in, in analytics, specifically and he started picking up on Power BI he did a bunch of training courses. I said, I'm telling you, none of your classmates are doing this or very few of them are going and doing these kinds of certain certificates and things and he says now that he's almost done. And the threat was not like minoring in that information analytics and, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, analytics side is such a huge space as well. And it is both from, from a vendor neutrality point of view and Microsoft especially because they've launched so many certifications into data, data analysts, data associate, data expert. You know, I mean, they're all there. And it's not just Microsoft. They're there for all providers. So, right. Well, it's just like your security security certifications in Microsoft stack, again, applicable to other areas as well. So yeah, having them shows that level of knowledge of the industry. It all applies. It's like my son, he's like he knows are in Python now I'm like, okay, those are skills which you're going to be able to use no matter which direction you're going. Yeah, they're universal. Yeah, they're they're universal Christian and that is what separates you from the candidates that sit next to you getting getting that getting that job getting that salary getting that, I suppose, getting their dream place to work in. That's what differentiates you against them. And one of the biggest things I learned as part of my journey for tech in general, was Microsoft did a brilliant video called Microsoft certified certifications. And one of the things that is brought up in it is we, I suppose we want people that innovate, disrupt, adapt and create. And that is really important, especially in the industry, we're in in the tech sector. And that's what MVP is kind of like that you get involved in the communities. And you get, I suppose you give your technical expertise to others that need it. You help them along the way you give them you show them how they can advance their careers. You genuinely help them learn new technologies. And I suppose that's the biggest thing so innovation, creating and learning is all part of the career focus for many IT people. And as you said, it would have been great to go back and do some of those certifications and hindsight is a great thing. But, you know, we can all look back and say should have done this, that and the other and life just presents its own obstacles. So yeah, I've got stories down that road if I had gone down the path and I would have had my doctorate and it was basically in the study of collaboration technology on how it changes team culture. And that was what I was going to focus on. And that was 20 years ago. Wow, if I had completed my degree, which would have taken five, six years to complete, you know, I would have had 15 years of being an expert on exactly the world we live in now. Well, yeah, Matthew, I mean, this is, it's, you know, love, love your passion. Again, congratulations on the new MVP. So I'm sure you'll be sticking around the community for quite some time. Absolutely. Yeah. So folks that want to get in touch with you. What are the best ways to reach you so LinkedIn, of course. Yeah, absolutely. LinkedIn. So you can find me on LinkedIn just by typing in Matthew Brown. My Twitter handle is Azure Guru Maps. And you can also go to focus-it.ie onto our website if you want to get free learning advice and training. I suppose just, just before we finish and stuff, I want to give a shout out to Nick Whitton. He is the CEO of NTS who has really supported me in my journey for MVP. He is a 12-time MVP awarded individual who worked with Microsoft in the past in the small business server team. So shout out to Nick. Shout out to Dan and Frank, Dan Ray and Frank Falvey who have been very supportive in my journey to get to MVP. And a shout out to Claire Christian and Lorraine for all their support over the last few months just with getting journey to the cloud up and running fully and getting an audience. You know, just general support as part of the MVP and MCT communities. So shout out to all of them and obviously Claire Smiths who supported me on everything as well. So thank you very much, Christian. Well, thank you for your time today and hopefully we'll get to meet in person sometime soon. I was just close to your part of the world a few weeks back, but I was over in the UK, but it's been a few years since I've been over to Ireland. We will definitely get there. I had Dan Ray, he came over and stayed at the house there a few months back from the US and we had a great time. So we'll definitely get there. I plan to do a bit of traveling obviously in the next year or two and know that everything's calmed down. So look, we'll meet up one way or the other Christian and we'll take few in person pictures. Right, we'll talk to you soon. Alright, just a thanks Christian. Thanks for having me.