 Hey everybody, this is Christian Buckley with another MVP buzz chat and I'm talking to you with Fabian. Hello. Hi, I'm Fabian. I'm MVP from Germany since May this year. All the way since earlier this month. Congratulations. Yes. So what do you do? Where do you work and what's your role? I'm currently a cloud architect at Club Kenya, GAB in Germany and I mostly support clients working with Microsoft products about the Microsoft Defender suite. So everything from Microsoft Defender for endpoint to Microsoft Defender for cloud and everything that's related to that. And I say, so you're a cloud and data center management. What's encompassed within that focus area for MVPs? So I can only speak for myself because this area is very broad and cloud and data center is very, very big. Yeah, because you have a lot of people that are Azure focused and they describe themselves the same way and they're an Azure MVP. And so like I get the data center management side of it, but will you attach cloud? That could be a lot of things. Definitely. So yeah, mostly I think I landed in this category because of my focus on PowerShell and the security side. And since Microsoft has no security MVPs yet, I think it's a bit of a catch all everybody who has to do something with cloud lands in somewhere in between. And since PowerShell is one of my hobbies, I think that's the data center management part of it. Well, it's almost like that they could, I realize now there's a focus on GitHub specifically. And but this is kind of between that and this, it's kind of like the DevOps world. So it's all the operational controls, the traditional DevOps type activities. Yes, yes, for sure. Well, very cool. Well, so your brand new MVP. So what was your kind of journey to becoming an MVP? I'm always interested to hear like what your path was, how long you were trying to become an MVP if you were at all trying? Yeah, actually no. So it wasn't never my goal to get this title and I'm very honored to have gotten it still. Yeah, I think my path on the Microsoft horizon started in about 2008. In 2008, I visited the PowerShell conference in Europe in Hannover and was very hyped by the conference and everybody around there and started a meetup group after that with a friend of mine Christopher Burmeister and we both thought it would be great to have our own meetup in Hamburg related to PowerShell. So I started that and yeah, then I started to talk at conferences and other meetups. And I think one came to another and then I started blogging more. So I had a blog since I think about 2011, but initially I started a little bit for two years, only in German. And then like most blogs around this time, it's yeah, was mostly dust and nothing else. And in 2021, I started again with blogging regularly and tried to yeah, just write up what helped me or what I did find in my daily IT business and what I thought would be interesting to other people. And that's the same for stuff I talk about conferences and meetups. It's stuff I stumble upon and don't find resources that what I was searching for. Or even sometimes I use it just as a note for myself. So as a little notebook, okay, and I write up whatever I learned because sometimes they are great blogs already out there, but I have to do it myself. And after that, it's like a lessons learned. Let's write it up and maybe somebody comes up on some of my posts and find them useful as well. That's one of the things I love coming across when I'm researching something. And I find when people are writing about something that are kind of on the same journey, but maybe six months before me or a year before me. But they're doing the whole, the working out loud model where they're sharing their journey, what they've learned, resources that they pointed to. I love that style of writing and content and videos, of course, as well. I mean, one of the, the only complaint that I have of this idea, you know, when you go in, you're searching on something you really need an answer and you go into like the forums and out on tech community and you see 50 different people asking, yes, and I have the same problem. And then there's never an answer. Oh, yeah, definitely. I like the follow-up Google results. Yeah. I like the follow-up. Somebody's posting like, yeah, I fixed it and never an explanation about how or what's even worse is when you have like a Microsoft person's like, hey, can we jump on the phone and I'll walk you through the solution? It's like, whoa, whoa, wait a second. You know, please share it publicly. I think that's something really great about the community and the Microsoft space and I think in other spaces as well, that there are many people trying to push their ideas through different things like Twitter, blogs, videos. And so you have the opportunity to find really great answers for problems out there. And sometimes if you find something where there is no information or not enough, then if you find the solution, please write it up. And I think that's the best thing you can do for the community at the moment. Yeah. Well, that's why it's so important to properly cite and reference the work. If you're answering a question that's out on tech community, then grab the link to that. Share it or go back into that post and say, hey, I just did a blog post. You get a lot of people that do that. I've done that. I'm sure you've done the same thing. You go in and you say, hey, I just answered this question, but over on my blog. And then I do a walkthrough of this solution. And it's great to see the traffic if you pay attention to that stuff, where people are coming from and how much that comes through the forums is useful around that. I wish that the Microsoft, if a Microsoft person touches a question out in the forums, they should be required, if it's answered, if it's solved, to go back and post the necessary information. That should be a required answer. That would be great. Yes. Yeah. So I think Microsoft has come a long way in documentation. So today's docsmicrosoft.com is just awesome. Like 20 years ago, when I started in IT, it was like, yeah, there is some article, but maybe not so great. And they come such a long way and using GitHub as a method to really be able to say, oh, there's something wrong in this. And I just open a pull request and create as well. What's that? I don't know if people understand how much of that great content, because I agree. I think Microsoft made some structural changes. But one of the biggest differences that 20 years ago they didn't do was that they've tapped into the community to provide a lot of that content. So there's a ton of content that the world, they don't advertise the fact that, hey, this stuff was written by, not all the time, written by people in the community. Microsoft will even occasionally pay MVPs and other experts to go in there and write certain content that they know is a gap there. But then a lot of it is, like you said, it's managed through GitHub. People go and identify, hey, this isn't right. They'll go in and make a correction. They do a pull request, change the documentation, post it out there. So it really is. And there Microsoft is recognizing and rewarding people for those kinds of contributions, which is part of where the GitHub recognition comes from. Yeah, for sure. And I think that's something that is really showing how Microsoft just shifted like from 15 years ago in a whole other mindset. Community firsts and pushing products faster and all the product engagement through product groups and stuff like that. So that's not something you only can do when you are an MVP. So the customer programs are open for everybody who has an NDA as a company. And if you have, you should join because I think that's the best way. If you work with the products, get to know the product groups and get information right out of firsthand. Yeah. Well, maybe we should be more specific. Like where do you actually, where would you suggest people would go and sign up? Like my first thought would be like the patterns and practices team. I know there's renaming or whatever around that, but that's an area where you can go and find a number of different projects that might be of interest to you personally or your company and join in. Just start joining those calls. Yeah. And there's also the security guys over at Microsoft. They're very open in their roadmaps. So there are different, yeah, like connection programs you can join. I don't have the name at the moment. So but I, there are really great options there. And I think AKMS slash security, they have it listed somewhere around there. And yeah, as I said, it's not just for MVPs or a few chosen ones, but everybody who's able to figure out how to get an MBA. So most of the time just talk to the Microsoft representative in your company, try to figure out who that is. And they are more than happy to help you to get into such programs. One, of course, they also have like we've got bills going on. You know, we recorded a while back. This is it's actually happening this week while we're talking just kicked off today. But there are a number of different programs that you'll hear about in those sessions. Like one that I'm involved in is the it's the Viva customer connection program or partner program. So I think you could if anybody is interested in because there are customers of all sizes around the world, and they go through and they talk about what's coming with the product, they talk about deployment questions, they share stories and examples, it touches on for those that are in the modern workplace touches on into the different workloads that are involved with the solution. So, you know, SharePoint and teams and other things that are happening there. And I think you can I think it's just VCCP at Microsoft.com and you can reach out and say, hey, I'd love to join these calls. And so they're actively, you know, inviting people to go and join that. So there's a lot of stuff like that, depending on your area of focus, what you want to get involved in. Yeah, for everybody, everybody who's interested in the identity community, the identity advisors, it's a great jammer community out there, and also sharing information that is really, really top notch. And also, it's another level of interaction with other peers. As you said, it's not only that Microsoft product group members are there, but also other guys and girls that work in the field and doing doing this work and say, okay, I have this problem and somebody else is here. No problem. I have this yesterday. So let's figure it out. Well, I know that you're also very involved in the user groups, local user group stuff. That's another place to go get involved. And usually the organizers like yourself and other people that are part of your board, you know, are usually connected on other programs and other opportunities. So that's a great way to get involved. Yeah, it's the local meetups. And I hope post COVID or I hope we are post COVID, it will get more from teams meetings to read meetups again. Because that's something it's really great to meet other people working in the same field in your city or around it. And to get a network by meeting those there, it's just great. And I think you just have to Google for your field of expertise and meetup. And you will find many user groups out there that are happy to have you. Yeah, that's the secret of is just getting involved. People say, well, how do I get started? I said, well, you find something and get started. And I'd say that you have a lot of people that will come out to one or two meetings and then just kind of disappeared. And then and then they wonder why, well, I never, I never got pulled into something I never really got involved. You know, and it's like, yeah, you have to be consistent, you have to participate, you have to I'd say even initially think about more about giving back than what you get out of that. It's inevitable that you are going to individually or your company have benefit out of you'll get some benefit out of participating in the user groups through the connections that you make, you might hear two or three months in a row topics that you're like, yeah, I'm aware of this stuff. And then suddenly there's topic like, wow, I've never heard about this. This is something that can add value. So you just need to be consistent and be there and be present. Yeah, I think one more really important thing is if you are already very experienced in one topic, don't be afraid to go to those meetings where somebody is explaining something more basic because in the end, the room is full of people who is interesting in this topic. And you will find people there that are on your level or maybe you can help people. So it's just a great exchange. And don't expect that meetups are always the newest of the newest and just the hot stuff. But they are there for everybody. And so they have to accommodate for that as well. I had one of the favorite one of the favorite things I ever said to a very snarky thing that I said to a manager who disagreed with my lunchtime participation in a user group once a month. And my first response was, well, it's none of your damn business. It's my lunch. It's my time. What do you care? But the feedback was that I don't think that our team is getting value out of you participating in this user group. And my response was, I'm not so selfish as to think that I have to personally get value every time. I'm a lot of times I'm providing value by being there, by joining the conversation, by encouraging others to ask questions. There's value in being present at those activities, even if you're not passionate about that topic. It's important that we support others. There's a bunch of data that's out there that if there's a small group and no one's asking questions, then people are less likely to ask questions. That there's data around online, like forums and within user groups and conferences, that when there's somebody raising a hand, it's more likely other people will then raise their hand to ask a question. And so if you can do nothing more than be there, and if no one's raising their hand, then ask a question and kick it off. It will raise the value, the benefit of everybody else, to everybody else there. So, yeah, anyway, I'm off my soapbox around that. But yeah, I'm glad to see Microsoft is really embracing the user group model and doing a lot more support. And they keep hiring MVPs, a lot of MVPs. Yeah, I think we have to get the number lower to get new ones. Yeah, well, is that what it is? So there's so many old-timer MVPs that are kind of clogging up. This is like, let's pull them out of the system. That's, I think, you know, there's probably something behind that, you know, yeah. So we'll have to make that accusation the next time we're all together. But Fabian, really appreciate your time and getting to know you. For folks that want to follow you and find out more about you or get in contact, what are the best ways to reach you? You can reach me on Twitter. So DMs are open. Just write me there. It's Fabian underscore beta. Or you can visit my blog. It's cloudbrothers.info. And if you live somewhere near Hamburg, just within the Hamburg PowerShell user group, you're always welcome. Excellent. Well, we'll provide all the links, of course, on the blog posted on YouTube. Fabian is really great to be able to connect with you. And we'll hopefully see you with the next MVP summit once we're back in person. Yeah, I hope so as well. Fingers crossed.