 Hey, everybody, this is Christian Buckley doing another MVP buzz chat and I'm talking today with Joey. Hello. Hey, Christian. Hey. Nice having me. So folks that don't know you, who are you, where are you and what do you do? Well, I'm Joey. I'm living in the Netherlands. I'm 32 years old and I recently became an MVP since the first of February this year. I'm really new into this community or let's say in the MVP program. I'm working as a model workplace consultant or maybe a Microsoft 365 consultant, but I'm mainly focused on implementing model workplaces. I also kind of like the Defender product line. So I'm implementing and maintaining Defender products, Defender for Cloud, Defender for Office 365, all those kinds of tooling. And yeah, I became an MVP in the security category, which is quite new, but my main focus is actually enterprise mobility in my day-to-day job. So that's kind of funny, actually. I'm not sure how that became or how I became a security MVP. Well, it's interesting because there were a number of enterprise mobility MVPs who Right. Some of them switched over to security. Some of them became dual security and enterprise mobility, and then some have remained. So I don't understand. I guess it's what you focus on, but yeah. Yeah, I maybe do because I spoke to the community program manager about this. And she said, well, where do you see yourself in the coming years? Is it in security or in enterprise mobility? I say, well, I don't know, actually, because they kind of have an overlap together. Monerook is always having some security in it and otherwise the same thing. I think she chose security for me and don't know why. Maybe she did, but yeah, it was security actually, but I'm happy with it. So yeah. Yeah, well, one thing that you probably already know this to is that I mean, once you're, I mean, you have to be, you know, broaden to the program through like one product area, one focus area or multiple. But really with a focus, I came in as a SharePoint MVP. And then when teams launched, I've been heavily on the team side of things, but I'm across like the office suite. Once you're an MVP, you can be writing about Microsoft 365, Windows, Azure, AI, all those things. You can be involved in all those things, even though you're still listed as a security MVP. So that's why it's interesting. You know, have you ever participated in one of the MVP calls, like one of the NDA calls yet, the monthly calls? No, not yet, because I'm like brand new. Yeah, yeah. So with that, I mean, you'll start to see that, you know, it's one thing is that, you know, MVPs occasionally, somebody will come up to me and then start asking me like, oh, you're an MVP and asking me Azure or desktop support related things. I'm like, yeah, I'm not that guy. That's not me. Yeah, you're not a robot. But there are those MVPs that are saying, oh, yeah, let me explain how this is. They could talk about all those different areas, but it's great. It's all I liken it to once you become an MVP, it's almost like going to university and suddenly being able to take all these electives, find out more, like I have my major focus of study, but I have all of these other electives that I can go and do. Well, and I actually kind of like blogging and sharing content in the enterprise mobility category. And all contributions, which they evaluate once a year, are only done in your own category. But because I'm actually more active in enterprise mobility than my own security category, it could be a hard one for me, the reevaluation. No, actually, so it isn't. So you can, so again, because I write on a variety of topics. Yeah. But when you enter in your, so if you're writing blog posts on security enterprise mobility, you can actually, when you input those, add them as security or enterprise mobility or Azure or SharePoint or whatever that is into the form. And all of it counts towards that. Now we're getting into kind of the weeds of behind the scenes of being an MVP. But yeah, so you can do those other things. That's that's the thing. I think Microsoft appreciates having well-rounded MVPs. But to get in the program, you have to be very focused. Yeah, yeah. And I was actually focusing on the enterprise mobility. But as I said, they have kind of overlap. So in enterprise mobility, let's say a modern workplace, we implement conditional access, but conditional access is also security. So yeah, yeah. So what was your kind of path? I mean, for you, how'd you find out about the program? How did you become an MVP? Well, that's kind of funny story because I started to follow people on LinkedIn, Reddit, all those kind of social mediums. And I actually got to know a few people. I connected with them, follow their posts, read their blogs and got interested in all those kind of techniques they are writing about. And I'm actually fully Microsoft minded, Microsoft first strategy. And in the beginning, I was actually shy, shy to share content. But finally, I got an email. I had to I had a domain name for eight or nine years without doing anything with it. And I had to extend the domain for another year. So I had to pay the invoice. And I thought, hmm, maybe I should start a blog and just write about random things I do or I build or I implement, whatever, doesn't matter. And so it actually started. And I started to write the first blog and it was finished. And I had to click on the publish button when it was so was actually a scared moment to publish something on the internet for the first time, because I'm actually maybe an introvert person, maybe I'm not in the middle of the audience. So that was a difficult point actually then. And by doing it, I only had a few views. My LinkedIn post didn't get many likes or he shares a comment. So the start was quite difficult. But I continued to keep doing it, keep sharing, keep writing blogs. And it actually grew over time. And it actually starts to get funny by every blog you write. It's like a growing thing. I'm getting better at it every time, getting used to it actually. And now it's funny to do it. And you see people started to follow you, more likes every time, more views on your blog post. You kind of grow into it. It's it's it's a story actually how it goes. But I always call it it's a it's about you're like so much that we do in our lives. It's about creating healthy habits. If you're not in the habit of sharing, it can be hard. Once you build that habit, then it just becomes natural part of you, your profile to, hey, I just learned this thing. Hey, I want to share this thing out that I just learned. And this is what I learned from it. And here's how you can do it. And I'm going to modify it. What are your thoughts? What are your feedback? And and so it really is a change that I think anybody can make, but it's hard to start anything new. It's like, yeah, it's like like dieting, you know, you don't just instant results of dieting. It takes time and effort and yeah. And starting with it was, yeah, it was really difficult. And actually, my blog is it's a funny thing, you know, the visual studio subscription you get in Azure, the free credits. Okay, because I didn't know if I wanted to continue writing blogs. So I started a blog, a WordPress blog in Azure. I write that a blog. I published that first blog and two weeks later, the blog was offline because my credits were gone. So my blog was offline for two weeks. And the second month, I wrote another blog and the same thing happened. So yeah, that's a blog post. That's a great story for a blog post talking about that. Great story. Yeah, it actually happened and it happened two times. And then I was thinking like, ah, only a few bucks a year, a year, let's go. I ordered a web hosting package with a WordPress blog and it's still running. And it's doing great actually. So yeah, it's a funny story. That's too funny. Well, so you talked about the space that you've been in, you talked about becoming an MVP, kind of what are your big topics? Like what are you writing about? What level are you writing on? What kind of drives your passion around the technology? I actually, well, I had a discussion with the community program manager about sharing content and I told her I actually don't like to share a blog with one simple policy or one simple thing, how you can implement it because probably everyone knows it. So things I'm writing about is kind of a creative thing. It could have some value in it. Everyone can write a blog on how to implement site to zone assignments. For example, I don't write about this. I want to add some value with specific things who are maybe not done yet or not written about. And I actually see this in my blogs when I check at the views, the total amount of views. Some blogs are really sky high and some are actually doing almost nothing. So there is not sure if people are looking for specific things. Because they know about it, it's subject because they know about it. Yeah, I'm not sure what people like. I create a thing with which can add some value to your environment or whatever. Or a more common thing which everybody is doing. That's yeah, it's still difficult because I like blogs or sharing content which adds value and not the basic standard stuff everyone can do. Well, the only thing I would modify at that is that because occasionally I do write about productivity tips. And there's some tips where it's brand new feature and hey, here's how you can incorporate. It's always exciting to write about those things. I just did a blog post for a feature that was released at the end of 2019, early 2020. But I had a unique take on it and a story around that. And I also see that people don't know about it and aren't really using that. And so, you know, sometimes, like to your point, sometimes I go in and I look at the stats and I say, what are people who read my site, like what are they finding the most interesting? There's a couple posts that I wrote three, four years ago that remain in the top five every month. Like people love that content. And I could write more of that content just because I know that's what people like. Yeah. I'm actually not as interested in those topics. And so I'm not, I'm not writing about it because I, yeah, but it's, so it's like, you've got to, at least the phrasing is, you do you can figure out what you enjoy doing and write about that. My thinking is like, I'm not blogging to see how big I can get the site out there. I'm doing it more of an extension of my brain. I'm sharing the information, sharing the stuff. Sometimes it might be five people reading it. Sometimes there's 5,000 people reading it in the first week, you know. And it's great when that happens, but I'm going to plug on and continue writing about the things that I'm passionate about regardless of the stats. Yeah. And actually I'm learning, I'm learning from every blog I write because in the past I wrote a blog about actual VPN gateway and I'm actually not a network guy. I'm really not into networking, gateways, VPN and that kind of stuff. But by writing the blog step by step, I actually learned something. And this blog is actually going sky high every day. It has thousands of views. It's perfect. And I think I was actually the first one writing about this and how to implement it and sharing some code on how to do it. So yeah, I learned by writing blogs myself and that's cool. Actually, yeah. I do the same thing. That's how my primary learning just of my brain type and my learning style is by writing. Researching it, finding the answers, understanding, I'm writing content, looking at other comments and questions from users and making sure that my content answers those questions is a little more robust of the content of what might be out there. But yeah, I do the exact same thing. That's why I say it's an extension of my brain. It also sometimes when I go and I'm researching a topic, every article I've ever written, every white paper, it's always, it's all in one note. And so it's all in the cloud and I have access to it no matter where. But I always search first with what I've already written across LinkedIn and Medium and my blog and customer sites and former companies. And I find all of that. And sometimes I reach like, hey, I wrote something two years ago. I completely forgot that I wrote it on that. Yeah, this week I read our own blog of mine, which I was kind of implementing. I was thinking, how have I done this in the past? And I was actually reading my own blog and how I have implemented this in the past. And I just follow my own blog and yeah, it works. Have you ever done this? Like I actually, one time I went and I found something that I wrote and I'm reading through it and I was like, well, that's really good. Like I completely forgot. I have no memory of writing that thing on something that was, but I actually referenced my own blog post, which is a good thing to do in cross links and stuff within your site. But yeah, so it's again, the power of search to go and search within your own content. But you know what it's funny? If you are trying to do a Google search and you find your own blog post as the first result, that's funny. That's always rewarding. Well, then I, but you know, it does have a little intelligence that knows who you are. And so it prioritizes your content. So that's why sometimes when I find that, this sounds so narcissistic. But I will then I'll open up like incognito. So it doesn't have a lot of those attachments and do the search again. If I'm still in like the top two or three, it was like, all right, you know. It didn't re-jump, yeah. Yeah, good job, me. Yeah. So, well, very cool. Well, Joey, so what else are you doing? How involved are you in the community? Well, I'm actually active on Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, of course. And I'm actually, since a few months, I'm active in the EMS Discord community. Maybe you've heard about it. Yep. I was in there as one of the first 10, 15 people, I think. And I'm still active there every day. I think we have around maybe 1,000 people in it now. Some active, some don't. Some are not active. And we do some podcasts, virtual sessions, virtual speaking sessions. And I'm actually thinking of doing some public speaking, maybe this year or in the upcoming years. But it's a difficult thing for me to step up on the stage and do this kind of things. But I'm actually willing to do this in maybe now one or two years. Yeah. Well, so that's actually, that's a great comment because one of the questions that people ask that are interested and you're looking into maybe becoming an MVP, there's like, do I have to have a lot of experience public speaking? And it's like, you know, there are MVPs that never step on a stage that do not present, that are complete. Like, I know one of my favorite and I won't name them because that embarrasses them. But who is one of the most technical MVPs and a good friend who is very shy, he wants to be behind the scenes. He's very introverted. But he is one of the, I always comment, it's like when Microsoft product team and engineering team have questions about SharePoint, he's one of the people that they reach out to in the community. You know, knows more about SharePoint than most of the engineering team. Yeah, that's a, yeah. And there's a handful of people that are like that. But, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. There's a different path. That's why I ask, like, how do you become an MVP because there's a different path for everybody. Yeah, there are so much different MVPs around the globe. And I asked myself the same question, can I be an MVP if I'm never on stage? Yeah, you can. Yeah, because I know some people who write 50 blocks and are an MVP, but never spoke on a stage. Yeah, it can. Yeah, yeah. It's all great. Well, Joey, I really appreciate the time to get to know you and meet you. So for folks that want to find out about you, follow you, what are the best ways to reach you, find you out in social? It's, of course, my blog. It's joeyvalenda.com, Twitter, and LinkedIn is probably my primary social media source. Yeah. Awesome. And of course, I'll have all the links out on my blog at onbucktheplanet.com and out on YouTube and on the podcast. And so you'll find all the links if you want to reach out to Joey, so definitely do that. So Joey, I really appreciate the time. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for your time. Wow.