 Hey everybody, this is Christian Buckley doing another MVP buzz chat and I'm talking today with Massimo. Hello. Hello Christian, nice to meet you. It's good to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Oh, it's great to have you and for folks that don't know you, tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you, where are you and what do you do? Okay, I am Massimo Crippa. I'm living in France, Italy and working in Belgium. So I'm just roaming around these three countries. So sometimes it's a busy life traveling. I'm working for a company called Codit and over there it's all about cloud, Microsoft cloud in this case, so Azure. And we are focused on integration, IoT and app innovation, meaning all of these cloud native, wonderful world that I like it so badly. What I would like to ask too, because on Azure MVP, I mean, Azure is a big bucket. There's a lot of things within that. So kind of like, you know, what do you specifically focus on? What are you currently like writing and speaking about? Yeah, so I just were very lucky to be awarded with this MVP in the category of cloud native means everything about containerization, everything about, let's say, application that scales, application that are elastic, application that are resilience and all of these kind of things. So I like Azure container apps so badly Kubernetes. So, and that's the abstraction that ACA puts on top of Kubernetes. I like also to, of course, all the CICD story how we can release those applications in a continuous way, security, something that I like. I love to have in general a big picture, an helicopter view on the Azure technology, but with a focus on applications. So cloud native application. Well, it's great. So, like, do you get into like the performance side? Do you work with customers that have built out solutions? Maybe they didn't architect it in the right way so they're having operational performance issues? Yeah, that's one of the side, but most of the time it's in two things. So creating new applications. So completely from scratch, we spoke kind of application. That's one case and the other one is application innovation or modernization. You know, there are a lot of different drivers why you want to move to the cloud or innovate, introduce innovate in your application in your company. So these are the two main tracks where I jump in. So a lot of those things are API platform that I'm looking at let's say mobile applications with sort of let's say scalable backend that is powering those let's say applications and solutions. You know, I'd say that that that is really a core part of, you know, the whole digital transformation, which I know is overused term. But, you know, like I started my cloud journey went to work for a startup in 2001 that had a it was a SAS software provider right in the early days because that that was a SAS as an acronym came out during the dot com era. So late 90s early 2000s. And the fact that we're still talking about a lot of that kind of digital transformation, the early days of Office 365 to Microsoft 365, you know, one of the reasons why these large customers were struggling to move over was because exactly we're talking they had built these on prem solutions. I mean, famously painfully, a lot of Lotus notes users that had built all of these, you know, domino applications. Yeah. I don't know if you ever worked in that space. Did you ever work with Lotus. Yes, I did. I mean, it's remember the old times in Italy when I started I started working in 19 2001. That was the time. And over there, or the first let's say seven years or eight years of my career, of course, cloud at least over there in Italy. It was non existing, right. So it was all the classic data center way sizing applications, putting machines and there were all the virtualization and all the things coming up. So, and Lotus was something that came up multiple times. So, and over there, we were doing enterprise application integration and Lotus was always involved. Yeah, well, and always ugly and just I'm sorry for if there's anybody that's still in that world as yeah there's no easy answer it's it was usually the answer was rebuild completely. There's no migration, I should say, there's, you know, in this up modernization stuff, you know, the rebuild is one of the main, the main way to go especially for security for compliance and all of these kinds of things. But of course, again, the, okay, I love technology so badly, I like all the new things. But of course we also have to stay real and we have to look at the value right so the value that the customer that we can bring to the customer. And now there is the pleasure of technology and then there is the reality that there is the enterprise and that's what the customer needs because otherwise we'll, yeah, it's not a kids game right. Yeah. I remember this is early on become I was I've been an MVP since 2012. And that was around 2013 2014. I got yelled at by a senior Microsoft sales person for scuttling a deal they were trying to put together, but I was closer to the customer. And my conversation with them is that their home built solution provided more functionality for more value that they should not upgrade they should not move for at least a couple more years because they were, it was the cost of moving and the reduced functionality was greater than the benefits of moving for the time being. Anyway, angry conversation. But again, it was like I kept positioning like I was interested in what's the right solution for the customer, not what is Microsoft what person's trying to hit their number. Exactly. That's how it should be. Even if, as I said, I really love this experiment new things and trying to understand the, the, the why behind the technology, the choice or the design, of course, we should always look at the value. So I think that I read a couple of days ago that linked in after all of, I don't know how many years they were planning to go to, to the cloud, let's say, now they decide to switch to stay the as is on data centers for sure. Their solution is, let's say, powered by the cloud, but cloud is not their major things, right? Of course, they are leveraging the clouds. Yeah, it's a private cloud. It's dedicated cloud private cloud. But yeah, for folks that aren't aware of that, it made news. Yeah, it was like a week or two ago. The fact that LinkedIn is not moving everything over to Azure. They're keeping it within their data centers they built out when they were a standalone company, at least for the time being. And again, that, yeah, that, that was not good PR for Microsoft. But again, it goes to, you know, how their solution, you know, was architected. They made the decision that was best for their customers for the performance and cost and all those things. It's not just a done deal moving to the cloud. It's not always cheaper. In general, going to the cloud, let's use a game that buzzword or whatever that up modernization or innovation is not an all in game. As you know, hybrid is still a huge reality in our customers. And then it's also one slice, one department, maybe it's on the cloud. I mean, it's extending their solution with cloud. The other department is more on premise or hybrid and then the integration realized the hybrid between the cloud only and the premises. So these kinds of things I see often with our customers. Right. Well, that's why you need to talk to people that, again, not salespeople that are just trying to hit their number, but the architects that actually understand, you know, what might be the right solution. For your company, your investments, maybe it's not even the most advanced features, but you need to let it play out and get the value out of what you've already spent before you can make that decision. I mean, that's that there's no wrong answer to that. I would argue to those companies that are looking at keeping some components on prem, whether it's true hybrid or not, at least to be piloting and be aware of don't fall behind and just being aware of what's out in the cloud, pilot something, some aspect of your business. So at least it'll make that future transition quicker because you're aware of what's out there. And that piloting things is where the clouds shine, right? So you have the capacity, the ability not capacity to fail fast, right? So you try out and then it doesn't work. It works. So you prepare yourself for the future or at least you evaluate that technology for the future. And then if it doesn't work, you know, the classic say things, CapEx versus OPEX, and that you can just try and no worries, experiment technology, and then you will be able to take a better decision, right? Well, there's usually a lot that you can do, even if you're, again, remaining on prem. I'm in the knowledge management space, share point space, and there's data cleanup that's always on to ongoing. It's just part of life. There's things that you can do. There's struct restructuring while remaining in your existing environments that will again make it a cleaner upgrade migration later. The classic example is the cloud native, or if you look at Kubernetes, per se. So there are tons of distributions that you can, let's say, configure, install, and run it in your own premise thing. This full cloud nativist follows the classic cloud native principles, all of them. But then you have all of that huge cost in complexity to maintain that kind of infrastructure, but per se, if any Kubernetes or whatever distribution certified distribution, if it's on premises or if you have your own AKS Google on Amazon at the end, the stock is the same, right? Yeah. Well, so Massimo, what was your path to becoming an MVP? I always like to ask that, like what's your origin story? How did you hear about the program? I think it's really an up and down, so just like a rollercoaster, but spread out a lot of years. So I just checked, to be honest, these things a couple of days ago when I wrote my first blog post and it was on 2007. So sometimes I go at my times in Italy, but yeah, at that time, after, let's say, 10 blog posts, something like this, I stopped and I moved to Belgium. I moved to Belgium in 2011. Over there, I discovered the passion for community. So I was, let's say, very active 20, between 2014, 2015. And then I took another break again because I was in consultancy business. So always, you know, hitting the car and other excuses that I can found. Yeah, I mean, we all know that. I mean, sometimes you get into a role that just sucks up all the oxygen, you're not able to do all the other stuff. And other times you find you've got more flexibility and there's nothing wrong with that. But when you're pursuing something, yeah. And then it comes back to 2023, where I just moved to, let's say, almost a full remote role. And then I had more time to write down, to experiment technology and things like this. At the same time, I, because I was remote, I had, I'm a very social guy, so I had the need to meet people. I want to stay in touch with community and things like this. And so I decided, okay, you know what, Massimo, let's start blog posting, writing blog posts seriously. So then I will use a blog post to find some session that I like. So then I can just give this session and being surrounded by people and talk about technology. So that's what I did. I said, okay, I will, I created my website. I said, okay, I will, I, my goal was to write around 40 blog posts per year. So I tried to, to, to have a goal and an unreachable goal so then I can settle with something a little bit less. So I end up with 21 or 22 or so. I don't recall a blog post in 2023. I did some four conferences and so on. And then, yes, at the end of the, of the year, I was talking with a Microsoft employee and we, we talked about MVP. There were nominations. I just prepared all of my keys and then I was surprised. It was so fast because in January, I got that wonderful email in my inbox because I have no clue that I didn't know that it was on January denomination. It would have been in February. Maybe I don't know when it happens. So new ones are added monthly. But I think they, I think Microsoft kind of took a break. There was a lot of people around the program, like in Q4 last year. And so I think there were some people added in October, maybe in November, but nothing in December. And, but yeah, so it's, and then it's, it's, it's, it's a black box to, to all of us, you know, how Microsoft's process and who they're looking for and which areas and which regions of the world but I was expecting the answer in three months. It came in the Christmas holiday. So I was not thinking at this. I would just focus on, on getting back to work and say, oh, that's a nice way to start. I mean, the new years. So that's how it worked. Well, congratulations again. I know it yet. It's exciting. It's, it's, you know, for again, folks that don't know the process. Microsoft handles the renewals every, you know, first week in July. So at the beginning of their fiscal year, which is July 1, then they they renew folks. So you can be added, you know, at the beginning of every month during the year. So it's, yeah, it's always a pleasant surprise. It's exciting to see like the mix of folks coming in and then, as I do I swoop I look and say, oh, hey, new MVP, somebody don't know. Get to know them say hello. I always ask, are you coming to the MVP summit. I am planning. I have a big dilemma. There is the MVP summit and the week after there is a QCon Europe. So I already have the tickets for the QCon. So, but I also want to experience these MVP summit mood and everything. The experience. Yeah. So yeah, I'm, I have this dilemma, but I will sort it out soon. I think I will be there. Well, congratulations for your 12 MVP. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I always tell new MVPs like the MVP summit, I think is the best of the perks of being an MVP because it's an opportunity to meet your peers from around the world, as well as the product teams, the engineering teams. You know, leadership across Microsoft, there's nothing like it. It's, it's a, I realize it's a short notice for you to be added. And it's a long journey and expensive journey, but hopefully, if not this year, next year, you'll be able to make it. Yes, it is. But I'm planning. I have a plan. So let's say at 70% I will be there. So I'm, I have to sort it out the last 30% and then see if there will be, you know, like the flight and all of those things. Well, I think I hope you make it out there. You know, and maybe I'll catch. I know it's with a couple thousand MVPs making it there to campus and all the Microsoft people. There's probably not a good chance that we'd see each other and being in different areas, but you never know. But Massimo, so for folks that want to connect with you, reach out to you, what are the best ways to reach you? Where are you most active in social? Yeah, I, I'm most active on LinkedIn. That's the platform I use the most. And also on Twitter, but I, I feel that I mean, a lot of things moved from Twitter to LinkedIn in the, in the latest years. So those are my two main channels. So Twitter and LinkedIn. Yeah, it's, it's still kind of the leading of the social platforms out there, although it's, you know, experienced a lot of change, but we'll make sure we'll have all of Massimo's connections out on the blog post on buckthieplanet.com, as well as out on YouTube and on the podcast. So Massimo really appreciate your time and getting to meet you. And again, congratulations. Thank you, Christian. And thank you again for having me with this in this nice chat. Thank you.