IT Career

End of Year (2021) Review

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This year was another abnormal year with ups and downs for many. Salute to everyone that kept pushing through any and all hardships you experienced. For me, my focus continued to be family and seizing all presented opportunities while blocking out as much unnecessary noise as possible.

Highlights:

I consider 2021 a spectacular year with several milestones and firsts for me. This year kicked off with me being featured in the Star Tribune (the 5th largest newspaper in the United States) in Superbowl Sunday’s paper! Other major highlights included being renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the 10th year, being promoted to an Azure Platform Offering Lead at work, developing 6 new courses for Pluralsight, publishing my 7th and 8th book one of them being my 1st book with O’Reilly, appearing on 5 podcasts/webinars, & speaking at 7 conferences/user groups of them being DevOpsDays MPLS! I also continued my virtual world tour speaking at events in Africa and even Jamaica!

Here is the full list of activities from 2021:

–February 2021: Featured as a technology leader in Minnesota’s largest newspaper Star Tribune. Was a full page story. Bonus this was the super bowl Sunday newspaper.  https://m.startribune.com/twin-cities-technologist-steve-buchanan-sees-a-more-inclusive-expanding-future-for-young-minorities/600019839

Article on Star Tribune

–February 2021: Published GitOps course on Pluralsight showcasing knowledge in AKS, Azure Arc, Kubernetes and GitOps.

GitOps: The Big Picture

–February 2021: Presented at Omaha Azure User group on Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes & GitOps. 

Speaking at Omaha Azure User Group

–February 2021: Presented on Containers in Azure for Lago’s (Nigeria) LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY (LASU) TECHX CONFERENCE. 

Speaking on “Containers in Azure” at Lagos State University (LASU) TechX conference

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Tech Talk: “Going Beyond Spelling Azure & Pursuing a Cloud Career”

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On 10/26/21 I will be presenting at the BDPA Twin Cities & Daugherty’s sixth Tech Talk! In this talk, I will give an overview of Microsoft’s Cloud taking you beyond knowing how to spell Azure. LOL

In this session, I am going to dive into the many facets and services Azure has to offer spanning from dev, infrastructure, DevOps, data, & more. We are also going to explore what it takes to start a career in Cloud and what the areas of growth in the Cloud are.

The session is Tuesday, October 26, 2021at 5:30 – 7:00 PM (CST).

REGISTER HERE

If you missed the 10/26/21 BDPA Tech Talk, here is the link to the recording:

https://vimeo.com/639520772/29e0204dca

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Speaking at DevOpsDays Minneapolis 2021

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I have been attended DevOpsDays Minneapolis for 4 years. Its always a great event with rockstar speakers and great content. I also always meet some great folks in the DevOps space.

This year I will be speaking at DevOpsDays Minneapolis! This is a huge honor for me as I have a lot of respect for the event organizers and its always world-class event! I will be speaking about Kubernetes and GitOps. My session can be found here: https://devopsdays.org/events/2021-minneapolis/speakers/steve-buchanan

The event is July 20th-21st. It will be a hybrid event (in-person & virtual). I will be speaking in person on the 20th.

Here is my session info:

GitOps and Kubernetes: a Winning Combo

GitOps is an emerging pattern for cloud-native applications. This operating model simplifies Kubernetes ops while simultaneously improving the developer experience. GitOps enables continuous delivery of configuration updates and application deployments to Kubernetes.

Through the lens of GitHub, Argo CD, and Azure Kubernetes Service, we’ll explore use cases and benefits, principles and practices, architecture and tooling, and what GitOps changes in our day-to-day.

Check out the full program for the event here: https://devopsdays.org/events/2021-minneapolis/program

For those that won’t be attending in person you can Live stream it on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_L5NW8kmClZyYz-HFgKsKA

———-Update 7/21/21———-

Today I delivered my session on GitOps and Kubernetes: a Winning Combo. This was my first in-person event since the pandemic in the US started. I went on stage right after Ian Coldwater gave the keynote. Ian had an amazing keynote talking about community, how the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd impacted Minneapolis last year along with how the community came together. I presented to a crowd of a few hundred as well as another couple hundred online.

The online reach of this event was amazing. I even received a message that my session was watched by some folks in Japan!

In my session, we went on a journey through how companies should focus on being software businesses moving to digital, how the pandemic accelerated companies and consumers going digital as well as companies using Kubernetes and GitOps as a way to help power digital transformation.

The conference organizers did a great job pulling off another excellent event while ensuring everyone followed safety guidelines.

Here is the day 1 stream recording. You can find my sessions at 54:23:

NOTE: If you are interested in learning more about GitOps check out my Pluralsight course titled “GitOps: The Big Picture” here: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/gitops-the-big-picture

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10th Year as a Microsoft MVP!

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Happy to be a Microsoft MVP for the 10th year even though this is not like the other years. As always I never take this award for granted. It is not guaranteed. Every year when July 1 rolls around I never truly know if I will be back in the MVP program or not.

This is my third year as an Azure focused MVP. Again I am honored to be among the ranks of taltented Azure folks. I am looking forward to the 2021-2022 MVP award year full of exciting community stuff. I plan to do more speaking, podcasts, books, and of course Pluralsight courses. I also plan to pick up blogging again and getting a little more active posting blogs on here.

As always I am honored to remain a part of MVP program. I will continue to do all that I can in the Azure, Azure Arc, AKS, and GitOps/DevOps communities this year.

My Microsoft MVP Profile: http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Steve%20Buchanan-4039736

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Guest on New Relic Observy McObservface Podcast – GitOps, Kubernetes, Linux on Azure, AI, Blockchain, and more

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I was recently a guest on New Relic‘s Developer Relations team podcast “Observy McObservface” with Jonan Scheffler.

Jonan Scheffler and I talk about Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Linux on Azure, how Microsoft’s been successful at working in enterprise and open source, where I believe GitOps & Kubernetes is eventually going to go, and my excitement in regards to AI and blockchain as well as how they’re going to impact the world. You can listen to the podcast and read the article links below.

Listen to the Podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1225223/8618776-open-is-not-optional-shifting-sands-and-faxing-on-blockchains-with-steve-buchanan

Read the Article:
https://www.therelicans.com/mandymoore/open-is-not-optional-shifting-sands-and-faxing-on-blockchains-with-steve-buchanan-495p

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9 Pluralsight Courses

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I recently published 2 new courses bringing my total Pluralsight courses to 9! These two new courses wrap up my time authoring courses for the SAP on Azure path. These 2 new courses are Migrating SAP Workloads to Azure and Designing an Azure Solution to Support SAP Workloads.

This brand new path is Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads (AZ-120). This path also has a course by Tim Warner as well as two more being developed right now! Also, I should mention this path also contains my SAP on Azure: The Big Picture course.

This new path will help you prepare to take the AZ-120 exam to earn your Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty certification and ramp up on SAP on Azure in general.

Check out the path here: https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/certificate/planning-and-administering-microsoft-azure-for-sap-workloads-az-120

I hope you find value in this new SAP on Azure learning path on Pluralsight. Again these two new courses bring me to a total of 9 courses now published on the Pluralsight platform! Next up I will start working on some Azure courses. These new courses will cover managing servers and Kubernetes with Azure Arc. I am very excited about my next courses. Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release these new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me: https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/steve-buchanan

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Workforce for the Future of Work Tech Panel

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Recently (April 2021) I was invited to be a panelist during an event for the Workforce Innovation Board of Ramsey County. At this event, we discussed how to leverage tech skills and the Ramsey County tech ecosystem to support a transformative workforce recovery. This panel was hosted by Tony Lusiba, WIB Tech Committee Chair.

The panelists included:

Some of the topics that were discussed

  • Trends to think about as we pivot our workforce post-COVID-19.
  • New skills that job seekers should have as companies move to hybrid models vs going back to the office 100%.
  • Technology enhancements employers should adopt to provide support for this new hybrid working model.

Here is a blog post about the event:

https://www.ramseycountymeansbusiness.com/workforce/workforce-news/p/item/34678/preparing-our-workforce-for-the-future-of-work-recording-now-available

Here is a direct link to watch the the recording:

Preparing our Workforce for the Future of Work panel discussion

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How to get started with SAP on Azure Including Hands-On

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SAP is the #1 business software in the world. You will find SAP applications running in a majority of Fortune 500 companies powering their business. Becoming an expert in SAP is a great career move for anyone in tech and business.

Azure is a major cloud player in the public cloud space. Microsoft has done a lot of work to make Azure the best fit for running SAP in the public cloud. Becoming an expert in Azure is also a great career move.

Both SAP and Azure are in high demand and will be for the foreseeable future. Building a combined SAP and Azure skillset to become an SAP on Azure SME can have a huge positive impact on your career.

Considering the number of organizations that run SAP with most of them looking to migrate it to the public cloud or deploy SAP new on the public cloud means you would be a key to these organizations if you have SAP on Azure skills.

One of the challenges with SAP has always been-how can one get experience with it and get some hands-on with it? It is no secret that SAP is expensive and therefore is not the easiest to get access to for anyone that is ramping up on it. In this blog, I will highlight some options for learning SAP on Azure as well as how to get some hands-on with it.

First off Microsoft has an SAP on Azure certification. This is AZ-120: Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads. This certification is for anyone that wants to demonstrate knowledge of both SAP and Azure along with the ability to run SAP on Azure public cloud. If you are a SAP Basis person, on-premises SAP administrator, Azure administrator, sysadmin, cloud admin, solution architect, business analyst, and more then this certification and career path is for you. Skills measured by this AZ-120 exam include:

Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure
Create an inventory of existing SAP landscapes
Design a migration strategy
Design an Azure Solution to Support SAP Workloads
Design a core infrastructure solution in Azure to support SAP workloads
Design Azure infrastructure services to support SAP workloads
Design a resilient Azure solution to support SAP workloads
Build and Deploy Azure for SAP Workloads
Automate deployment of Virtual Machines (VMs)
Implement and manage virtual networking
Manage access and authentication on Azure
Implement and manage identities
Monitor SAP workloads on Azure
Validate Azure Infrastructure for SAP Workloads
Perform infrastructure validation check
Perform operational readiness check
Operationalize Azure SAP Architecture
Optimize performance
Migrate SAP workloads to Azure

One option for learning more about SAP on Azure is to check out my Pluralsight course on this here: https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/sap-azure-big-picture, check out this SAP on Azure book here: https://www.amazon.com/SAP-Azure-Implementation-Guide-business/dp/1838983988, and this blog post with more info on the SAP on Azure certification here: https://app.pluralsight.com/guides/cloud-certifications-:-azure-for-sap-workloads-specialty-(az-120).

Now comes the hands on part with SAP!

SAP Docker Containers:

SAP has some express and developer editions of their software available as Containers. These are hosted on Dockerhub. It’s really cool that that SAP has made some of their solutions available as Docker containers. This makes it really easy to spin up the solutions and get started with them right away without having to load a server and install the SAP software. All you need is Docker Desktop to run these locally.

You could also run these containers in the cloud as well. It is critical to note that you still need a considerable amount of resources (CPU, RAM, Disk space) to support running the SAP solutions as containers. Do not cut corners on this. Allocate the required amount of resources. Overall this is a great option if you want to get the SAP software up and running as fast as possible to focus on getting hands-on with the SPA software itself. Here are the container options:

Full SAP software Trials and Downloads:

This option is a full download of the SAP software that you install on a virtual machine running in Azure. As opposed to the SAP containers you will need to go through the process of deploying a VM, configuring any prereqs, and then installing the SAP software. Overall if you want to get the experience of configuring the VM’s and installing the SAP software then this is a great option. Here is the option:

Azure Cloud Options:

The first option SAP Cloud Appliance Library (SAP CAL) is a service from SAP that allows you to select a preconfigured SAP solution on your cloud of choice letting SAP deploy the SAP solution in your cloud subscription for you. This option includes trials of the SAP software. This a great option to get hands-on experience in Azure. It does not help you gain experience with deploying and configuring the Azure estate though and that is something you will need to do on a real project.

The last two options will take you through the journey of using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to deploy the estate needed to support SAP running in the cloud, the VM’s that will run the SAP software, and deployment of trial SAP software.

Overall the first option SAP CAL is a great way to quickly get started with SAP on Azure and see what the experience is like. The last two options are the best giving you hands-on both with Azure and with SAP the closest you will get to the real world. 

  • SAP Cloud Appliance Library (SAP CAL)
    • SAP CAL is an online library of preconfigured and ready-to-use SAP solutions on a trial basis. SAP CAL gives you a quick & easy way to spin up SAP solutions directly in Azure and other clouds. It includes SAP S/4HANA, SAP HANA Express Edition, and more. 
    • https://cal.sap.com
  • Infrastructure as Code to deploy SAP in Azure
  • SAP Deployment Automation Framework
    • Terraform to deploy the architecture needed for SAP and the SAP virtual machines. Ansible to configure the virtual machines and install the SAP on Azure software.

That brings us to the end of this blog post. I hope you find this helpful with tips on how to get started with SAP on Azure including some hands on! Thanks for reading.

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CloudSkills.fm Podcast: Cloud Native, Azure Arc, DevOps, GitOps, Kubernetes, and Azure

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Recently I had the honor to be a guest on my friend and fellow Microsoft MVP Mike Pfeiffer’s Cloudskills.fm podcast again! This was episode is “106: Steve Buchanan on Cloud Native, DevOps, GitOps, Kubernetes, and Azure“. I was excited to be a guest again on the CloudSkills podcast and catch up with Mike.

On this new episode, we had a chance to talk about a variety of topics like leveling up your career, what I have been up to, diversity and inclusion in the tech, of course Azure, Azure Arc, DevOps, Kubernetes, GitOps, we even touched on SAP on Azure, among other insights.

You can listen to the podcast episode 106 right here on my blog:

Or you can listen to episode #106 here: https://cloudskills.fm/episodes/106.

Back in 2019 I was a guest on the Cloudskills.fm podcast on episode # 15. The past episode was a lot of fun with more of a focus on your career in the world of IT. If you want to check that out here.

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Article on Star Tribune

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2021 is off to a great start & it’s only the 2nd month. 😎

I am excited and honored to announce I am featured in an article in Minnesota’s largest newspaper the Star Tribune on SuperBowl Sunday!

Here is a picture of the article in the paper:

You can read the full article here:

https://m.startribune.com/twin-cities-technologist-steve-buchanan-sees-a-more-inclusive-expanding-future-for-young-minorities/600019839

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