What a ride this year has been. Back in May, my entire team was eliminated and I was laid off from Microsoft. Not long after, I was honored to be named a Docker Captain, and soon after that I landed a new role leading Azure and AKS at Jamf, helping run their SaaS products in the cloud.
And yesterday, I found out that I’ve been re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP! This marks my 11th year as an MVP, all in the span of just a few months of major ups and downs. After a short detour (just under four years) working at the mothership, I’m excited to be back in the MVP community.
I never take this recognition for granted. It’s an honor to return to the MVP ranks and continue contributing as a community champion in the worlds of Microsoft, Azure, Azure Kubernetes Service, AI, and Open Source.
To all the other MVPs who were renewed—and to the new awardees announced on October 1—congratulations!
I’m excited to announce the release of my 28th Pluralsight course, and it’s a timely one as its about a topic that’s becoming more important by the day: Agentic AI Safety and Alignment.
As AI agent adoption accelerates, developers and product teams are under increasing pressure to ensure these systems behave responsibly. It’s no longer enough to build capable AI agents, they must also operate safely, ethically, and in alignment with your organization’s values.
That’s exactly what this course is about.
🧠 Why This Course Matters
The rise of autonomous AI agents brings incredible potential. but also significant risk. From runaway costs to prompt injection attacks, the stakes are high. In this course, I cover:
Prevent unintended behaviors
Embed ethics and safety checks into agents
Guard against issues like prompt injection
Keep human oversight (human in the loop)
Avoid unexpected bills or policy violations
To balance the theory and practice, I run through some demos using Microsoft Co-Pilot Studio and Flowise. You’ll see how to put in safety checks, define agent constraints, implement value alignment, and put in controls that keep your agentic AI safe.
📘 Official Course Description
“As companies rapidly adopt autonomous AI agents, developers and product leads face growing pressure to ensure these systems operate safely and align with organizational values. In this course, Agentic AI Safety and Alignment, you’ll gain the ability to design and deploy agentic AI systems that are both effective and ethically sound. First, you’ll explore how to identify potential risks and prevent unintended behaviors in autonomous agents. Next, you’ll discover how to embed your organization’s values by integrating rules and safety checks into your agent design. Finally, you’ll learn how to apply guardrails that keep agents aligned and under control. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge needed to build AI agents that operate responsibly and stay true to your company’s principles.”
If you’re building, leading, or managing AI agent systems, this course will help you. Check out the course here:
I hope this course serves as a valuable resource in your AI journey. Thank you for your continued support, and Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses!
Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:
I recently had the opportunity to be a guest on a new podcast series brought to you by Tech Together, a collaboration between CreateMPLS and Genesys Works Twin Cities. Hosted by Shannon Seaver and Allison Barman.
This is the third episode in the series and it’s titled: “Tech Together with Steve Buchanan: Navigating Careers and Embracing Change in Technology.”
This wasn’t just another podcast recording, it was an experience. 🎧 We recorded at a studio inside Urban Ventures in Minneapolis, a space funded by Prince himself. I even got to check out one of his guitars, signed by the legend.
In this episode, I sit down with Shannon and Allison to talk about my journey in tech, from my early days navigating bootcamps and building a network, to eventually landing at Microsoft. We unpack the highs and lows, the importance of persistence, lifelong learning, and what it takes to grow a career in today’s tech landscape.
We also dive into the future of tech, covering the impact of AI, the need for more collaboration across the industry, and why computer science education for all is more critical than ever. As I shared in the episode: “Give 200%. Share knowledge. Stay ready for what’s next.”
We wrapped things up with a fun rapid-fire Q&A session. Shoutout to Shannon and Allison for making it such a thoughtful and enjoyable conversation. 🙌
🎙️ Check it out for insights and tips on how to elevate your tech journey and navigate the evolving AI-driven world: 👉 Listen here on Spotify
Last week was the 26th Tekne awards. Here is the website for it: tekneawards.org. It is Minnesota’s Premier Technology Celebration honoring the leaders and leading organizations who are fueling Minnesota’s tech-driven economy, with 15 Tekne Awards across 3 categories: Business Impact, Community Impact, and Individual Achievement. It is a celebration of the excellence and innovation within Minnesota’s technology ecosystem.
The 2024 Tekne Awards event was nothing short of incredible! Held at the Minneapolis Convention Center and hosted by the amazing Angela Davis radio show host on Minnesota Public Radio, the event was filled with brilliant technology leaders who are shaping Minnesota’s business ecosystem.
I am beyond proud to share that we did it! We brought home the Tekne Award (glass flame) for ExceptionalTechLeadership!!! 🏆
I say “we” because this achievement is not mine alone—it’s a reflection of the support of my wife and family, mentors, the tech community, and all the people who inspire me every day. Together, we’re driving change, sharing knowledge, connecting people, and creating opportunities for those who traditionally haven’t had a seat at the table in tech.
What made the evening even more special was having one of my sons, present me with the award.
I also want to extend a huge shoutout to the other exceptional nominees in this category: Greg Larson, Michael G. Wulf, Ed.D., Yanina Grinberg, Justin Grammens, and Amy Patton. This was a fiercely competitive category, and it’s truly an honor to be recognized alongside such impactful leaders.
Many of you I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with, and I look forward to finding ways to work with the rest of you. Your work is inspiring—let’s keep pushing boundaries and making a difference!
Also a congrats to all the other winners throughout the night! Here is a video with more pics from the award night:
📢 Six months ago, a coalition of esteemed technologists and educators united to establish the Minnesota’s Computer Science (CS) Working Group, embarking on a journey to develop a comprehensive Computer Science Education Strategic Plan for all public K-12 and charter schools across the state. 💻 Throughout this six-month journey, we convened for five full-day meetings and workshops, undertaking two rounds of meticulous writing to synthesize our collective insights into the plan. The journey in posts:
📝 “Minnesota’s Computer Science (CS) Working Group developed a state strategic plan for computer science, finalized in March, 2024, which describes ten recommendations for long-term and sustained growth of computer science education across all public K-12 and charter schools in Minnesota, as outlined in the Computer Science Education Advancement Act Minn.Stat. 120B.241 [2023]. The recommendations are aligned to the requirements outlined in the legislation, such as licensure, high-quality professional development, continuous improvement, and standards, among others.”
Kudos to all of the amazing indivuduals in the working group:
Andrea Wilson Vazquez, Minnesota Department of Education
Wendy Robinson, Office of Higher Education
Katherine Anthony-Wigle, Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB)
Alexandra Holter, Computer Science Teachers Association – MN Chapter
Steve Buchanan Microsoft, representative from the business community employing computer scientists or technologists
Greg Larson, Minnesota Technology Association (MnTech)
Mahmoud Aliamer, Science Museum of Minnesota, representative from a nonprofit organization working with students and teachers in computer science
Anthony Padrnos, Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA)
Tabitha Senty, Education Minnesota
Cassie Scharber, Minnesota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (MACTE)
Jennifer Rosato, CSforAll MN
• Sheri Levasseur, Pequot Lakes Public Schools, licensed library media specialist
• Erica Allenburg, Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA)
• Andy Olson, Hermantown Community Schools, K–5 teacher
• Kirsten Tetzlaff, Minnetonka Public School District, 6–8 teacher
• Indrayani LeMaire, Hmong College Prep Academy, 9–12 teacher
• Tika Kude, Wayzata Public School District, 9–12 CTE teacher
🙌🏼 It was an honor to contribute to this effort, one that will profoundly impact the youth of Minnesota for years to come. 🎉🎉 Yesterday, we partnered with the Minnesota Tech Association and the Raspberry Pi Foundation to commemorate the successful completion of this plan. Hosted at REM5 Labs in St. Louis Park, the event had great support, with a notable turnout of engaged individuals. Even had the chance to speak on a panel with Philip Colligan the CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation! 🌟
🏛️This achievement marks just the beginning of the journey. Sustained dedication and the involvement of more volunteers will be essential to realizing the goals outlined in this plan. 💻
Stay tuned for further updates on the progression of our efforts. There’s much more to come around this initiative.
There is some exciting news for AKS. Brian Redmond a PM with the AKS team has worked to get the External AKS Community up and running again. This community will have monthly meetings and recorded content.
The AKS Community Meetings will be live-streamed on YouTube and will cover interesting technical content on AKS related topics “Ask me anything” sessions and more. Here is a recording of the inaugural meeting for the AKS Community. https://www.youtube.com/live/1_ukekQEzBw?feature=share&t=32
If you miss the old ‘AKS Office Hours’, you definitely need to check out this new AKS community. Looking forward to seeing this community grow!
To make sure you’re always in the loop and never miss a beat, follow the official PG on various social media sites. Stay informed about upcoming meetings, exclusive content drops, and other exciting AKS-related news:
I will be speaking at Tech Summit Nigeria 2022. This event is to be held in Lagos, Nigeria at the Microsoft ADC center. It is an event for Cloud & Mixed- Reality professionals & enthusiasts. The website for the is https://www.techsummitnigeria.com.
My session title is: “K8s is complex! Simplify its Deployment & Configuration“.
The abstract is: Understanding Kubernetes is complex. Designing its architecture is complex. Deploying it is complex. And Configuring it is complex. K8s in general are complex. Spend less time on getting your Kubernetes up and running and more time running your containerized apps!
In this session, Steve Buchanan will take you on a journey utilizing a tool named the AKS Construction Helper that can simplify your AKS Deployment & Configurations.
***Update***
It was a fun session with an engaged audience! Here are some pictures from the session.
If you missed my session you can watch the replay here:
Today Pierre Roman (@wiredcanuck) Senior Cloud Advocate of Microsoft & myself (@buchatech) streamed “Introduction to Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes” on Learn Live. Here is what we covered in this session:
In this session, showed you how Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes clusters can help customers like Contoso to optimize and simplify their operations. Here are the Learning objectives we covered:
Describe Kubernetes, Azure Arc, and Azure Arc-enabled Kubernetes.
Connect Kubernetes clusters to Azure Arc.
Manage Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes clusters by using GitOps.
Integrate Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes cluster with Azure services like Azure Monitor and Azure Policy.
If you missed it don’t worry. 🙂 You can watch the playback on the Microsoft Developer YouTube channel here:
You can check out more Learn Live episodes on the:
GatherVerse is a new conference about the MetaVerse. GatherVerse is the creation of entrepreneur & tech leader Christopher Lafayette. The GatherVerse is a global gathering discussing humanity first standards of education, safety, privacy, wellness, equality, community development and accessibility in the next steps of the metaverse. Here is the GatherVerse website: www.gatherversesummit.com
I will be a part of a panel discussing EdTech’s role in the Metaverse. This panel will be on day 2 – February 23rd, 2022 @ 2:00pm pst – 2:48pm pst
I will join a great panel of esteemed tech professionals. On the panel, I will give my personal point of view of how companies and technologies such as Accenture (who recently bought of 60k Oculus headsets), Microsoft, FlipGrid, TakeLessons, LinkedIn Learning, Roblox, Pluralsight, and more fit into the Metaverse.
This event is free. Here are links to learn more and sign up:
I am excited to announce the next chapter in my career. It has been a long time coming, I am joining Microsoft (going to the mothership). I will be joining an elite team focused on Azure product improvement in one of the engineering orgs as a Principal Program Manager. I will be focused on improving Azure’s end-to-end open-source & Kubernetes experiences as well as working with multiple clouds. Several things excite me about this role such as; the talented folks on the team, being a part of improving the Azure, continuing to expand my open-source skills, continuing to expand my multi-cloud skills, and working with various product groups as well as leadership.
I am really looking forward to this change in my career as I will be moving from the consulting discipline to the product/cloud provider discipline. I view this as a soft reboot to my career, the next chapter in my book, and the 3rd lap in the race of my career. The possibilities where this will lead are endless and will open many new doors.
With this move, I will no longer be a Microsoft MVP. Microsoft employees cannot be Microsoft MVPs. After 10 years as a Microsoft MVP, I will surely miss being a part of the MVP family. However, I will continue to contribute to the technical community through blogging, speaking at conferences, user groups, creating content such as e-books, sharing my insights on podcasts, and creating more Pluralsight courses! Sharing my knowledge is a part of who I am. Buchatech will live on! I look forward to working with folks from the other side of the table and continuing to interact/collaborate with folks in the community!
