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Microsoft MVP 2025: Continuing the Data Platform Journey

I am honored to announce that I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the ninth consecutive year, recognized in the Azure SQL and SQL Server technical areas under Data Platform. Thanks for this incredible journey that began in 2017.

Thank You

I want to thank Microsoft for this continued recognition. The MVP program has provided me with numerous opportunities to connect with brilliant minds worldwide, gain early access to cutting-edge technologies, and collaborate with product teams and engineering teams that contribute to the evolution of the data platforms we all rely on to maintain our customers’ most critical asset, data.

Pre-Conference Workshop and Sessions at PASS Summit

I’m pleased to announce that I will be presenting at this year’s PASS Summit. PASS Data Community Summit 2022 is the year’s largest gathering of data platform professionals in the US. This year I have a pre-conference workshop, a regular session, and a Learning Path session. Let’s dive into each.

Pre-Conference Workshop: Become a Hybrid Architect

My good friend Ben E. Weissman and I will teach a pre-conference workshop called “Become a Hybrid Architect” in this workshop we will cover the foundations needed to design and build a hybrid cloud strategy for your organization.

My Desktop Setup - Updated

Every once in a while when I’m recording a Pluralsight course, I’ll take a photo of my desk to let people see the behind the scenes of the process. Well, my friend Steve Jones (@way0utwest) encouraged me to write a desk setup post…so here we go!

My Desk

Desk

Autonomous SmartDesk 2 - Home Office

Most standup desks come at a much higher price point, and this one lands somewhere between $379-$500 depending on the features. While it’s pretty minimalist, it gets the job done. I have several presets for various heights depending on the current task I’m performing. One tip for those who record audio, I always stand when recording. It helps me with enunciation and also controls the tone of my voice better. A standing desk is a must if you’re going to be recording production quality audio. I think there are some health benefits too to standing desks. :)

A New Road Ahead…

Where I’ve Been

Since January 1, 2012 I’ve been the principal consultant at Centino Systems. Jokingly, I refer to myself as The Centino of Systems. I learned a lot of lessons running my own business. Such as how to be a consultant and also how to scale the business even as the only employee/consultant. There’s been ups and downs, successes and failures and I couldn’t be more happy with how things went. The first phase of Centino Systems I learned how to build a consulting practice. Then in the second phase I learned how to scale Centino Systems by focusing on training. I blogged a bunch, produced 21 courses at Pluralsight, co-authored three books (with one more on the way), and numerous corporate and conference sessions and workshops focusing on Linux, SQL Server and of course Kubernetes.

Kubernetes Precon at DPS

Pre-conference Workshop at Data Platform Virtual Summit 2020


DPS 2020 Transparent Logo 150 x 55 01

I’m proud to announce that I will be be presenting pre-conference workshop at Data Platform Virtual Summit 2020 split into Two four hour sessions on 30 November and 1 December! This one won’t let you down!

Here is the start and stop times in various time zones:

Time Zone Start Stop
EST 5.00 PM 9 PM
CET 11.00 PM 3.00 AM (+1)
IST 3.30 AM (+1) 7.30 AM (+1)
AEDT 9.00 AM (+1) 1.00 PM (+1)

The workshop is “Kubernetes Zero to Hero – Installation, Configuration, and Application Deployment”

Announcing EightKB 2021

The first EightKB back in July was a real blast. Five expert speakers delivered mind-melting content to over 1,000 attendees!

We were honestly blown away by how successful the first event was and we had so much fun putting it on, we thought we’d do it again 🙂

The next EightKB is going to be on January 27th 2021 and the schedule has just been announced!

EightKB Schedule

Pre-Conference Workshop and Sessions at PASS Summit

I’m pleased to announce that I will be presenting at PASS Summit. This year I have a pre-conference workshop and a regular session. Let’s dive into each.

Pre-Conference Workshop: The Future of Deployment for Modern Data Platform Applications

Ben Weissman and I teach a pre-conference workshop called “The Future of Deployment for Modern Data Platform Applications” in this workshop. We’re going to cover how you will be deploying data platform applications in the near future. Here’s a listing of the topics we’re going to cover.

Speaking at PSConf EU 2020

I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at PSConf EU 2020 in Hannover, Germany. The conference runs from 2 June 2020 to 5 June 2020 and brings together some of the titans of the PowerShell community and members of the PowerShell team from Microsoft.  

<p>
  This is an incredible event packed with fantastic, deep dive content. <a href="https://psconf.eu/schedule">Check out the amazing schedule</a>! Head on over to the site and <a href="https://psconf.eu/"><strong>register now</strong></a>!
</p>

<p>
  This year I have two sessions!
</p>

<p>
  On Thursday<strong>, 2 June at 13:00</strong> &#8211; I’m presenting “<strong>Linux OS Fundamentals for the PowerShell Pro</strong>”
</p>

<p>
  Here’s the abstract
</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>
    PowerShell and SQL Server are now available on Linux and management wants you to leverage this shift in technology to more effectively manage your systems, but you’re a Windows admin, Don’t fear! It’s just an operating system. It has all the same components Windows has and in this session, we’ll show you that. We will look at the Linux operating system architecture and show you how to interact with and manage a Linux system. By the end of this session, you’ll be ready to go back to the office and get started working with Linux.
  </p>
  
  <p>
    In this session, we’ll cover the following <br /> &#8211; Service control<br /> &#8211; Package installation<br /> &#8211; System resource management (CPU, disk and memory)<br /> &#8211; Using PowerShell to interact with Linux systems 
  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>
  On Friday<strong>, 3 June at 11:00</strong> &#8211; I’m presenting “<strong>Using PowerShell Core Remoting in Cross-Platform Environments</strong>”
</p>

<p>
  Here’s the abstract
</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>
    PowerShell Core is about choice and the transport layer for Remoting is one of those choices. In this session, we’ll look at Remoting in cross-platform environments, installing and configuring OpenSSH and how we can leverage Remoting to really scale up our administrative capabilities.
  </p>
  
  <p>
    In this session, we’ll cover the following<br /> &#8211; Cross-platform Remoting use cases<br /> &#8211; Configuring SSH based Remoting<br /> &#8211; Troubleshooting Remoting
  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>
   <a href="https://psconf.eu/"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://psconf.eu/assets/svg/psconfeu-logo-blue.svg" alt="PS Conf EU logo" width="150" /></a>
</p>

Speaking at Data Grillen 2020

I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at Data Grillen 2020 the conference runs from 28 May 2020 through 29 May 2020.

This is an incredible event packed with fantastic content, speakers, bratwurst and Beer! 

**Check out the amazing schedule (**and when I say check out the amazing schedule, I really mean it. Some of the world’s best Data Platform speakers are going to be there)

On Thursday**, May 28th at 15:00** – I’m presenting “Containers –  Day 2” in the Handschuh room.

Speaking at PowerShell Summit 2020!

I’m proud to announce that I will be speaking at PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2020 the conference runs from April 27th through April 30. This is an incredible event packed with fantastic content and speakers. Check out the amazing schedule! All the data you need on going is in this excellent brochure right here! 

<p>
  This year I have two sessions!
</p>

<p>
  On Wednesday<strong>, April 29th at 09:00AM</strong> &#8211; I’m presenting “<a href="https://sessions.eventraft.com/PowerShell2020"><strong>Inside Kubernetes &#8211; An Architectural Deep Dive</strong></a>”
</p>

<p>
  Here’s the abstract
</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>
    In this session we will introduce Kubernetes, we’ll deep dive into cluster architecture and higher-level abstractions such as Services, Controllers, and Deployments and how they can be used to ensure the desired state of an application deployed in Kubernetes. In this session we will introduce Kubernetes, we’ll deep dive into each component and its responsibility in a cluster. We will also look at and demonstrate higher-level abstractions such as Services, Controllers, Deployments and Jobs and how they can be used to ensure the desired state of an application deployed in Kubernetes. By the end of this session, you will understand what’s needed to put your applications in production in a Kubernetes cluster
  </p>
  
  <p>
    Session Objectives
  </p>
  
  <ul>
    <li>
      Understand Kubernetes cluster architecture
    </li>
    <li>
      Understand Services, Controllers, and Deployments
    </li>
    <li>
      Designing Production-Ready Kubernetes Clusters
    </li>
    <li>
      Learn to run PowerShell in Kubernetes Jobs.
    </li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>