Like many I struggle with the whole idea of self promotion, it certainly doesn’t come naturally! I know it’s Christmas Eve but I needed to start this process…

These last few months have been pretty challenging for everybody and the employment market has been a little stormy to say the least. What became very apparent to me, and this was fairly obvious in hindsight, is that I don’t publicize enough of what I do; I know that I am doing a whole variety of things beyond the day job but nobody else can see any of this so at the very least I need to write some little blog articles and not get too hung up on them looking overly beautiful, that’ll come with time. I may or may not continue with Hugo, we’ll see, don’t want to get too distracted by that right now.

In general, what have I been up to?

• Courses - constantly working through the great content on Pluralsight and Udemy (a particular shout out to Scott Duffy who produces some of the best Azure content!)
• Reading - get through a fair bit on this front; do I retain every bit of information I read? Of course not, but enough of it stays embedded in the grey matter so at least I know it’s there. I’ve a group of three techie friends, we have a little WhatsApp group into which we post interesting artciles\videos etc. hardware, software and network related links. Oh, and of course the odd piece of “shiny” kit :-) One of my tasks it go get this list more visible so you too can enjoy the content that I have!
• Certification - passed AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam earlier in the year and plan is to move forward on AZ-204 - Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure over the Christmas holidays (if I am alllowed!); the change to how certifications will renew has not passed me by, seems a very sensible approach, tech changes so quickly that two years just doesn’t make sense anymore. There’s a nice little video by John Savill entitled Huge Microsoft Certification Change Announcement Breakdown which covers it well, there’s a follow up Q & A video too.
• Networks - speak to any of my friends and they will confirm that I have become a little obsessed with this (!!); as a developer one has a basic understanding of networks but I wanted to move things on somewhat. Like most people we have an every growing list of IOT devices attached to the network and security needs to be high up on the agenda. I will write some more about this in the near future but a dedicated firewall (Open Source) and an additional VLAN will shortly be added to the mix of what is already, I guess, an SME level setup.
• CCTV - unfortunately this year has seen a flurry of petty criminal activity in the area and there has been a need to up our game, never ceases to amaze me what goes on in the unlit lane at the rear of our property! One of the benefits of this is that various wildlife gets picked up on camera; cats and hedgehogs are a common site, more recently an adult fox was trundling around the garden looking for a way into next doors chicken coop!
• Cars - something else I get a little distracted by! I’m no mechanic but I find it very enjoyable and not as far away as one might think from being a developer, the diagnostic side in particular. There have been many incidents since the March 2020 lockdown when my youngest had noted the arrival of yet more tools, looked to the heavens and just sighed, LOL! And yes, I would dearly love to get out on a track day in 2021, it’s been a while!

Am I the smartest person in the room, most likely not, jees, I am not sure I am even the smartest person in my sitting room but I enjoy what I do, I am persistent and I do care!

Have a great Christmas!

* Oh, I do have one vice; I’m not a coffee drinker so I do partake of the odd Sugar Free Red Bull with multi-pack Mars bar chaser. Guilty as charged!