CloudSkills.fm

Latest Episodes:

099: Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for Azure Pros with Elkhan Yusubov Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

Though there are many challenges when training across cloud platforms, there are many similarities that make the process easier. Mike’s guest today is Elkhan Yusubov, a principal cloud architect, an Azure subject-matter expert, and an Azure Technical Trainer. He’s here to talk about cross-training on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for Azure pros. Elkhan’s goal is to help other people as cross-platform expertise can only benefit everyone!

In this episode, we talk about…

Elkhan’s hot take on what he has seen at GCP
Getting multiple teams to work together within multi-cloud environments
Main challenges with learning GCP for those experienced in Azure
The Associate Cloud Engineer Certification for GCP
Things that have happened in Elkhan’s career since he started sharing his journey
Skills that can be transferred from one cloud platform to another
Architective framework that covers the low-hanging fruit
Focus on delivering value to clients rather than personal interests
Developments since COVID changed the world
Biggest motivations for Elkhan during his cloud journey
Why failure is vital to success in your cloud journey

Resources from this episode:

Elkhan on LinkedIn
GCP Certification: Associate Cloud Engineer
Azure for GCP Professionals
Google Cloud for Azure professionals

098: Infrastructure Development with Brandon Olin Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

Learning new frameworks is always tough, but it’s incredibly important to build your foundation from the basics. Mike’s guest today is Brandon Olin, an MVP in Cloud and Datacenter Management, Site Reliability Engineer at Stack Overflow, and author of Building PowerShell Modules. Stack Overflow provides community-building and knowledge-management within its client companies through Azure technology. Brandon specializes in Infrastructure Development and is here to talk about different frameworks that he uses to do that!

In this episode, we talk about…

How COVID has affected Brandon’s life and work
Diving into Brandon’s work at Stack Overflow
Breaking down the responsibilities of an SRE
Using different framework and tools build out Stack Overflow’s platform
What readers can expect to learn from Building PowerShell Modules
How GitHubAction helps in automating software workflows
The build process for a PowerShell Module
What PowerShell testing looks like with Pester and other frameworks
Testing Terraform code for those who have never done it before
Transitioning to PowerShell Core for beginners and experienced scripters
Updates on PowerShell DSC and how Brandon uses it
Best career advice that Brandon has ever gotten

Resources from this episode:

Brandon on Twitter
Brandon's Blog
Brandon's Book: Building PowerShell Modules
Recommended Reading: The PowerShell Conference Book

097: Programming in Go with Michael Levan Dec 04, 2020

Show notes

Though its usage is not widely known, more and more people from both the development and infrastructure side are beginning to program in Go.

Mike’s guest today is Michael Levan, back on the show to discuss his shift from writing production-level code to content creation, and back to writing production-level code. He is now working at Octopus Deploy as a Developer Advocate, focusing on all the different types of integrations that tie into Octopus.

Michael is here to talk about the increase of programming in Go and just how much this programming language is being used already!

In this episode, we talk about…

Day-to-day breakdown of Michael’s job at Octopus Deploy
Diving into Go as a widely-used programming language
Michael’s book, Quality Code with Go
Who is using Go and what they are using it for
Go’s adoption on the infrastructure side with things like Terraform configurations
How Go helped Michael when learning to write Terraform
The best way to start with Go completely from scratch
Michael’s advice for anyone looking to go down the path of DevRel
Thoughts on public speaking for beginners

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-097

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

096: Cloud Security with Eric Kedrosky Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

With constant cloud innovation, the need for effective cloud security becomes more pertinent every day. Mike’s guest today is Eric Kedrosky, Director of Cloud Security Research and CISO for Sonrai Security, a company that helps businesses fortify their public cloud spaces. Eric has spent his career gathering a wealth of experience that has allowed him to become an expert in cloud security. Listen in to hear about the kinds of people that Eric is currently looking to hire!

In this episode, we talk about…

Eric’s journey to becoming a Director of Cloud Security
The uncomfortable feeling of moving to the cloud that everyone went through
Things that Sonrai is working on right now to better serve its customers
S3 bucket breaches are just the tip of the iceberg
Common patterns amongst today’s security breaches
Difficulties in covering the constantly-changing platforms
Advice for those that are entering security as a practitioner
Where certifications fall in cloud security
Desirable characteristics when hiring a Security Engineer
Educating others while understanding their perspective
Breaking down Sonrai's metadata platform
Advice for those learning cloud security

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-096

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

095: AWS Security in Practice Oct 16, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I chat with Dylan Shields about his new book AWS Security. Dylan is a software engineer working on Quantum Computing at AWS. Previously, Dylan was the first engineer on the AWS Security Hub team. He has also worked at Google Cloud, focusing on the security and reliability of their serverless data warehouse, BigQuery.

In this episode, we talk about…

Dylan breaks down his history in IT and the inspiration behind his book
Why IAM and AWS can be intimidating to a lot of people
Taking people through policies, JSON Syntax, and API operations
Examining the AWS pattern of building IAM roles and handling some of the setups
Covering AWS Security and best practices in the book
Dylan has worked in other parts of the cloud platform
Digging into security certifications and security specialties at AWS
Diving into the concepts in the book and applying them to different applications
Some of the most common attacks that customers are defending against
New integrations to manage DDoS protection and VPC
Difficulties of keeping up with AWS innovations

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-095

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

094: Azure Networking & Security with Derek Smith Oct 09, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I chat with Derek Smith about Azure Networking & Security. Derek is a Senior Azure Technical Consultant at Ahead, working to help clients with their Azure cloud journey.

In this episode, we talk about…

How Derek got into Azure and tech in general
Past networking experience has strengthened Derek as an Azure specialist today
A few common networking snags that customers tend to have trouble with
How to start with networking from scratch in Azure
Breaking down the AZ500 certification and the focus of Azure going forward
Microsoft’s possible future specialty in networking
Most people have difficulty working with dedicated circuits
Software-defined networking forced Derek to unlearn certain things
What happened with CenturyLink and their backend network issues
One of the most underrated services that Azure offers right now
How Sentinel was built to augment security capabilities
Breath in all, depth in one; advice to remember for a career in the Cloud
The best career advice that Derek has ever gotten

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-094

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

093: Microsoft Identity for Developers Oct 01, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I'm catching up with Christos Matskas and J.P. Dandison, both PM Developer Advocates from the Microsoft Identity team, about building apps with the Microsoft Identity Platform.

In this episode, we talk about…

COVID has caused an unexpected acceleration in Microsoft’s clients’ Cloud plans
Identity struggles that are being seen in the move to Cloud
J.P. and Christos work to assist people from as many industries as possible
Microsoft has built a protected identity system so that companies don’t have to
Developers need not worry because they know that Azure Active Directory is going to scale
Breaking down the disconnect for what B2C really is
.NET Core has a brand new library that has plenty of exciting features
Microsoft is increasing live streaming to developers for identity challenges and beyond
Microsoft is actually the largest security company in the world

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-093

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

092: Azure Architecture with Thomas Maurer Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

In this episode we dive into Azure Architecture with Thomas Maurer. Learn about Enterprise Scale Landing Zones, Azure Bicep, the Well Architected Framework, and more.

Thomas Maurer works as a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. As part of the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI), he engages with the community and customers around the world to share his knowledge and collect feedback to improve the Azure platform.

In this episode, we talk about...

Thomas is working with Azure Architecture to make it easier for clients to operate cloud tech
Azure Architecture is made up of three main parts
Reasons that people have not heard about Azure Arc
Cloud Adoption Framework will assist those looking to build their company with Azure
Enterprise Scale Landing Zones help plan and set up Azure environment
How the automation for the Visio landing zone operates
Azure Bicep makes it easier to write and write ARM templates
It is still very early on in the development of Azure Bicep
Microsoft Learn helps people learn all about Microsoft, not just Azure
Microsoft Build provides a 24/7 video platform as a learning resource
Advice for those that want to get into content creation
Collaborating with others is incredibly important for growth
Well-Architected Framework vs. Cloud Adoption Framework at Microsoft
It never helps anyone to act like a jerk; be polite
Even bad advice provides value if you look at it correctly

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-092

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

091: How to Start Your Cloud Journey with Chirag Nayyar Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I catch up with Chirag Nayyar who is working towards helping businesses make that shift into the cloud. Chirag comes from a background in computer science and shares the experience of his journey into the cloud coming straight out of university.

In this episode, we talk about…

Chirag’s background and journey into the Cloud field
Starting on the Azure platform gave Chirag a good foundation in the Cloud space
Getting good at one platform allows one to make sense of other platforms
The Google, AWS, and other Cloud communities have played a major part in (guest name) career
People struggle with the intimidation that comes with having conversations and speaking
Practice is always required no matter how much confidence you may have
Thoughts on the Alibaba Cloud platform and it’s presence in Asia
Great certification tips from the plethora of certificates that Chirag has under his belt (24)
Understanding the implementation of certified knowledge is one of the biggest setbacks
Challenges presented when coming from a background in computer science
Leverage your existing experience rather than starting from scratch in a career switch

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-091

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

090: Cloud & DevOps with Bart Castle Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I catch up with Bart Castle, an Expert Trainer at CBT Nuggets where he spends his days making training content while consulting on the side. Though Bart began in the blue-collar sector, he quickly found his way into DevOps which led him into the consulting side of the Cloud-computing world. Now, he is in the position to shape the content that those in the cloud and DevOps sector want to consume!

Bart Castle is an IT professional with over eighteen years of experience, Bart has become a trusted leader and subject matter expert in the Cloud Computing arena.

Bart teaches a variety of DevOps, Networking, Telephony, and traditional enterprise technology courses. He also assists organizations of all sizes by providing cloud-migration strategy and support through Castle IT Consulting.

In this episode, we talk about…

Bart’s background and how he got into cloud computing
Behavioral problems are difficult to fix with technology
A light bulb went off in Bart’s head that led him to the training space
The Cloud Credential Council gave Bart the knowledge to create effective training content
Certifications are where the real-world implementation can get lost
This multimedia world has created innovative and unique ways to learn
Content that Bart is working on right now that act as a holistic approach to learn those skills
Cloud is only going to continue to grow, so there is plenty of content opportunity
Holistic learning might be a better way to go than the certification route
AWS is putting out exciting framework and server lenses that drive businesses
There are plenty of opportunities to add extra income streams right now
Network-compute infrastructure driven areas that hold hidden opportunity
COVID has changed the world of virtual training forever

Resources from this episode:

If you'd like to read the full text transcript for this episode head over to cloudskills.io/blog/episode-090

Don't forget to subscribe to our mailing list at cloudskills.io/subscribe for weekly updates, exclusive training, and advice on how to amplify your career.

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