Careering Out of Control

John Lunn is a Microsoft MVP currently working in the Microsoft Azure space. He blogs, vlogs, tweets, tiktoks and twitches at JonnyChipz about all things Azure, and has founded the Welsh Azure User Group. Today, John talks with us about his career to date, how he has pivoted on a number of occasions which has allowed him to reinvent himself a couple of times, and about what has caused a step-change in his career over the past couple of years. John has great passion and fantastic tips and career advice - have a listen!

Megan is a Microsoft MVP for Business Applications, has a background in Microsoft Dynamics and the Power Platform suite, and is a Consultant working for herself in this space. She co-hosts the UP Podcast where she discusses all the latest updates in the Dynamics space, blogs at MeganVWalker.com and is on Twitter & LinkedIn. We discuss her career to date starting out in the Hospitality and Retail sector, how she has pivoted and levelled up several times over her career, the importance of creating a brand image and her tips for what you should do if you are looking for that next step in your career. Have a listen, and tell your friends!

Peter Rising is a Microsoft MVP who works as a Principal Consultant with a focus on M365 Security & Compliance at Softcat. Peter is a blogger, an author of 2 books, he writes for Practical365,  and can be found on Twitter & LinkedIn. In this episode Peter and I discuss his tips for career success including having a mindset that says yes, how you can be a 'late bloomer' and still find your passion for technology, and we discuss how his career has developed at pace over the past few years starting out with taking some Microsoft certifications through to becoming a Microsoft MVP. Have a listen!

Joe Hodkinson is a Cloud Architect at global manufacturer PZ Cussons. Joe is a co-founder of the Northern Azure User Group, he blogs and you can find him on LinkedIn & Twitter. In this episode Joe discusses his career path to date, and we dig into his decision to move towards a less technical role. We talk about his mindset for learning and the challenges around the pace of change in the technical world, and the importance of building a network and finding your community. Have a listen!!

Justin Morris is currently working for Microsoft as a Microsoft Teams Meeting Ranger helping customers get the most out of Teams. He is a former Microsoft MVP for Unified Communications, comes from a consulting and architectural background, and you can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter. In this episode, Justin discusses his evolution from technologist into a more commercial sales driven role and back again including time spent building a business unit from scratch, and how his technical skills have changed alongside this. His advice today revolves around identifying where & how you can add value in an organisation, and being proactive in creating opportunities for your self. Have a listen!

Angela Bos is a Senior Marketing Manager at Microsoft, and comes from a tech background working as a Presales Consultant and Technical Specialist in the Microsoft Unified Communications space. You can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. Angela is a champion for Diversity & Inclusion in the tech scene and is the Women in Technology lead on the Women@Microsoft UK board, she speaks globally on a range of subjects and was nominated for a CRN Women in Channel Award 2020. In this episode, Angela shares her story and gives some fascinating insights into a 'Squiggly' Career Path, the importance of community and Personal Brand in career development, and discusses some options for increasing the candidate pool of diverse applicants.

Samit Saini is a Microsoft MVP for Business Applications working as the Power Platform Administrator at Heathrow Airport. You can find Samit on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube and his story is quite frankly one of the most inspiring I have had the pleasure to hear. 2 years ago Samit was a Security Guard at Heathrow who started playing around with PowerApps in his evenings, and from there he was transported into the crazy world of tech ending up on stage with Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, in front of 20,000 people. You can read more about this here. On the episode we discuss how the career paths into IT have changed, the importance of finding your community for learning and advice, and what a new mindset for learning and development has done for Samit personally and professionally.

Gregor Suttie is a Microsoft MVP for Azure currently working as an Azure Architect for Intercept, a Microsoft Consulting firm. Greg blogs at https://gregorsuttie.com/, he co-runs the Glasgow Azure User Group, is active on Twitter  and LinkedIn, and he also has written a ton of Study Guides for Azure Certifications. In this episode Gregor discusses what he thinks it takes to level up your career: his advice includes committing to learning, finding your community to learn from and contribute to, and we look at the importance of networking.

Lesley Crook is a Microsoft MVP for Yammer who works as a Teams Adoption Specialist at Symity. She blogs on LinkedIn and can be found on Twitter where Lesley writes and shares all things Yammer and Teams with a clear focus on collaboration, training and change management. Her background is non-technical and she found herself in the Tech industry after falling in love with the Yammer product and nurturing its rollout to more than 50,000 users while at GSK. With a Secretarial and Internal Comms background she is now a User Adoption and Marcomms professional, Lesley has interesting insights on what it takes to reinvent your career, including putting yourself in uncomfortable situations, sharing your work by Working Out Loud and trying a Growth Mindset.

Steve Goodman is a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps & Services who works as an Architect at Content & Cloud. He has written numerous books, was a founder of the Microsoft Cloud User Group (MSCUG), runs the All About 365 podcast with Jay & Steve, is a long-time contributor to Practical 365… the list goes on. Steve’s advice includes working on your interpersonal and ‘soft’ communication skills, involving yourself with the community in your technical area (maybe evening speaking at a meetup or user group), blogging about what you are learning as a way of really understanding it and keeping yourself honest. He also gives advice on eating elephants. I kid you not.