The month of April is not a joke to me. The month isn’t over yet but I already did a total of 7 Azure tech talks in about 24 days. It looks like April 2021 is the month that I would remember in my public speaking experience.
I broke my own record for the first time that I didn’t expect I could!
My Passion and Purpose Drives Me to Public Speaking
I am not an expert public speaker, but it a personal passion to just share knowledge, connect with great interesting people and inspire others about my stories, my experiences (good and bad), lessons learned, and more. So, when I can and want to, I take the opportunities that came along my way.
Public speaking preparations can take some of my free time but all of it is worth it. Why? Continue reading and you will find out what drives me to do the voluntary activities I do.
When I devote to do something with a purpose, I put my heart to it sincerely. I do not really count the time or money that I invested in volunteering activities. Nor consider them as tedious tasks.
In fact, genuinely sharing my experience and my knowledge to help and inspire also gives me energy, inspiration and motivation. I like seeing the impact of it and most of all connecting with inspiring people.
An Introvert Shy Girl Turned Into a Brave Public Speaker + Software Developer
If it was possible to meet the child version of me, I am sure that my past self wouldn’t believe that the her future self have really got really out of her comfort zone – To make a difference through public speaking and mentoring.
When I was young, I was very shy, super introvert and was afraid to be in the crowd. I used to hide behind my late mother, every time I had to present in public activities in my elementary school days long time ago.
Sad to say, my mother died of breast cancer when I was 18. I really missed her. I’ve been through a lot of tough times in life. But if my mother was alive right now or watching me right now, I am sure that she could have been proud of me. Seeing how much I challenged myself and tried daring doing things that I couldn’t dare before when I was a young child.
Why Give, Instead of Take?
Just recently, I have been busy and at the same time reflective about that I have been doing. Aside from my full time job, I have been doing a lot of volunteering in different areas and different places.
Some people think that what I am doing being a “role model” is not “measurable” in numbers and results are not concrete.
So, it made me wonder and deeply reflect…
Does making a difference really have to be measured? Or measuring is just a way for us get our statistics done?
Results doesn’t always come in numbers, results reveal its power in different ways. Results can be shown in the invisible impact and in every small difference you make or impacted into someone.
It is the reality. Some intangible things are just not easy to evaluate and measure. We never know the difference and impact we can make until we try and just do it.
Randomly, I encountered and read an article entitled, 7 Key Behaviors of People Who Make a Positive Difference In the World.
I’m humbly surprised the 7 points really reveals how I see things.
Like why I am doing what I am doing. I really give my best to meaning and purpose that I believe.
I respect that some people may have different opinions about this, but to me, living with a purpose and knowing your “WHY” is important.
Look around you and you’ll see three kinds of people — those who hate their work, and complain bitterly, those who just tolerate their work and see it as a paycheck and aren’t looking for more (or feel they can’t have more), and finally, those who love their work, and relish it. The third category is a small subset of all professionals globally, but this group stands out because these are, most often, the people who change the world for the better.
7 Key Behaviors of People Who Make a Positive Difference In the World, Huffpost.com
Why We Should Have More Female Role Models?
One of my first public talks was about Gender Inequality Problem in Tech at Virtual Azure Community Day in December 2020.
In that talk, I heartily jotted down and shared my thoughts the reasons I know why we need to do something about it. I personally have seen and experienced the effects of gender inequality and inclusion problem.
If you missed it, check out the recorded event of VACD on YouTube, Gender Inequality Problem in Tech: Why is it a problem and how can we fix it?
The 7 International Azure Tech Talks
AzureThursday – Things To Consider Before Migrating Old .NET Applications to The Cloud
On April 1st, I was one of the guest speakers at AzureThursday. I spoke and shared about my experience and lessons learned from an Azure migration project and suggested Microsoft Azure Cloud Adoption Framework.
It was “April fools day” but to that day, I myself along with other speakers Kati Franz, Dawuda Iddrisu and Robin Smorenburg were talking about serious Azure-related stuff that were worth sharing.
From Azure Migration, Azure MERN stack and Azure Bakery!
One of the best things in that event too is that my talk were translated into sign language by a live sign language interpreter! I am glad that AzureThursday cares about this accessibility option especially that my sister can only communicate using sign language. I give KUDOS to AzureThursday for such initiative!
AzureLive – Jumpstart with Serverless .NET Development with Azure Durable Functions
On April 13th, I was one of the 12 speakers at first AzureLive event. The event had a flexible and inclusive program where the registered viewers have the option to choose the sessions. The event was physically located in the Netherlands for live Studio sessions and I was on the live digital sessions.
I talked and shared about an introductory and fundamentals overview of Azure Durable Functions in .NET – from what cloud and serverless computing is to Azure Functions and the powerful extension of it Durable Functions (Serverless/FaaS).
The AzureLive event was a great experience. I think it was very well organized and planned. Great team behind it who seems to have a great collaboration in front and behind the scenes.
Being one of the Azure speakers is an experience I won’t forget as well!
GlobalAzure 2021 Norway (NNUG Olso) – A Technical Overview of Azure Service Bus
Just after 3 days, on April 16th, I spent my Friday after work speaking at GlobalAzure 2021 – Norway hosted by NNUG Oslo – Norwegian .NET User Group Oslo.
On Day 2 of Global Azure Norway, I was one of the 4 speakers. During my talk, I shared the fundamentals and technical overview of Azure Service Bus, an Azure cloud messaging service.
The organizer’s at NNUG Oslo have been very helpful and communicative in organizing the event. Making sure that all GlobalAzure speakers in their sessions had all they needed. A KUDOS to Håkan Silfvernagel of NNUG for that!
Check out the rest of interesting technical sessions of other speakers like Catherine Wilhemsen, Mattias Lögdberg, and Lorenzo Barbieri on NNUG’s YouTube Channel.
GlobalAzure 2021 Philippines- Continuous Learning and Development with Microsoft Azure
The next day, Saturday, April 17th, I had to get up early for my second Global Azure session, this time for the Philippines Edition hosted by Azure User Group Manila (AZUGMNL) hosted by Jon Limjap of Philippine .NET User Group, and organized/hosted by Marilag Dimatulac, who was also one of the speakers. Check out her interesting talk too!
It was an honor and I was glad to be part of it, especially with other Filipinos in tech kababayans. Philippines is special to me, it is one of my home countries and it is where I grew up.
Watch the recorded event Global Azure Philippine Edition.
I wish Adrienne Tacke was part of the Global Azure Philippine Edition, but she did a great talk explaining Azure Durable Functions with cooking Lumpia illustration on Global Azure 2021 Featured Tracks.
ForDevs DEVShow – Serverless Development with Azure Durable Functions in .NET
On April 20th, I had another opportunity to share about Azure Durable Functions at ForDevs Community Meetup Group after work. Even though the we missed Rasmus, one of the hosts of the show, it was a good experience especially meeting Sherry List’s dog Lance before we went live. It was nice that she liked my creative illustration of durable functions as the dog training I do with my dog 🙂 The session had a good interaction with the audience. Looks like Serverless development would be something that would be useful to all of us.
If you missed the show, feel free to re-watch the recorded session at DevShow’s YouTube Channel.
GlobalAzure 2021 Philippines – Continuous Learning and Development with Microsoft Azure
On April 24th, Saturday, lunch time, I spent time inspiring tech and cloud in ULAP.org’s first online community event, Cloud Career Talks and Cloud Scholarship Q&A.
Ulap.org is a non-profit organization with a great purpose of making a difference. The organization was founded by two Filipina friends Marilag Dimatulac and Michelle Tabirao, both of them are Denmark-based cloud experts and professionals. The purpose of the organization is to help and provide cloud scholarships, professional training, and community events to underrepresented Filipino students in the Philippines.
I myself had studied Computer Science through a government scholarship program in the Philippines, I am glad that Ulap.org has this initiative to help those who cannot afford a good education.
This is one of the reasons why I love being a volunteer to this organization because I can relate to its purpose. I was once a youth in the Philippines whose parents could not afford for a higher education for me. But because of my desire to follow my dreams and through the scholarship I was granted to, I was able to study a good education as one of my stepping stones to my cloud career now.
You may re-watched the recorded Cloud Career Talks we had as well as Ulap.org’s cloud scholarship program on YouTube: ULAP.org Cloud Career Talks and Cloud Scholarship Q&A and listen to us speak our Filipino language!
I also like how Marilag explained “Ulap”, the FIlipino word for “Cloud”.
The 3.5 floppy disks and tube computers remind me of my good days in school!
Extended GlobalAzure 2021 – Career in Cloud Q & A Session with Jonah, Maxim, and Robin hosted by Microsoft User Group Ghana
On the same day, I hopped in to another Career in Cloud Q&A event hosted by Microsoft User Group Ghana. The event is an extended version of Global Azure this year.
It was a great experience to connect with Microsoft User Group Ghana (MUGGH) and to share knowledge together along with Maxim Salnikov (Cloud Expert and Tech Communities Lead) and Robin Smorenburg (Principal Cloud Engineer). Moderator Audrey Mengue (Software Engineer) did a great job in moderating the Q&A and discussions.
I am very glad to meet such great and inspiring tech professionals and user group in Ghana. It was my pleasure to be part of such sharing knowledge event! Something I cannot forget.
If you missed it, feel free to watch our recorded event on Microsoft User Group Ghana’s YouTube Channel, Career in Cloud.
My Personal Key Takeaways from my Tech Talks
- If you dare get out of your comfort zone, you will be amazed and surprised the great rewards and benefits of it
- Networking and connecting with people with same purpose, vision and interests are great
- In public speaking, you do not need to be expert or trained at it, as long as you have something to give and share + follow your heart, you will break the chains of the fear of being in the crowd
- Meeting new interesting people with interesting and inspiring stories are very motivational
- The more you give the more you receive – Aside from gaining new friends and contacts, I won Microsoft swags from Global Azure coming to the my mailbox, got a speaker gift box from AzureLive and also a new designed AzureHeroes KUDOS badge!
- Never stop learning, never stop sharing because knowledge is power
- Share your purpose, knowledge, and stories to others who might be inspired and learn from it
- Give great value in the power of collaborating tech communities
- Inspiring to meet people who are making differences like and who are driven by their passion and purpose in the communities
This deep reflective overview of my April 2021 Microsoft Azure Tech Talks have it all. To those I missed to mention on each event, I want to thank you all!
About Author: Jonah Andersson is a Filipina-Swedish Software Developer who codes fullstack system development in C# .NET/NET Core. She currently works as a Software Developer Consultant at Forefront Consulting in Sweden. Jonah is passionate about learning, developing and sharing knowledge about Microsoft Azure cloud technologies. A woman who code advocating gender equality in the tech industry through mentorship and by being role model. She also loves creative technical writing her experience.