Welcome to the third interview of the series, where I would be interviewing the Azure experts all around the world, the focus will be on getting the insights on how to become expert and what experts did to become expert.
Read First Interview - Beginner to Azure Expert : Interview with Shivprasad Koirala
Read Second Interview - Beginner to Azure Expert : Interview with Kasam Shaikh
Today's Azure expert/guru is Susanth Sutheesh
A seasoned professional having 16+ years of experience in the IT industry.
He has been contributing a lot to community with the intention to help the students/beginners to get started with the learning journey they have started with.
He makes Azure and Microsoft 365 training content on YouTube to help students learn cloud technology for free.
Below are the few places where the contributions made by Susanth can be seen
- A Guide to cloud YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/aguidetocloud
- Cloud Diaries YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYN12Rlv9hgZlWJa1XPfdyg
- Website: https://www.aguidetocloud.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanthsutheesh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/aguidetocloud
Lets start the interview....
Mahesh: Who are you and what you do?
Susanth : My name is Susanth Sutheesh. I live with my wife and daughter. I work as a Cloud Solutions Architect, helping customers navigate through the world of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.
In 2020, I started a YouTube channel to make cloud training accessible for students worldwide for free. Since then, I have been receiving overwhelming support, motivation, and appreciation for my ambition.
A Guide to cloud YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/aguidetocloud
Cloud Diaries YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYN12Rlv9hgZlWJa1XPfdyg
Website: https://www.aguidetocloud.com/
Mahesh: When did you start working on Azure?
Susanth : I got introduced to the world of Azure back in 2015, I was working with Microsoft back then. The team I was working with had two departments, one for client solutions and another for datacenter technologies.
While I was busy learning, Microsoft Intune and Microsoft 365 related cloud services, my colleagues in the other department were excited to ramp up on Azure technologies to support our North American customers. Because we used to get together a lot, our conversations always overlapped with these new technologies. And one get to learn a lot just by being surrounded by smart people. That’s what happened to me, to be honest, without realizing it, I was learning about Azure during office coffee breaks or casual catch-up.
I took Azure seriously in 2017 after joining as a Cloud Solutions Architect for Microsoft for a leading distributor in New Zealand. My manager was kind enough to give me time and space to ramp up on the things which were new to me.
Mahesh: How did you master Azure (Learning path, amount of time)?
Susanth : I wouldn’t call myself a master in Azure. The thing with cloud technology, it’s very fluid and constantly evolving and there are plenty of overlapping services.
I make sure to read a lot by going through a lot of blogs to keep up with the trend and my go-to resource then and now is John Savill’s technical training videos on YouTube. I love the way John uses whiteboarding to explain complex topics.
Mahesh: Which are the major Azure projects you handled so far?
Susanth : Because I work with customers of different sizes, one thing that I learned early on is all the Regardless of the size of the customer or the number of servers, all Azure projects are major and important to that business.
So I stopped prioritizing projects based on the number of servers or complexity and stat looking at the impact Azure is going to create for that business. And in every project, I walk away with new learning than before.
Mahesh: What do you think is the most challenging part while working on Azure project?
Susanth : Quite the contrary, I would say that Azure has made many of the projects exciting and rewarding because of the range of cloud-based services I can pick and choose based on the business needs. Like I mentioned before, there are quite a lot of services that overlap in terms of functionality and feature, so I like the part of figuring out what's best and optimized for that environment we are creating for the customer.
Mahesh: What as per you is must to know(prerequisite) to become an Azure Expert?
Susanth : Fundamentals. Build a strong foundation. I can’t stress that enough. And have a learning appetite to keep building and acquiring new knowledge.
Mahesh: Should one consider Azure certifications? Do they add value to individual or it’s only for organization to get partnership?
Susanth : It definitely adds value to an individual if they are new to the cloud journey. If you are switching your career to cloud or if you are a student and trying to land your first cloud job, cloud certification can make you stand up outside of the crowded applicants.
The second advantage of having a certification is you gain extra credibility during the interview and hiring process.
In no way I am saying a certification can make an individual a better engineer or a developer or an architect, but certification-based learning can give that individual a structured framework to study and be laser-focused on a particular topic.
Mahesh: Microsoft keeps changing things around certifications (retiring some, bringing new ones, updating the content etc) – what’s your thought on this?
Susanth : I think it’s really good. Because cloud technology is constantly evolving and new, better and improved technologies and solutions are available at a breath-taking pace.
So it is important for the content moderators to keep the syllabus refreshed so anybody who is starting their certification journey is aware of all the latest and greatest.
Mahesh: What are your thoughts on Azure forums, blogs and articles etc.?
Susanth : I use these sources for keeping myself up to date on the latest offering and changes to Azure technology. Apart from these blogs, my go-to resource is always Microsoft docs.
I cannot thank enough to Microsoft for keeping them updated constantly.
Mahesh: Your suggestion to newcomers? What should be the approach to get started with Azure?
Susanth : It’s the best time to get into cloud technology. You can study Microsoft fundamentals certifications (Azure, M365, Dynamics, AI, Data, etc.) and figure out what area you would like to work in the future, and focus on that path to create a career for yourself. There is no shortage of content, plenty of quality content on any topic can be easily found on YouTube these days. Its about committing and challenging yourself to take the first step and be at it.
I specifically create Azure training content on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/aguidetocloud) for newcomers who cannot afford expensive training and I made the A Guide to Cloud website (https://www.aguidetocloud.com/) to make sure the content is easily available in a structured format for studying.
I made a second YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYN12Rlv9hgZlWJa1XPfdyg/featured) to help newcomers with practical tips for the beginner cloud engineer, transitioning into tech, finding the right cloud job, and career development.
Mahesh: There are many tools from community which are used while working with Azure, what do you say about it? Which ones you would recommend? Why? No Microsoft support available?
Susanth : Its up to the professional to leverage the tools are services available they feel it's appropriate for a project or scope. Microsoft is a partner-led company, they try to encourage partners to create new tools and offerings to make customer life easier and give freedom and flexibility to choose the tool they like.
Mahesh: What is the future of Azure?
Susanth : Onward and upwards. As you can see the cloud transformation is just started and Azure is a leader in the space.
Mahesh: Do you think the cost of using cloud services for long time will be more than having infrastructure on prem.? (Where transactions are in millions or more)?
Susanth : I think its going to be the opposite. Moving the workload to the cloud is the first chapter in the customer’s journey. Modernization & optimization is going to be a default factor for all cloud workloads, so you constantly evaluate to make sure if you are using the right technology for the solution and are those solution designed with optimization in mind. Because of the cloud these things are possible.
Mahesh: How do you see Azure compared to other cloud platform?
Susanth : Leader.
Mahesh: What motivates you to do the community work?
Susanth : I believe in sharing knowledge. I learned a lot from the community when I was growing up, eg. I literally learned cloud concepts and fundamentals by going through John Savill's videos. So this is me giving back to the next generation.
Thanks a lot Susanth for taking out time and sharing your valuable thoughts with us.
Feel free to ask questions to Susanth in comments!!!