Learning Microsoft Azure

From Civil Engineer Aspirations to Azure Author

Håkan Silfvernagel: So hello, and welcome to another episode here. And I'm very happy to be able to introduce Jonah Andersson. So Jonah Andersson is an MVP in Azure. She's a public speaker, and she works as a senior Azure consultant at Solidify. She's also a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a podcast host. And today, I guess the main reason here is because she's also a book author on O'Reilly. So she has written this book here, "Learning Microsoft Azure." So we're going to talk a little bit more about the book and also her motivation here for writing this book. So welcome, Jonah.

Jonah Andersson: Hi, Håkan Silfvernagel. So great to be part of this episode of "GOTO Book Club" today. Thank you for having me.

Håkan Silfvernagel: Thank you. So I think it can be worthwhile here just to go back a little bit in time here and talk about your early life and what was your inspiration as a young woman and as a young girl, what led you into this field of technology.

Jonah Andersson: That's a very interesting question. Every story has its importance on our journey for each of us. But my journey is very special in tech because, originally, I did not plan to work as a programmer or as a developer or even to work as a writer. But my journey started in the Philippines. I grew up in a family that's just, like, middle class or not rich, you can call it. Eldest of four children. And then, when I was young, I used to be very shy, and I did not have a plan to work in IT. But my dream job was to work as a civil engineer because, when I was young, I liked sketching and drawing, and I liked the idea of being unique in building something. And back then, in the Philippines, civil engineering was a men-dominated kind of job, and it kind of, like, intrigued me and interested me. I want to do that because it's different.

So to make the long story short, when it was time for me to go to college, my mother, my father said, "Jonah, we can't afford to send you to a civil engineering course in the Philippines," because in the Philippines college is not actually free. Your parents have to pay for it or you have to be a scholar. So when they said that, I was disappointed, but I did not lose hope. So I took a scholarship that randomly came to my school. I took that without telling my parents, and then I came home and said one day I got a scholarship. But civil engineering wasn't part of it, so I ended up choosing one of the courses offered by the scholarship, and that was computer science. And that's the beginning of my interest in IT.

I worked, I studied, and then I graduated as a scholar. But then my mother died when I was 18 or was graduating. Instead of working as a programmer or developer at that time, in my hometown, in Dumaguete, in the Philippines, I ended up being the breadwinner of the family, taking care of my three younger siblings. I worked not as a programmer but a tech support, worked several jobs, as a travel consultant, remote working. Until I moved to Sweden, like, 2011. I said, "I want to go back to where I should be doing," which is programming or development. So I studied more computer programming courses in the Yrkeshögskolan in Sweden for a few years, and then I've been a consultant now for the last nine years. So that's my journey, the short version, the speed version.

Håkan Silfvernagel: And now, what made you inspired here to write this book? What was sort of your motivation here?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, I was very inspired to write this book. Actually, it was unplanned. I loved reading books, like, both books about leadership, about self-improvement, because I always want to improve myself. But then, when I was a junior consultant or junior developer, I was involved in a cloud migration project in which I had a big responsibility to migrate an existing .NET old application up to a cloud platform, which is Microsoft Azure. At that time, I was a beginner of Azure. I was also a beginner in cloud development. But I learned a lot from that journey to the point that, after the project, I decided, or a few years ago, I decided to write this book because I noticed that in my project and even other companies that they are moving to cloud or trying to modernize without really thinking strategically and clearly about the steps that they need to do, and it's not just about moving to cloud but also having the knowledge and important factors when it comes to cloud migration.

Håkan Silfvernagel: So, can you say that is one of the motivations, was that when you started out you were sort of missing some resources? So if you would have this book, you almost wrote it for yourself but for your historic self. If you would have written this book back then, it would have helped you a lot, I suppose.

Jonah Andersson: Yes, that's right. I wrote this book because it is a book that I want someone or a developer like me back in the past that had the same journey as I did because I went through the journey of the lift-and-shift to virtual machine, the refactoring of an old code to try to put it in a platform as a service, to re-architecting and rebuilding the entire applications, the works in production. But then that system didn't make it to production not because I did not complete the project to modernize it but because the organizations that are using the system were not so confident and ready about the cloud, and they lack this knowledge that cloud is actually very good when it comes to making your applications or systems global or scalable or flexible.

A Beginner-Friendly Azure Guide

Håkan Silfvernagel: I would like to talk a little bit more here about your book, Jonah. So first of all, you know, learning Azure is a very big topic. So, how did you go about, you know, when you were writing this book? How did you do a good division of the subject?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. So when I wrote the book, of course, my goal, I mean, the reason why I wrote the book was because of my cloud migration journey, which I learned a lot both as a beginner and all the lessons learned. But I laid out the book to be beginner-friendly, and we talked about inclusion in tech and including everybody in any technology that we are sharing or talking about, either by books, IT training, or conferences. And my personal goal, I mean, personal preference when I speak, when I write, when I deliver something, is to think that there might be someone reading my book that is a beginner who wants to break into cloud computing or cloud engineering.

So I laid out my book to be beginner-friendly in which the first chapter starts by talking about cloud computing, the basics of it, and the fundamentals of it. And then I stepped into one of the platforms that I mentioned in the first chapter. So in the first chapter, I was also inclusive in all the cloud computing platforms. So I told the readers that there are major platforms, also, even though the book is about learning Microsoft Azure, but there's also Google Cloud, AWS, Alibaba, IBM, those others. But I was honest to my reader to say this is Azure-focused.

And the second chapter talks about Microsoft Azure fundamentals, which is the general, like, overview of the platform itself. And then the remaining chapters were chapters that are categorized in different categories within the Azure platform itself. So I have a chapter dedicated for computer services and Azure. I have a chapter dedicated for databases, for SQL servers, like, topics. I have a chapter for AI and machine learning and IoT. I have a topic about cloud migration and architecture, well-architected framework, and any cloud migration steps that you need to consider. I have a topic dedicated for security inside the book, and I also have a topic related to DevOps and monitoring, which is important.

So the entire book is actually full-packed with a lot of learning fundamentals for anybody, and it's inclusive to both beginners, intermediate, and even those that have worked with cloud for a while but they want to refresh their skills in this technology. So in total, it's like, I have 14 chapters in this book, and it took almost 18 months or almost 2 years for me to write the book in my spare time, besides my full-time consulting job.

Håkan Silfvernagel: I guess another challenge here in writing a book over time is that, you know, technology is also evolving, new frameworks appear. Like, for example, I suppose that when you started writing the book, generative AI or ChatGPT was probably not around, but you know, when you finished the book, that was a very hot topic. How did you do, you know, to make sure to include, you know, the latest developments?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, that's very, very, what to call that...that's a reality. I think I met other book writers about, like, writing a book about technology and that technology evolves all the time. So in my journey, I did have that challenge or have to handle it as well. So one example is, like, ChatGPT. So when I was almost done with the book, I think, when I was in the 13th or 14th chapter, that's when also, like, last year, ChatGPT and the different versions of it and AI services started to appear in the Microsoft arena or even open-source. So I had to insert that topic in my AI/machine learning chapter and edit it. And I know that you are one of the reviewers also, Håkan Silfvernagel, so I do appreciate your contribution to that.

Another challenge I had in the process of writing the book was when Microsoft Azure changed the name of one of their major services when it comes to identity, the Azure AD, it was changed to Entra ID. So when it happened just a few months when I was almost done with the book, I mean, one month left, I had to go back to the second chapter, I believe, to change the names of the topic, I mean, the name of AD to Microsoft Entra ID and then make changes to the illustrations from the beginning to the end. So it has these steps that before the book is published, there's a new change, you try to put it as much as possible, but you cannot do that all the time, especially when the book is printed.

So probably the second edition is an alternative to updating the online version and working with the publisher is the next step when it comes to updating the book. And I know that my book needs updating, especially the AI chapter. I know that.

Transformation to a Confident Public Speaker

Håkan Silfvernagel: I think another thing that I would like to talk to you about is this thing, you becoming a public speaker. Because you've mentioned here in previous interviews that, when you grew up, you were actually quite shy as a child, but now, you know, you're standing on a large stage in front of hundreds of viewers, and you're also a certified trainer, training many people. How did that transition come to be?

Jonah Andersson: That is a great question. It's also part of my journey from the Philippines with this, like, background of history of resiliency to moving to Sweden, being an IT consultant, and now having this person standing on stages and teaching technology or Azure cloud to others. So that journey, actually, what inspired me to go take the journey, which is a journey that just happens, is my passion to share knowledge because of my experience and lessons learned. So I did mention in the earlier question that you had that I used to be very shy. I was a breadwinner, but I was also very scared of public speaking, and I didn't start public speaking until I was so interested about what I do in tech. And of course, I had the opportunity to teach kids programming in my city in Sweden, in Sundsvall, as a consultant, and then I did some teaching of programming to kids. And I saw that while I was teaching JavaScript and block programming, my students were all boys, and there were, like, one or two girls, and there were not so many. And I thought to myself, quietly, "Why is it that there's not so many ladies or girls interested in technology? What I do is fun, and I think there's potential."

So to make the long story short, I had the opportunity to stand on stage in front of the students in a Nordic column in Sundsvall. That's my first public speech. I wasn't so fluent in Swedish then. I spoke Swedish anyway for 15 minutes and shared to the kids or to the youth why I started working in IT, and that kind of, like, impressed me in a way that public speaking wasn't so bad. So I started public speaking virtually by starting Azure User Group Sweden, which I co-host also with you, and I also started virtual public speaking, especially during the pandemic, when all of us were locked down and working remotely and learning remotely together. So that's how it started. And now the world opened up after the pandemic, so I've been invited to speak in many conferences. So I've been to five conferences in a row this past two weeks. So, yeah, so impressive and at the same time humbled that I'm being appreciated in what I do.

Håkan Silfvernagel: And how would you say, you know, this conference speaking at different places here, how would that influence your career and also, you know, your personal growth?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. First, our career, the reason... Career, it did really help me. I mean, aside from growing my professional social network in LinkedIn, for example, since I started public speaking a few years ago, I grew my followers from just 500 normal connections to now almost 14,000 followers that I met at conferences or just saw me somewhere, read my book. So that increased my followers. But it's just followers, they're just a number. But career-wise, I did prove to my employers or even my project leaders that I am credible in working in these technologies that I'm talking about because I learn by doing and I teach by doing, and that's quite inspiring.

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Advocate for Diversity, Inclusion, and Mentorship in Tech

Håkan Silfvernagel: I know another thing that is close to your heart here is about, you know, how we can promote diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Can you say a little bit, a couple of words about that? What are your thoughts about how we can go about doing that?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. For me, to promote diversity and inclusion is not just about having this 50% women, 50% men, or like, these numbers for companies, because I know many companies are aiming to have more female developers. But how can we create that? For me, my perspective as someone trying to be a role model, so I won Developer of the Year awards last year and this year also. To me, being a role model in creating a diverse workplace means that you are including everybody. As an individual, you are including everybody in everything that you do, whatever it is, teaching, or conversation, or even work that we do together or as a team. And for me, in an organization, it is important to listen and to have respect to different cultures and different backgrounds and be sensitive about maybe that person, like, for example, I came from a different background, and one of the challenges I had when I was a junior developer working in Sweden in IT coming from a culture that is an Asian culture, a different culture, was to adjust to the culture of the IT workplace that I'm working to. So vice versa. I think truly respecting and understanding each other's background and including everybody's opinion is one of the best ways. And being a role model is very important to keep inspiring with knowledge.

Håkan Silfvernagel: And also, in addition to being a role model, you are also very active as a mentor. Can you say a little bit about what are your thoughts about mentorship? And what do you think are some important aspects of being a mentor?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. Thank you for that. That's a good question. So mentorship is one of the important skills that I really like to both apply in myself and also I like to give to others. Mentorship, to me, in my perspective, is a two-way relationship where you build this trust between you and the mentee or the other way, if you're a mentee, with your mentor, in a way that you build this collaborative relationship to help each other either in career development or being good, being better in programming with .NET or programming with Azure. So mentorship is a two-way relationship, and it plays a vital role when it comes to creating a good culture, a good workplace environment, and even inviting more women in tech or more inclusive tech in any organization or any project.

Advice for Aspiring Tech Professionals and Women in Tech

Håkan Silfvernagel: And you've talked a little bit here about your background and how you got into tech here. What would you say here for those who are listening to this podcast here and maybe they are just at the start of their own journey? What are some practical steps that they could take to get started into the tech field?

Jonah Andersson: A good question, I like that. I would have asked this also to myself if I was a beginner and would need advice. So taking the first steps, like, baby steps are very important. So my advice is to, first, I mean, regardless of whatever situation that you have, because we can grow up... I mean, I grew up in the Philippines, and I didn't end up...I would be in Sweden and I would be an author. So destiny and, like, life just throw you to places you don't expect, you don't know. But my advice is that when you know your passion and your why and the things that you want to do in life or in your career, in IT, go for it. Try to chase it even if opportunities may not come now, but keep chasing the dream or the passion that you have and the career that you want, especially in IT.

Number two is to build your network and find mentors that you can be inspired by. So there are a lot of experts that truly inspire others, and they're passionate about what I do, like myself. I'm very passionate about what I do. And then lastly is to also, like, build your career and skills in tech or IT by going to courses, going to conferences, and learning in a community by being part of it. And don't be shy to share your knowledge to others, even if it's lessons learned or mistakes that you solved. Just show it because there might be someone out there that doesn't know about you or heard about you that you can help with your solution. So those are my top three. I have more, for sure, but those are the top.

Håkan Silfvernagel: And how would you say...because, as we all know, tech is a field that is rapidly evolving here and continuous learning is essential here. So, do you have some practices or some strategies for how you can keep your own skills up to date?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, good question. One of the tips I have when it comes to upskilling is to, of course, use the resources that's available, like books, conferences, meetups for community, and also certifications. So regardless of whatever platform that you're trying to learn in terms of cloud or programming languages that you want to do hands-on, choose a focus area that you want to do and you think that's very interesting personally, and then go for aiming that certification, or learning at least one programming language if you're a developer to start with. And then next is to, of course, apply what you learned and share it out. So you do the learning, the application, and the knowledge sharing, so all top three steps.

Håkan Silfvernagel: I would like to finish this discussion talking about the vision here for the future, because you're also the co-host for the "Extend Women in Tech" podcast. What vision do you have for the future of women in the field of tech, and what steps do you think are necessary to realize that vision?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, lovely question. Lots of questions, great questions from you, Håkan Silfvernagel, yes. So yes, I'm a co-host of a podcast, "Extend Women in Tech," and it is a side project, like, nonprofit project that I do in my spare time with my friend, developer friend from Stockholm, Tsedey. She's also, like, from Africa or from a different country who moved to Sweden, and she really was passionate about this. And our vision is to invite anybody, especially women in tech or underrepresented groups, to come into our podcast and share about their tech stories, regardless if they are junior developers or any role they have in IT.

So I believe that, in terms of the vision of the future of how we can bring in more women or inclusive tech in organizations today, it's truly about building this culture of welcoming everybody regardless of their background and also lifting up those underrepresented groups that are not often lifted out normally. And for the women that are underrepresented or those that are not being lifted up, don't wait to be lifted up by someone or by your employer. Do something about it. If you really want to inspire others and share your knowledge, do it. Share the knowledge to the world and tell what you can do.

Because I noticed that since I started public speaking and just inspiring people on social media or LinkedIn, conferences, women that are working as a developer just reach out to me after my talk, and they just say, "Jonah Andersson, I'm very inspired about what you do. I want to be like you." And hearing that from others is truly inspiring, and I want those women in tech or underrepresented people in tech that were inspired by me, be inspired as well so that they can forward it to others. So that's how we take effect, good effect at least, in my perspective.

The Journey of Writing an Azure Book

Håkan Silfvernagel: I know you have a big network here, both within the MVP community, within the Microsoft Certified Trainer community, and for public speakers, in general. Could you use that somehow as an inspiration here or as a help in your writing this book?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, I did. I love sharing knowledge, and I'm passionate about it, but I also want to include everybody in a way that, "Hey, I am the writer of this book, and I wrote it myself," but I can be biased or I can be someone that doesn't have so many skills. I mean, I can write a book, I can be an expert at something, but I want to involve the other experts. So what I did, I have a lot of friends from the Microsoft Certified Trainers community, as you said, public speakers as well, and MVPs. So what I did is that aside from writing my book, I reached out to my friends that I know that are good in, like, AI or good in databases. I reached out to them and said, "Hey, I have this book I'm writing. Would you mind contributing at least one or two sentences of your expert code about this topic of, like, architecture on Azure or cloud databases?"

So 14 chapters, so I asked 14 people, people I chose one by one, picked them and say, "Can you write one?" And they did volunteer their time and even those that did tech reviews and those that are early readers. So I really, really appreciate it, and I think I involved more or less, like, 30 or 40 people from the community that are experts. So the book is compact with those contributions. And including the foreword, two of them, and then the afterword, I personally choose the person and the community friends that will write about it because of what they do also for others.

Håkan Silfvernagel: You spent almost two years writing this book, but what are your thoughts about writing another book?

Jonah Andersson: That's a good question. I have a plan to update my book, especially the AI chapter. I have to go through, read my own book in another perspective, and the hat of, also, an expert to say, "What do I need to update?" I have a plan to update it, but in terms of writing a new book, maybe I will write something about, like, cloud-native or serverless, but no plan yet. It's because I'm working on...I just recorded or started making or building my first on-demand course with O'Reilly, which is, hopefully, coming up in the next few months. It's an on-demand course about breaking into cloud engineering, which is beginner-friendly to those developers who want to learn cloud. So on-demand courses, for now, and probably a book next year. I don't know yet. It depends on how it goes with my time and the passion that comes in.

Håkan Silfvernagel: I know you're also a passionate reader, not only tech books but also books in general here. Would you consider writing a non-tech book?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, I actually have a plan that, before I retire at least, or latest, I'm going to write a book about my self-biography. I mean, I like reading books, but I was thinking, I have so much to share about myself. I mean, like, first, life-wise, the resiliency and lessons learned I have in my life, and also, technology-wise. So I've been through a good journey in IT that I know that many will be inspired by. So I hope to write my own biography, self-biography someday, in a few years. And I have my ideas already in my mind. I just don't know if I'm going to self-publish it or if I'm going to look for a publisher that supports nontechnical books.

Håkan Silfvernagel: And what would you say here, you know, apart from your own book, what would you be able to give some recommendation here, both for a tech book and also a non-tech book you think would be worthwhile for our viewers?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. It depends on the topic, of course. There's so many good work, right? But of course, if it's Azure, I would recommend my book, "Learning Microsoft Azure: Cloud Computing and Development Fundamentals." But there are other good books, especially in the GOTO Book Club. I know that there are some, like, previous episodes that are really good. Many O'Reilly books are pretty good, and other publishers also have quality books. But there was one that I like, which is an O'Reilly book, good probably for your architects or developers, "Designing Data-Driven Applications" by Martin, I forgot the exact name. But that book is one of my good technical book. And for nontechnical, I love reading leadership books. So one of my favorite one is by Simon Sinek, "Find Your Why," and it is a book that will help you think about why you do what you do, and it will inspire you.

And when it comes to public speaking, one of the recent books that I read that was recommended by another speaker in one of the conferences is a book called "The Charisma Myth," which is a good one. I read it, like, in one week, with lots of bookmarks. And I think I'm going to read it again. I bought a second copy because I'm going to give it away to other friends who are trying to do public speaking. It's not just about public speaking, "The Charisma Myth" book, but it's also about communication to others, which is good when it comes to team collaboration in any IT project.

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Håkan Silfvernagel: Nice. And for those of you who have your book and would like to have it autographed, where can they meet you now in the future?

Jonah Andersson: Yes. I will be in GOTO Copenhagen next week or soon, I mean, depending on when this episode is going to be released. My next conference is in GOTO Copenhagen. I will be speaking about developing serverless or developing Azure-durable functions to solve a complex workflow when it comes to developing event-driven apps on Azure. And then, after GOTO Copenhagen, I have another scheduled conference in Scotland, Scottish Summit. I know you will be there also, Håkan Silfvernagel. And then a few conferences within Sweden, like ESPC and also Øredev in Malmö, I will be there as well to speak about Azure Developer CLI. So I speak a bit about mixed development and cloud migration topics in my talk. Sometimes I do inspirational talks if I'm invited.

Håkan Silfvernagel: So it's possible to get an autographed book from you there?

Jonah Andersson: Yes, yes. So it depends how much I can carry in my luggage. I did an autograph signing in the previous conference, Experts Live Europe, in Budapest just this week. I brought five copies of the book, and some of my audience were, like, disappointed they didn't get a chance to raffle. But if they want to have a signed copy, what they can do is, if they know I'm going to the conference they're going to, they can just, like, buy the book on Amazon and then come to the conference if they bought a ticket. Otherwise, they can let me know ahead of time so I can try to put the book in my luggage and sign it, and you can buy it directly from me, custom-signed, and a picture, of course, if they want to. 

Håkan Silfvernagel: Yes. Thank you so much. I think it's been a very, very inspiring conversation here with you, Jonah. Thank you so much for participating.

Jonah Andersson: Yes, thank you so much for asking great questions, Håkan Silfvernagel, and for interviewing me. Great questions.

Håkan Silfvernagel: So with that said, we'd like to thank all of you viewers who are either listening or watching this. This has been another episode of the "GOTO Book Club." Thank you so much.

Jonah Andersson: Thank you so much, everybody.