ICT Specialist and Microsoft Architect
ROC van Amsterdam
MVP: https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/PublicProfile/4033351?fullName=James%20%20van%20den%20Berg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesvandenberg
Tell us a little bit about who you work for, your role in the organization, and if your organization has transitioned to the cloud
My name is @James van den Berg and I've worked in IT since 1987 and started with Microsoft technology in the early days as beta tester. In year 2011 I became a Microsoft MVP in Virtual Machine Manager and have been rewarded every year since then. Now I'm a Microsoft MVP Cloud and Datacenter Management, and working for a large school in the Netherlands called ROC van Amsterdam for 18 years with pleasure . My function at the school is ICT Specialist Senior and Microsoft Architect and I manage with a great team our Datacenters for 45.000 students.
We are really a Microsoft House, our datacenter exist of Windows Server 2012 R2, Hyper-V Clusters, SQL guest Clusters, System Center 2012 R2 Suite and have a ADFS federation with Office 365 for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and all the new Office365 features. We have a Microsoft Azure subscription connected to the Office365 Azure Active Directory for our backend Cloud databases and web apps for our Office 365 SharePoint portal. This all is to support the company employees, Teachers, and students.
In my free time, I like to help Teachers and Students with education in Microsoft Cloud technologies like Azure Cloud Platform and Microsoft Operations Management Suite by doing workshops. I work for four days for ROC van Amsterdam school.
It looks like you started an ICT Consultancy, HybridCloud4You, in 2013. Can you share a little bit more about the business in general and why you started it?
I started my own Company HybridCloud4You to advice companies in Cloud computing and to help Education to move forward with Microsoft innovations and great technologies. I share my knowledge and give my opinion on Microsoft Architectures. Last month I became a Microsoft Azure Advisor too, thanks to Microsoft Azure CAT Community Manager Ed Price.
The last two years I work close with the Microsoft DX Team Academics Netherlands for Education on Friday with Brian Hewitt a MVP CDM community leader. I have one big wish to start a Microsoft College in Amsterdam for Students with ROC van Amsterdam and Microsoft Netherlands so that students learn the newest technologies and getting involved with companies to do a great job for them.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your career?
The biggest challenge is getting more Microsoft Cloud Azure resources like compute into the Microsoft Imagine Azure subscription for teachers and students to learn and getting students Microsoft certified during education on school.
Where do you go to learn new skills or stay in front of the trends?
As a Microsoft MVP Community Leader I have my daily process every day by reading and following Microsoft social Media, MSFT Product Team Blogsites, MVP NDA PGI sessions, joining Events, Free MVA Courses, and testing Microsoft solutions in our Test LAB ICT CUMULUS. My hobby Microsoft technology is my work and my work is my hobby working for almost 14 hours a day on Microsoft Technologies 365 days a year.
My motto is Learning every day by doing it, making solutions, trying outs, doing PoC's and Share and talk about knowledge in teams. I started as a real Infrastructure IT Pro, but that is changing into IT Pro and DevOps by playing with Windows Containers, Docker, JSON Scripts for automation helps me to learn new technologies.
How does the technology approach in the Education world differ from other industries?
Microsoft technologies are supporting company business processes to make a profit, in Education it's for teachers and students to learn technology nonprofit for Future work. That's a big different between Enterprise Companies and a school. To get all Microsoft Azure Cloud technology in the classroom is a big challenge.