We are excited to introduce this week’s Friday Feature— @Muditha Chathuranga! Muditha is a Senior Technical Consultant at Infront Consulting Group. He was awarded his first MVP Office Servers and Services award in 2017. Read below to see how he stays up-to-date with rapid changes in cloud technology and his transition from engineer to consultant.
Muditha Chathuranga
Job Title: Senior Technical Consultant
Company Name: Infront Consulting Group Ltd.
MVP Profile: https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/PublicProfile/5002384?fullName=Muditha%20Jayath%20Chathuranga
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mudithac/?ppe=1
Twitter: @MudithaC - https://twitter.com/MudithaC
- Tell us a little bit about where you work and your role in the organization.
I'm currently working at Infront Consulting Group Ltd. which is one of the leading Microsoft Partners in North America and with a global presence to serve clients worldwide. Since my expertise is with Office 365 and Exchange Server, in my role as a Senior Technical Consultant, I'm responsible for everything from inception to closure of Office 365 and Exchange Server related projects. I take responsibility in designing, implementing and supporting solutions.
- Tech communities are incredibly active. What role do these communities play in your career?
Tech communities have been highly influential in my career. From local user group meetups to online support forums, discussion boards, everything has played an important role in my career. These tech communities have been great places to share knowledge, get support and give out support, thus improving my own knowledge as well as others in the process. The experience and the knowledge gathered through the participation in these tech communities have immensely helped me to progress my career to where it is today.
- What is the most challenging part of your role?
Well, the most challenging part in my role is rapid changes in the cloud industry. Sometimes, cloud technologies or services change in the middle of a project and the project scopes need to be amended to reflect those changes.
- How do you maintain your role as a trusted advisor amidst an environment of constant change?
Continuous learning. Following official channels on Twitter is a primary mode I'm keeping tabs with what's going on around. I am appreciating the efforts Microsoft is taking with maintaining proper documentation of products and services. As an MVP, having exclusive access to MVP PGIs is the best thing for me to be up to date with upcoming changes before anyone else. But, nothing beats getting hands dirty with testing these products and services on my own. It always helps to take a discussion from a practical perspective rather than from a theoretical perspective.
- Where do you go to learn new skills or stay in front of the trends?
I use blogs by written by folks at Microsoft and fellow experts in the industry, Microsoft Virtual Academy and of course user group meetups to stay in touch with latest trends in the industry. Also, the Microsoft Mechanics series is also one my favorites as short yet information rich videos help me to catch up with what's recently been going on with the technology even on the go. Lately my interests have been focused on topics around information security.
- Can you share what your transition from engineer to consultant was like? What new skills were required?
The transition from being an engineer to consultant was one of the greatest achievements in my career. Also, it was challenging. As the saying goes, "with great power comes great responsibilities". A consultant is responsible for helping the client to find the correct balance between the technology and his investment. During my time as an engineer, most of the time I had to rely upon someone else's design to implement a solution. Being a consultant is not about relying upon someone else. However, the experience and knowledge gathered throughout my career helped me with the transition from being an engineer to a consultant. The skills acquired along the journey are cannot simply be put down on a paper. Two key skills I have improved are that the skill to address certain customer requirements that are not common and analytical skills that come in handy when listening to the customer, and to be able to map the correct solution on the fly.