We have had the first winter snowfall (at least 1 day), and days are getting shorter and colder. This reminds me that it’s time to review the past year. Last year, I concluded that I had reached a couple of professional milestones. I ramped up speaking engagements, finished my first blog post series, and met new amazing people in the data community.
At that point, I couldn’t imagine what 2023 would bring except for a couple of speaking engagements that were planned at the beginning of 2023.
In the following paragraphs, you will join me on my data journey of 2023.
Speaking
Overall, I presented 12 times in 2023 divided over 9 months. 8 virtual and 4 in-person sessions (3 Data/SQL Saturdays & PASS Summit). The in-person sessions allowed me to explore Copenhagen, Gothenburg, New York, and Seattle. All in one year. Thanks to this, I was able to visit the Microsoft HQ in Redmond, which was an amazing experience.
Unfortunately, speaking for local user groups in person didn’t work out very well and I only delivered virtual sessions to user groups this year. This is something I hope to change next year.
My biggest presenting challenge this year was presenting for 10 minutes during the famous Power Hour at PASS Summit. Trying to be funny during a presentation is something completely out of my comfort zone. But in the end, I like to believe it went pretty well.
Blogging
Next to speaking, I did some blogging this year as well. Apparently, I wrote 22 different technical blog posts, all about things that I’m running into in my day-to-day job. And in early December I got reminded why I blog. Mainly to document how I solve/handle a specific issue. To give some context, while figuring out an issue, I ran into one of my own blog posts I wrote earlier this year. What I really consider as a personal achievement.
Community
Next to blogging, I made my very first open-source contribution as well, I executed a very small change in the Microsoft Rdl Migration Tool to migrate RDL files from SQL Server Reporting Services to the Power BI service.
Throughout the year I was able to help with a couple of events for session selection and volunteering. I was lucky enough to mentor for the very first time. if you’re wondering about my experience during this journey, you can find a dedicated blog post by using the following link: First-time mentoring – New Stars of Data
dataMinds
Next to speaking, blogging, mentoring, and traveling, I did some work for dataMinds as well. For those who don’t know dataMinds, dataMinds is the Belgian data user group focusing on the Microsoft Data Platform.
Next to helping to organize dataMinds Connect (a 2-day in-person conference), I helped to organize the dataMinds evening sessions, 9 virtually and 7 in person throughout the year.
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Next to the organizational side, I stepped up into the role of “President” at dataMinds in October 2023. Which I’m definitely proud of and would never believed a couple of years ago.
What else…
I kept my biggest achievement for last, which I still find challenging to believe, but… In September 2023, I received the Microsoft MVP Award. This award is given to individuals who share their passion and their knowledge with the data community.
I’m very honored and grateful for this. I’m grateful for all the opportunities and support provided by the community. Without this amazing community, I would never have done all the things that I have written in this blog post.
Bye Bye 2023, I’m looking forward to 2024!
See you soon!
Enjoy the holidays.