Hello , welcome to Microsoft Community Insights Podcast , where we share insights from community experts to stay up to date in Microsoft . I'm Nicholas . I'll be your host today . In this podcast . We will dive into tech journey . Before we get started , I want to remind you to follow us on social media so you never miss an episode .
So it helps us reach more amazing people like ourselves . Today we have an amazing special guest called Ajit Tuala . Sorry , I pronounced it wrong . Can you please introduce yourself , hi ?
Hey Nick , Thanks for having me on the show . My name is Haji Dhaliwal and I'm based in Vermont , USA , so I work for Microsoft and former Microsoft MVP as well .
So before we get started , I'll just say happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone , so that's listening . Have , uh , happy holidays and merry christmas to everyone , so that's listening . And yes , so today's episode we're going to talk about uh tech journey and in particular , with project one . So before we get started , we want to just rewind .
Rewind the time , and someone asked how , how do you , how do you get started in your tech journey to find your role in Microsoft ? When did it start ?
Yeah , so this is an interesting question . My tech journey started a long time ago , many moons ago . Basically , I got to thank my brother , who's not with me anymore . He's introduced me to computers back in the early 80s , right ?
You know the ones where you had to boot up with a five and a quarter floppy disk , right , and then you had to if you want to use a different program , you had to put a different disk in stuff like that . That got me really interested . Like , hey , what's this all about ? How come I'm seeing things move around on screen and stuff like that ?
That got me really interested . Like , hey , what's this all about ? How come I'm seeing things move around on screen and stuff ? And , long story short , went to college in Canada and I migrated from Malaysia to Canada and I started doing some computer programming classes . I've always been very curious about technology and things like that .
I'm opening up radios , I'm opening up all sorts of gadgets and stuff just to see how things look . Um , I started . Eventually I landed , like I was in the hospitality industry , you know , I worked in restaurants and things like that .
But I eventually landed a very sweet gig where I traveled around the country , um , working for a hotel a large hotel company setting up computers at various hotels , right , Programming , teaching them things like that . Then eventually I ended up at a K-12 school system and for those of you that are outside of the US , you don't know what K-12 is .
It's basically kindergarten to high school , right ? It covers all the grades . So I did everything right . I did computer repairs to networking , pulling wires , to sysadmin work and stuff like that . And then , long story , ended up at Microsoft . I was actually encouraged to apply to Microsoft , being a Microsoft MVP .
Before that , you know , some people saw the potential and said hey , you know you would be a good fit for Microsoft . You know we could really use you , your expertise and your experiences . And I was hesitant at first . To be honest with you . Right , you got that fear right . Hey , you know it's a cream of a crop that goes to Microsoft and stuff like that .
So , yeah , I was encouraged . What was your first PC for tax at your first role ?
I can't remember it , but I remember it was in Malaysia and it was super expensive . I think my brother paid like $10,000 or something at that time . It's like the Matrix it's all in green and it's all text-based and things like that . You had a little bit of graphics but it was all like that one-dimensional things , stuff like that .
I can't remember the name of it , but one of my modern , more modern first computers that I ever got was a packet bell . They don't exist anymore .
It's like HP's in it now Maybe right .
But what excited me was that I was able to get on the internet with aol the old one .
We're not the modem , isn't it ? Yeah , right , with a 14.4 uh bot modem .
Um , it was very interesting . I had some friends who used to play some games , like especially duke newcombe , and we would play over the wire with 14.4 and it was amazing , it was great .
Okay , so how come it's cost that much ? The PC 10 grand ?
I think it was so new at that time it was so new , it was like a very niche market . At that time you must have gotten a loan or something for the bank and and needed it for the business or something . But yeah , now you can buy them for uh , for you know price of a candy , now you know yeah so .
So what inspired you to uh pursue that path to Microsoft , like join Microsoft ? Did someone recommend you to it ?
Yeah , I had , like you know , the customer success account managers or the account managers from Microsoft who used to . I used to work at the university for almost 20 years and this person used to come and say , hey , you know you should join Microsoft . I really man you , we need your , we need people like you and stuff like that .
I had other people that recommend and put referrals and stuff like that for me to . But finding the right role was always a challenge , right , and a lot of people will say you know what Microsoft's really hard to get in , which is pretty true . It's like trying to get your foot in the door , like get something .
But even then you know you want to get a position that you can feel comfortable and do your best work . So I joined Microsoft as a customer engineer , microsoft as a customer engineer . I've always been a 90 pro , and customer engineers is what you call CSAs now cloud solution architects they just renamed it . So I joined that way .
I was working with customers all the time , very large financial customers mostly and then I've always been passionate about community and social media and the things that you see me do you know today , I've always been doing them , but not in a formal capacity , right . And then there was a role that opened up .
Someone internally said hey , this role is made for you , has your name all over it . You know you should , you should pursue it , and so I did , and that's where I am now .
Okay . So throughout your career , is there any challenging moments that you think that you would go back and do better ? Oh boy , Whether I would just join another company or just aim for a different role .
Yeah , I think one of my . I'm not sure whether it's a challenge or not , but I had a few opportunities to join a company like Microsoft a few years before I actually joined . But , like I said , I was very comfortable in my old position , right ? You know what time you go to work , you know what to do , you know how long it takes to get things done .
You know things like that . The benefits were good . You know you're like , ah , I've got a very comfortable position and now going into something that's an unknown and you don't know how it's going to work , you know it's scary , so I should have pursued that . Challenges , I think it's , I don't know .
For example , if you're talking about challenges within Microsoft , it's a huge company , right ? We've got over 200,000 people that work for Microsoft . There's a lot of rules and policies and procedures , Like what people see in the outside seems simple and nice , right . But we have a lot of protocols we have to follow .
So you have to work with so many different teams and different people . That can be a challenge , right , but having the right connections and having the right relationships definitely help make your life better .
Yeah , so you said , would you recommend , if someone wanted to start their journey into tech career , to always build relationships with people ?
Absolutely you have to . I think this day and age is all about I won't say like who you know , or more than what you know , it's really having advocates for you , right ? Um , you start somewhere .
Someone gets like a you know me and you , for example , right , as you and I build our relationship , we get to know each other and you know something will come up . I'm like , oh , my god , you know , I know this , this .
This would be a good path for nicholas to to , to take , take , right , and I know already what you've been doing and and things that you're passionate about , so it'll be easier for me to make recommendations . It doesn't have to be microsoft , it could be another company , right ? Yeah , um , things like that .
It's always good to have those relationships , otherwise , you're an island on your own right . Nobody knows you , you don't know anybody .
So can you speak about ?
how can someone get started to build those relationships ? As you know , I do a lot of community work . For me , community is very important . I love my ITPro community . You see me , I'm so passionate all the time in chats and at events and things like that . You have to come out of your shell . People talk about being extroverts and introverts .
Sure , we all have that . But at some point you have to make the effort . You can't just have everything trying to come to you . You have to make the effort . You can't just have everything trying to come to you . You have to make that effort .
So , start small , right , like start with social media , you know , maybe join like blue sky , or maybe do a linkedin . Linkedin is a great , great place , right , create a profile , put all your experiences in there and then just start following people you know in your interest space .
So if you're into I don't know Microsoft technologies , follow and , depending on what it is right , you may be a Windows person or you may be an Intune person or M365 , or whatever Follow those people and then just start seeing , seeing and then start engaging with them and then start sharing their things .
And they start like , hey , this person seems to care about what I shared , what I say and what I do . Let me see what they are all about . And then you start from there . You start building your network right , and then it's just like a spoke right , like a wheel , and it just spreads and spreads , and spreads .
You know , you and I are a good case in point here . Right , we didn't know each other before . I mean , we've known each other now for several months now , but last year I couldn't say that I knew you and neither you knew me .
But somehow , through our network Community , we met each other , exactly , exactly .
So networking is huge . Start from there , start baby steps . Social media is obviously going to be your entry point . There's nothing wrong with it . Some people say I don't like social media . Well then , we're in an internet world right now , internet age . There's no more sending postcards and letters to each other and things like that . This is how you do it .
I get people to be honest with you , people that I don't know , especially when they are on LinkedIn . They will message me and say people that I don't know , especially when they are on LinkedIn . They will message me and say , hey , I noticed you are in this , you're doing this type of work or you're in this role . I'm trying to pursue this .
I'm just , you know , I'm a recent graduate or I'm going to be graduating soon or whatever , or I'm to get some ideas or guide me or something like that , and I'm open to that right .
So random people will reach you and if they're legit and they have the right mindset and reasons , I don't mind being the mentor to give them that little push Direction , yeah , something we just need to head in the right direction with advice .
We all started somewhere At the direction when it's advice .
We all started somewhere . At the end of the day , we all started somewhere right . We didn't get to where we are today yeah you know , like , like I said , I started from . Yeah , you know I didn't even do like when you asked me about my my journey .
You know , one of my first really touched into technology was I was helping run the technology space in a very small scale in Indonesia , malaysia , singapore years ago . I was going to remote locations where you had to use satellites and stuff like that to get some kind of connection so people can communicate .
Okay . You know , yeah , what was that like ? Because it's going to .
You said about satellite , yeah , so this was a long time ago as well , and I was helping again , it was my brother's , you know . He was running a business with a partner of his and he said hey , come on down , I'll set you up . You know , I just want you to run my office for me .
You know , and some field workers you know he had like a small group of and then a lot of them were using Macs and things like that . A lot of them were using Macs and things like that , but sometimes they needed to send , they're like , but there's no .
You know you were using like hardwired , you know phone lines to you know , with modems and stuff like that . But then you were out in the remote locations , like you know , in the timber , you know , plantations and stuff like that , where you need to get in there .
So they had like , at that time there was this like satellite kind of contraption that you could set up with one computer .
You know you're almost like it was expensive , but it did the job right . Yeah , so I just want to dive into the community of things that you did . So I see you're quite active in the community . Can you share a bit more of what community work you've done and why you're passionate about community ?
Yeah , like we talked , about it earlier , I do a lot of MVP work for the community . One of my other roles is I'm a product group lead for Windows MVPs , so I manage that group as well , for you know renewals and admissions and giving them support and encouragement or you know things like that right . So I do a lot of that kind of stuff .
As a former MVP , I know how the system works and I know what it's like being on the other side of the equation , right . So I do a lot of that kind of stuff . As a former MVP , I know how the system works and I know what it's like being on the other side of the equation , right .
So , I'm like , hey , you know , you should do more of this because that's going to like enhance you or you know whatever . Or don't do this because that could get you into , you know , a little bit of trouble and stuff . Community is for me . I love going to events .
I love , you know , just engaging there and people coming up and say , hey , you know , thank you so much for putting such and such content out there that helped me with my , my company , or save me some some trouble , and stuff like that . Or hey , you know that blog post that you did , that was amazing . That's exactly what we were looking for .
I love your videos , you know , keep doing those you did . That was amazing . That's exactly what we were looking for . I love your videos . Keep doing those videos , because I learned a few things from that .
I think it's the feedback , because sometimes I get great feedback from messages from LinkedIn saying about your blog post . So that's my encouragement . So I think it's all about the feedback to encourage people to do more .
Yeah , you know , I think people like you and me are not doing it for any rewards or anything like . Oh no , I'm going to get you know whatever be a celebrity or anything like that , it's none of that stuff . It's just basically like I've been there already . I know what needs to happen .
I know the struggles people have and you know what it what it needs to happen . I know the struggles people have and you know what . I also want to encourage and promote good stuff from other people , right ? So if you posted something like this video or uh , blogs or content or whatever , I promote that stuff all the time because it needs to have visibility .
We need people to see , hey , you may need something . This person just shared this stuff . You know this could come in handy for you and then that builds that person's you know , I don't know confidence or something for them to do more right , you know things like that . Community is important .
It's really really important because , from a Microsoft perspective me being inside now community also helps build and guide the products and solutions that we have right , the feedback that you said is what I hear all the time . People are telling me hey , I don't like this thing in , I don't know whether it's Intune or whether it's Windows or oh , you know what .
We could use more of this type of feature or whatever . And I'm like , oh , that's interesting , I bring that feedback back in . You know , internally , talk to engineering , talk to the PMs and stuff like that . Hey , have you guys thought about this ? Oh yeah , that's in the roadmap or we are working on that . Give us more , give us a business case for it .
So I've become like the conduit between the community and the tech creators , right , okay , yeah , and also , you know , expanding . Okay yeah , and also , like you know , expanding a little bit more , like I'm also very passionate about , you know , accessibility features and accessibility things .
So a lot of people don't know about that stuff , so I try to use my abilities or my platform to share that with the community . Yeah , I think I lost you a second there but that's okay .
Yeah , I'm back . Sorry , I'm not sure what's wrong . So how did you get started in the microsoft's race ? And 365 space is because of your , your , your role that leads you to microsoft , so you end up being a be , a join , a role in microsoft that does 365 , like windows no .
So that's interesting , very interesting question . So when I joined microsoft , I was a customer engineer , right I . I was focused on things like Config Manager , intune , for the most part Windows clients to Windows servers and config manager , all that stuff , patch management , everything . So I was in that space .
And then , as I'm working with customers , and I started noticing there's some other very cool technologies that people are not dabbling in yet . For example , like universal print , right , like what is universal print ? So I started helping customers . Right , like what is universal print ? So I started helping customers . Right , have you guys looked into this ?
You're managing you know five or six print servers with hundreds of you know printers and suddenly thinking them about it and stuff . And then that led me to other products as well . And then now my role in marketing is cloud endpoints , mainly . That I do from end to end .
So windows , windows 365 , intune , copilot and anything that comes in between , right , um , so I dabble in everything really okay .
So , throughout , since you're like a bit of each , like windows , office 365 or to the end point , is there any uh , any projects or achievement that you're feeling proud of ? Doing your journey down , what , uh , which one is the best ? Which one is the best that you like recommend ? People like to get advice on ?
so I , I would , you know , honestly , I would encourage people to really look into Copilot , right , yeah , it's literally phenomenal , Like just using it on a daily basis to do so much that you can do . Like you can create images you can create , you know , you can ask questions , you can , you know it'll find things for you . That is just mind blowing .
My daughter is actually one of my daughters is still still in college right now , finishing a nursing program , and she uses it all the time to to do research and stuff for her nursing classes . Right , you can create PowerPoint presentations and so on and so forth . I mean , the world is your oyster with this thing .
Right , you got to have an open mind and be curious about you know what it can do . Other things that are other projects that I've worked on and obviously I had a hand in the launch of , like , Windows 11 , you know Windows 11 , you know , and then you know Windows 11 22H2 , 23H2 , 24H2 , so on and so forth .
So I'm also very passionate about that space , because Windows has always been part of my core area . And then now .
Do you think that's going to be a Windows 12 ? No way . It's better than Windows 7 . Do you think that's going to be at Windows 12 ?
No , it's better than Windows 7 . No , it's Windows 11 . As far as I know , it's Windows 11 . It just continues to be a continuous innovation New features , new updates , new capabilities and stuff like that .
Okay , that's fine . So , aside from work , what do you do in your spare time , hujit ? Do you have any hobbies , or do you just spend time with friends and families ?
Well , it's a catch-22 because , you know , everything that I do seems to relate to either my phone or uh , computers . Because if I'm not working , I , you know , I do photography , like I love . I love to do tiktoks . I've been playing and dabbling with tiktok videos , uh , recently .
So when I travel I try to capture some you travel videos and then I put them together and share them out . You know kind of a thing . It's fun . I , yeah , computers photography . I love social media , so I'm always also like dabbling with all the new things . Like , lately it's blue sky , so hey , what's blue sky all about ? How does it work ?
Oh yeah , lately it's blue sky . So hey , what's blue sky ? How does it work ? Oh yeah , it's missing some features . It's gonna get there , but you know , let's uh things like that . Um , so , social media photography I , I make those model planes . You know those . Uh , motorplates , yeah , you know , uh , I have some back here .
I'm not sure that you can see it , but Wow , did you use a 3D printer for that , or something ?
No , no , no , no . This . You buy a kit , right ? You buy a .
Oh , is it like a Lego .
No , it's not even a Lego , it's what they call FX . So you basically come in little pieces with a diagram and then you gotta like okay , you know part one , you gotta glue it to part two and then you paint it .
yeah you need to be more accurate for that .
Yeah , you gotta be super accurate , so I make those um as well . You know , once in a while I just yeah , it's fun .
Yeah , that's . That's . That's brilliant . So are you ? Are you going to any other events in the future ?
Yes , for sure I'm planning to . I'm not sure how many events I'll get to go next year , but I'm definitely going to start with MVP summit . I'll see you there . I'll be much . I'm definitely going to start with MVP Summit . I'll see you there . Yeah , that will be in March .
I'm hoping to do the Endpoint Summit in Paris , mms in Minneapolis and then so on and so forth for the rest of the year .
Yeah , yeah , that's perfect . So which one do you think is ?
the best conference .
So just between me and you , you know they're all .
They're all unique in their own way . Um , yeah , it's very interesting . Like mvp , summon is very obviously very mvp focused , so you have the MVP focus . So you have the technology , diehards and the content and what you get out of there is obviously super MVP .
I think you must go for the social aspect .
It is , it is Right . But the thing is that a lot of things that you learn and hear , you can't talk about it . So you're like , okay , it's all in your small circle of bubble . So you're like , okay , it's all in your small circle of bubble . So everything's different . I love MMS . I've always been part of MMS a long time .
It's got a different vibe , very community focused , very generous , and you've got the cream of the crop that go there too , right , you got the the best of the best it pro speakers or mvps . You got the microsoft engineering folks that go there as well . Then you have things like uh , you got ninja summit , which is different . Right , it's the same .
Yeah , you always have like the similar type of it pros , but the audience is different . You've got the European audience versus the North American audience . How they communicate and understand you is different . I could be speaking at a session . I could do the same session at this conference in the US versus the one in .
Europe , I'll get get different reaction , you know . I mean , I may say a joke and then I'll just get like you know yeah , different culture , different different culture , right . So you got to know how to how to balance that stuff . But they're all unique , they're all . They all all bring different things to it ?
Yeah , I saw something about the TechNight . Was that ages ago , technight ?
TechNight was actually Ignite . Oh , okay , so TechNight used to be very technical for many , many years and then that became Ignite , as you know today . So Ignite is also one of my favorites because it's big . It's huge . You got a lot of like vendors , you get to talk to a lot of people .
For me , like you said , right , it's all about the community engagements . Right , you know you can go to sessions and stuff . There's some sessions you might not do , but you can always get that later on too .
Majority of the session I ate at night was recorded , so I pretty much spent the time catching up with people in the community .
So that's your opportunity , right , you hang out , you go for drinks or you go get a coffee hey , let's go get lunch . And then evening you have your social events . You know you're mingling , you're getting to know people of who they are and how they are in your elements , right Versus when you are like just meeting them online and stuff .
You know everybody has a god and a persona and stuff . But when you see them real life and you talk to them , you pull them aside . You're like , hey , how's your family , what you do this , that , what did you like about this ? How was your day today ? Like , oh , I went to this one thing today and that really sucked .
Oh , tell me more about it , you know ? Kind of a thing .
Yeah , yeah , that's quite cool . So before we wrap up the episode , is there any last-minute advice that you recommend people for getting started in their career , or anything in general ? I know you mentioned something about learning AI because that's hot in the market at the moment .
It is hot in the market at the moment . It is hot in the market , right ? So , yeah , definitely have curiosity , be curious about all the different things you're seeing out there and stuff like that . It doesn't matter what , it is right . I mean , you know , I've always been a Microsoft fanboy , so that's why I'm into the space . I like what I see .
I like what it into the space , I like what I see . I like what it did for me , I like what it does for my community and the world right , but it could be anything . You could stick with another platform or whatever that you're passionate about . Technology is evolving so fast on a daily basis .
What we know from last week is already different this week , right ? So you always have to make sure , like , oh , just because you played with something and you read up on it , you're good to go . No , you're not . You've got to keep up on it . This is why you've got to stick with social media to try to get the right information coming to you .
You've got to follow newsletters . You've got to follow videos like this , right to like oh , I didn't know about that . Oh , let me go check up on what that's all about . What are these guys talking about ? And stuff like that . Be curious , be open-minded . Take criticism well , right , constructive criticism is very good for everybody .
Don't get emotional , yeah because people can see negative feedback is good feedback at the end of the day , because you're still improving yourself . You're still improving yourself , right ? Yeah , I want to add something Always be consistent in what you do and if you can't find what you're good at like your passion , try different things .
And you cannot always know everything , to be honest , because there's technology moving too fast .
You cannot know everything , and then you know . Lastly , I would say , try to find your tribe , meaning that , find your little bubble . Start with one person . Find that one person , whether it's you , me , whoever it is right . Connect with someone , whether it's you know , in person .
From there , you're going to expand your reach , you're going to expand your network and then you're going to create a small bubble I have small bubbles of friends as well that we communicate different things and different bubbles , and that's how you get started and that's how you ask for . Never be afraid to ask for help , never be afraid to ask for support .
You know that's what we're all here for .
Right , it's , it's uh yeah , and then we just all learning from each other in a way , because we can't know everything , and we just improve each other get each other better yeah , let's . Let's learn and grow together , that's yeah , so , hajit , thanks for joining this episode . Brilliant to have you . Merry christmas again , everyone , and happy new year .
It's coming soon , so see you to next episode .
Bye yeah , thanks for having me happy new year .