Amine Charot Interview
Amine Charot originally from Morroco is currently based in Paris, France. He currently works as a Cloud/DevOps Engineer and is very passionate about what he does. Amine is a Microsoft Azure MVP (Microsoft Most Valued Professional) who has a lot of respect and appreciation for those who provided him with assistance and advice in the early stages of his IT career. Amine shows appreciation for what others have done for him by continuing to share his knowledge via his blog, social media and community events.
Amine was keen to provide an overview of his experiences to assist others wanting to begin a journey in the world of Azure. Amine is easy to approach via his social media platforms and always willing to provide advice so feel free to reach out to him, or any of the interviewees via their social media platforms.
Let’s move on and find out more about Amine.
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Amine Charot Interview
Tell us about yourself?
Hello, I am Amine CHAROT, originally from Morocco and based in Paris, France. I completed my Engineer Degree two years ago and started working as a Cloud/DevOps Engineer. Recently, I started to take part in some sports that helps me to reduce stress, so some advice for all those stressful people, get involved in some sports đ. I enjoy reading books, playing video games and traveling!
What is your greatest achievement whilst working in the world of Tech?
I am very satisfied with everything I have achieved until now. Some of the greatest achievements are becoming a public speaker and an Azure MVP.
How did you get into IT?
In my younger days I enjoyed opening computers to check what was inside. Most of the time the result ended in punishment, but it was well worth it. This was the moment that triggered me, and I decided âI like the world of innovation and ITâ.
What would you recommend for someone wanting to start a career in IT?
Personally, for me and Iâm sure for a large number of techies, that first moment when opening the computer was by curiosity which led to a career in IT for a lot of us. I believe that to start a career in IT you need to be curious and passionate. Ask questions, research on the internet and be self-ruling in learning new things.
How did you get into the world of Microsoft Azure?
I got into the world of MS Azure thanks to my first job. Actually, I was in an internship with an interesting subject. I had to develop a Microservice that monitors a cluster in Service Fabric. It was a new thing for me. I also had an internship Supervisor (Ahmed EL AZZABI) who had a deep understanding and knowledge about Microsoft Azure. He taught me the basics and how it works, he also gave me extra work that assisted me in enhancing my Azure knowledge. I also started to build services such as Batch Account, Virtual Network, Key Vault, Storage Accounts and Virtual Machines using ARM Templates. I had the eyes that shine when the deployments worked. I decided to go further into Microsoft Azure Services and I learned a lot of new things.
What are your areas of expertise? Are you still working with other Microsoft products apart from Microsoft Azure?
I started as a Cloud DevOps Engineer where my daily job was building infrastructures using ARM Templates or Terraform, and CI/CD Pipelines. Thanks to my second job, I gained knowledge on how to secure an Azure infrastructure, how to securely deploy (All the security and network stuff), how to design an architecture from scratch, how to migrate from on-premise to Azure, and I gained knowledge on governance.
What certifications have you achieved, or the certifications you are working towards?
For now, I only have the AZ900 and Terraform associate. I am working towards the AZ104, AZ400 and AZ500 certifications.
What would you recommend for those wanting to learn Azure?
Firstly, let me share the following link with you: Azure Fundamentals
Azure Fundamentals is a great way to get started with Azure. Also, for those wanting to learn Azure should start with some simple product which is easy to learn, just to allow you to understand the concepts such as: building an Azure WebApp with Azure SQL. Then, improve this simple infrastructure by adding a Key Vault and Azure App Config for example. Day after day you will continue to build on your platform and become more passionate about Azure, wanting to explore further.
Finally, try to create the services for the first time through the Azure portal, then recreate them using an ARM Template so you can understand more parameters and how to use them.
What would you recommend for those who want to start out with DevOps, Coding, Automation? Where should they start?
To get into the Devops, I recommend you visit Donovan Brown’s conferences. He explains and introduces the DevOps as a philosophy not a job position like a lot of people think. You will gain an overview about what Devops is. Then everything is about mindset.
Coding, nothing is better than hands on experience. For example, I don’t know how to use Go language. I will start with a simple hello world. Following the documentation, I will try to build something like a script that deploys something in Azure with conditions, loops and the basics. Then I will go in deep and seek for the best practices.
Automation, is a mindset before coding. You have to be aware that everything should be automated. Then look for ideas and design to automate, by either using tools, scripts or both. I think we can start with all these concepts at the same time since they are complementary.
How do you keep up to date with the latest Microsoft Azure products? By assisting at Microsoft conferences such as Microsoft Ignite. Also, the famous: Azure Updates
What would you recommend for someone who wants to become Azure certified?
One of the best ways to get started is via Microsoft Learn. Then, research on how others achieved their certifications and try to follow the same path.
Whatâs your advice for someone who wants to become a public speaker but not confident, or not sure where to start?
Just remember that you are sharing knowledge, people wonât judge you, they just want to learn. Start with online meetings to get some experience and youâll soon feel more comfortable standing in front of an audience without any problem!
How did you become an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional)?
Once again, thanks to my first job where I was able to meet other MVPâs who explained the award to me and how to become a MVP. I created a blog in medium and have been sharing posts since December 2019. Originally, it was new to me, I was not regular, but soon it became part of me.
Everything I learn, I write a post about and share it. I also participate in meetups as a speaker, and have organized some webinars and participated at a few events.
October 2019, an MVP nominated me to become one. I got the good news in January 2020! Thanks to Michael Fery, Wilfried Woivré and Firas Mdimagh
Whatâs next in your Microsoft Azure journey?
I plan on becoming an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer). I also plan on going in deep within the Azure Security and Conformity areas.
Do you have any final words of wisdom?
âKnowledge increases by sharing but not by savingâ
The most important question of all đ
From a scale from 1 â 10 how crazy are you about Microsoft Azure? (10 being the highest)
10/10
End of Interview
Name: Amine Charot
Website: Amine Charot
Twitter:Â @AmineCharot
Linkedin: Amine Charot LinkedIn
