Richard Hooper Interview

Richard Hooper is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) located in the UK. He started blogging in the year 2016 as a way to document his installations and fixes but also being able to share that information with others. He has worked in IT for over 15 years working for a variety of companies, including HPE. His current role is a Systems Architect based in Newcastle Upon Tyne which involves working with Microsoft technologies with a focus on Azure, whilst still holding a passion for, Hyper-V, Failover Cluster Manager, SQL, SCCM, VMM, DPM, and everything Microsoft. Richard is easily approachable and always willing to go the extra mile to help and support the Azure community. He didn’t disappoint when we approached him for an interview and was eager to help. I have been following Richard (On Twitter that is) for sometime and he has always been very helpful in advising others.

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Richard Hooper Interview

Tell us about yourself?
Richard Hooper but some of you may know me by Pixel Robots. I live in The UK and have worked in the IT field for over 15 years.

What is your greatest achievement whilst working in the world of Tech?
Definitely being awarded as a Microsoft MVP for Azure

How did you get into IT?
Since the age of around 11 I started to build computers from bits that I managed to find or was gifted. I then decided to go study media. I got part way through this course and decided it was not for me, so I dropped out and started to learn Comptia A+. After passing the exams I got my first IT job. Since then I have never looked back.

How did you get into the world of Microsoft Azure?
About 8 years ago I was working for a company that supported a software company. They were using BPOS (Office 365 before it got renamed) They were also starting to look at Windows Azure. Back then it was very different and seemed to be focused for Devs. Since then I have always kept an eye on Azure and as it started to change, I got excited and spent my own time looking into it. From there I have tried to use it at every company I have worked at and now I use it daily.

What are your areas of expertise? Are you still working with other Microsoft products apart from Microsoft Azure?
Being an IT Ops guy, I can pretty much support any Microsoft product and have specialised in Hyper-V and Active Directory in the past.

What certifications have you achieved, or the certifications you are working towards?
I have a few starting back from the comptia A+, MCDST and server 2003. I have achieved new Azure Role Based certifications, Admin, Architect and Security.

What would you recommend for those wanting to learn Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)?
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The best place to start learning AKS is Microsoft Learn. They have some awesome content. I would also recommend the Kubernetes book by Nigel Poulton

How do you keep up to date with the latest Microsoft Azure products? Twitter basically. Follow as many Azure people as you can.

What would you recommend for someone who wants to become Azure certified?
Get hands on, Azure has some free services and you can get I think $200 of Azure credits for the first month. You can also use Microsoft Learn and their sandbox environments.

How did you become an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional)? This is a hard one to answer. But basically, being part of the community and helping people.

What’s next in your Microsoft Azure journey?
Trying to keep up with all the changes. This year I am focusing on AKS. I think it’s an amazing product and with all the changes that are happening just make it better.

Do you have any final words of wisdom?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Azure is massive and no one will know everything about it all.

The most important question of all 😊
From a scale from 1 – 10 how crazy are you about Microsoft Azure?
10!

End of interview

Name: Richard Hooper
Website: Pixel Robots
Twitter: Pixel_Robots