On the internet, there is a lot of noise—so many voices with so many opinions. How do you narrow down what you listen to, how do you focus and set a narrow view on what you want to do and achieve? For me, it is solutions architecture, a road I started almost 10 years ago when working for Quest in Sacramento for almost 3 years from 2015 to 2018. I ended up getting a bit sidelined, and as I exited that role, I found myself adrift on what to do next. I had struggles and setbacks that derailed me for a long time. It took years to circle back to the goals and drive I had many years back.

I have been working at Morgan Stanley for the last 3.5 years as an Enterprise Engineer in the Remote Computing/End-user computing space. Mostly focused on the hardware and networking side of Citrix Technologies, which is the opposite of the rest of my career where I worked in the software and virtualization space of EUC.

I decided a few years back I would like to learn about Microsoft Azure, which started a path towards achieving the Solutions Architect and Cybersecurity Architect title by certification. But I have struggled to fit that knowledge into my daily work life.

Recently, I have found myself listening to podcasts and reading blogs about solutions architecture. This is where I stumbled across a show from several years ago called “Solution Architect Show” hosted by Ben Yu. When I listened to this show and how Ben talks about how to become an SA, his drive towards why he made that choice, and the skills he had to develop to be in that role successfully, it really fell into place for me. I reached out to Ben on LinkedIn, who was very receptive. He shared a blog where he compiled various pieces of information on solutions architecture and a system called The GROW Coaching Model to follow to move forward. GROW stands for:

  • Goal
  • Reality
  • Options
  • Will and way forward

I watched YouTube videos on the GROW Model to fully understand it. That is when I started working on my goal. Which has been, and what I want to be, is a Solutions Architect. The last few weeks have been humbling. I follow Austin Belcak on LinkedIn, who talks about many things and gives advice and daily emails about networking with people, not systems.

In the past several years, and finally in July, I earned the following certifications:

  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate
  • Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert

In my quest to obtain that knowledge, learn something new, and push myself to set a goal and stick to it, all are part of a holistic review of where I stand in life and career.

So, my goal was to become a solutions architect in reality, not just in certification. Austin recommended a good way to start networking with people doing what you would like to do is to start a podcast (among many other suggestions and options). When I first read that, I laughed it off. That was until I went looking for content on solutions architecture in the form of podcasts and found Ben Yu and his show. Between Ben and Austin, the flame was lit and the fire started to burn. My creative juices started flowing as I figured out what to do and how. I talked to my wife, and she thought a podcast would be a good idea for me as well. Hence, The Solutions Architect Experience Podcast was born.

While practicing recording over 100 takes of an intro for the podcast and then the trailer, after getting past not liking the sound of my own voice, I started to really dig this new creative outlet. While I was practicing and recording over and over, I went on LinkedIn and made a top 10 list of people I would like to interview who are solutions architects or architects in a technical capacity in some way. Number one on my list was an old coworker of mine from Morgan Stanley, Owen Reynolds, who was now working as a solutions architect. I drafted up a message and sent it to Owen to see if he would mind being interviewed for our inaugural episode of my new show. Owen said yes, and we had a catch-up call this past Thursday and talked for a good hour and a half, catching up on years’ worth of updates.

As I usually do, I put the cart before the horse and worked on the name and website URL I would need to buy and then immediately started building a website, this site you are on right now.

I hired a graphic artist off the site Fiverr.com to craft a new logo and podcast cover, and it came out great, in my opinion. I set up a few social channels with Facebook, Instagram, and a YouTube channel.

Based on the article I read, it is recommended to cut a trailer for the show and submit that to all the podcast directories you want to work with—another task and something new to learn. Once my podcast was ready, I submitted the trailer via RSS feed to Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon, and it didn’t take very long to be published.

You can find my podcast at the following links:

It was very exciting and filled me with adrenaline, something I had not felt in quite some time. I finished up the website and uploaded Season 1, Episode 0 to the site.

Now it is time to work on questions and prep for my first interview with Owen Reynolds, focusing on tearing down my wall, honing my soft skills, and building something new with my creative mind.

Thanks for reading…