MVPbuzzChat Episode 116 with Don Kirkham

Episode 116 of the #MVPbuzzChat interview series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), and Office Development MVP Don Kirkham (@DonKirkham), a Lead Systems Consultant for GM Financial,and the CEO and Chief Architect for Probitas Data Solutions, based in Arlington, Texas. With over 15 years working with SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure and more than 30 years of programming experience, Don's passion is coding for the complete Microsoft ecosystem of cloud technologies, from database design to the user interface, including Business Intelligence solutions. He also spent 20 years as a pilot in the Air Force, accumulating over 4500 hours in various aircraft, including the T-1A, E-3B/C, and T-38. In this episode, Don and I retrace some of the history of his development work in SharePoint and Microsoft 365, going back to MOSS 2007, and talk about some of the changes to tool development in the space. He discusses the importance of mentoring others within the community, and credits a fellow MVP (Eric Shupps) with getting him on the path toward earning his MVP award. We also explore his involvement in the Patterns and Practices (PnP) community, with Don recommending that people take a look at https://pnp.github.io/sharing-is-caring/ as a starting point, and conclude our chat by discussing the annual North American Collaboration Summit and our shared plans to attend in-person again this year. You can also watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/guqi9CqErmM