Every year I try to write an end of year review, mostly I find it a good way to reflect on the previous year, and it’s also good to write down in words so you can look back at it. It is also a chance to think and reflect, and what we can set out goals to in 2021.

I think this year most people could write a book about what’s happened in 2020, its’s certainly been one hell of a roller coaster ride with lots ups and down’s. Personally, I feel extremely privileged to come out the other side of 2020 pretty much unscathed. I know there are many people who have had a very difficult time, and many still are. My heart goes out to those people and I hope things will get better soon, which we all hope it will very soon.

For me personally, I think I have ticked off pretty much every single major life event that you could potentially have in one single year! You could say it’s been a bit busy!

The following things happened to me this year:

I got married!

I got married to my amazing wife, who continues to support me in everything I do. Everything that has happened this year I put down to her. She fully supports me, and pushes me every day to be the best person I can be. I was single for nearly 20 years, so to meet and marry such an amazing woman for me has been spectacular! We are both looking forward to many many happy years together!

We bought our first home together!

They say buying a home is one of the most stressful things you can do in your life, well try doing that when you are also trying to juggle a new job and going through a global pandemic! Everything was a huge struggle, but we got there in the end! I am very excited as for the very first time I get my own dedicated office space where I can work without being disturbed. If you have listened to any of my podcasts you may have heard the banging of pots and pans as I share the family kitchen/dining room as my office space!

Awarded Citrix CTA & Microsoft MVP!

I was awarded a Microsoft MVP award and also the Citrix CTA award, which is a huge huge career milestone for me. I had always been in awe of Microsoft MVPs & Citrix CTA/CTP’s, and to be nominated and awarded both is absolutely amazing. There are many many people who helped make this happen, but I want to put a special shout out to Christian Brinkhoff, Tom Hickling, Jim Moyle, Stefan Dingemanse & Patrick Kohler! I could not have done it without you!

New Job!

I started a new job working for a company called New Signature specialising in Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop & Citrix Cloud Deployments. For a while I had been stuck in a on-prem world, and I was getting more and more interested in the Cloud. I was lucky enough to be contacted by their practice lead, Rob Noble who offered me a position to help build out their WVD Practice. It’s been an amazing 8 months and I have learnt a TON as well as delivering a few cool projects!

COVID19

I was unlucky enough to catch COVID19, that was pretty rough!! I managed to get off quite lightly compared to some people so I feel very lucky in that sense. I hope by the summer of this year we will have seen the back of COVID and we can return to a bit of normality.

Community work

I wanted to get involved more with the community and realised there really wasn’t one for Windows Virtual Desktop, so I set one up! This only happened and the response has been nothing short of amazing. I teamed up with Stefan Dingemanse and Patrick Kohler, who are both as passionate about WVD as I am. Together, have published over 30 newsletters, done lots of podcasts, setup a slack channel and much much more. We are looking to expand this even further in 2021, so watch this space!

I also setup the UK WVD User Group alongside Kirk Ryan from NetApp, which is also growing from strength to strength!

Presenting and conferences

I normally like to attend a few conferences and user groups mainly the Citrix User Group and E2EVC. Unfortunately, like many others we haven’t attended any physical events. I am very much looking forward to getting back to physical events as I do miss the interaction. I have managed to present at a few virtual events. I was very lucky to be asked to be part of the Microsoft Partner Roundtable at a Microsoft event, and also presented to a large virtual audience at the Microsoft Meets Community event.

Summary

As I said, I could write a book about 2020!! I am very very excited about 2021, if I can achieve half as much as I achieved in 2020 I will be very happy man! I have set myself some pretty big targets for 2021, so lets see what happens!

I hope you have a great Christmas, and a very happy new year. Hopefully I can meet some of you at a conference somewhere around the world soon!