#MVPbuzzChat with Don Kirkham

For Episode 116 of the #MVPbuzzChat interview series, I spoke with 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.

If you would like to follow Don or reach out and connect with him, you can find him on Twitter, LinkedIn, GitHub, Microsoft TechCommunity, and on his website at https://www.donkirkham.com/

 

You can also find this episode on the CollabTalk Podcast on Soundcloud, as well as on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.