First Day as a Solutions Architect in Evidi!

Nope, I did not get a new job πŸ˜„ But! My company has officially merged with four other awesome companies into one super awesome company, and I got a promotion! I’m happy to announce that I’m now a Solutions Architect in Evidi, yay πŸ₯³

Cathrine Wilhelmsen sitting at her desk wearing an Evidi lanyard.

New Employer: Evidi

We used to be Skill, AITC, Communicate, eSeven, and Pilaro. Today, we are finally Evidi, one of Norway’s largest independent consulting companies with over 300 people specialized on Microsoft technologies. Our name comes from evidence and reflects the importance of data-driven decisions.

…seriously, it couldn’t have been more perfect for me. I’m already proud to say I work in Evidi, and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and do my part to help make Evidi the go-to partner for all things Microsoft in Norway πŸ€“

I’ll keep it short here, but if you want to learn more, check out these Norwegian articles:

And of course, our fancy new website: evidi.com 😁

New Role: Solutions Architect

If the new company announcement wasn’t enough… I ALSO GOT A PROMOTION! πŸ₯³

Ok, so, this wasn’t a surprise. I started working as a Senior Consultant with a goal of getting promoted to a Solutions Architect within a year. And I did it! It was important to me to have a goal to work towards, to get the opportunity to prove my worth, and to show that I do in fact have the skills and experience necessary to call myself a Solutions Architect.

I did it, I’m proud of myself, and I look forward to new goals and challenges, yay 😊

Microsoft Data Platform MVP 2022-2023: Swag Edition

Cathrine Wilhelmsen wearing an MVP hoodie, sitting by her keyboard with an MVP coffee mug. July 1st is an important day for all Microsoft MVPs: It’s the day we find out whether or not we have been re-awarded. This year, however, we had to wait until July 5th because of technical maintenance. Gulp! 😨 That meant a few more days of nervous hoping, waiting, and nail-biting…

When we finally got to July 5th, my Twitter timeline and LinkedIn feed exploded with happy announcements, yay! I’m so happy and thankful to receive my 8th MVP Award this year and become a Microsoft Data Platform MVP 2022-2023! πŸ€“πŸ₯³

This award means even more to me because I’ve had a rough couple of years. Many of us have been struggling, and I think most of us have had our lives changed in some way during the pandemic. For many, the pandemic meant new opportunities. Those who were previously unable to travel to events could suddenly participate in all kinds of virtual events, which was amazing! Others turned around and used the opportunity to start blogging or creating video content or podcasts. I have seen so many existing and new MVPs emerge and shine these past couple of years, which makes me so so so happy 🀩

At the same time, I felt completely lost. I was not able to turn around and try new things. I tried, I failed, I let people down, and I had to prioritize handling several personal issues over contributing to the community. In many ways, I let myself down. At the same time, I know I did the right thing taking care of myself first, and I know I did as much as I was able to. I had accepted that if that wasn’t enough to be re-awarded, it would be ok. But it was enough, and I’m so grateful to be recognized by Microsoft again πŸ₯°

Receiving another MVP Award gave me such a boost of inspiration and motivation to continue being involved in this amazing community. Receiving some cool swag made it all even better. (I can now properly cosplay as a hacker, woohoo! πŸ‘©πŸΌβ€πŸ’») I will totally be smiling proudly whenever I wear this hoodie πŸ€“

Ingest and Explore LEGO Datasets using Pipelines and Serverless SQL in Azure Synapse Analytics

Woman standing next to a projector showing the Azure Synapse Analytics logo.

In the April session of the Azure Synapse Analytics and Microsoft MVP series, I got to show one of my favorite demos: ingesting and exploring LEGO datasets! πŸ€“ In just a few minutes, I grab a compressed file from the web, decompress it, store it as a Parquet file in my data lake, and run SQL queries on it using Serverless SQL. It really is that simple:

If you want to try this demo yourself, you can follow the detailed steps below. Have fun! πŸ˜ƒ

Your event needs a Code of Conduct. You need a plan and process for enforcing it. Here's why.

Imagine that you are organizing an event. You have been working for months to make it the best possible experience for everyone, the big day is finally here, speakers are ready to deliver their sessions, and attendees are starting to walk through the doors. Everything is finally coming together! Then you hear that one of your attendees has a history of stalking and harassing someone who is already at your event.

What do you do?

How would you handle a sensitive and difficult situation at your event?

I want you to think about this for a minute. Be completely honest with yourself.

Would you immediately take action? Would you know exactly how to handle the situation, what to do, who to talk to? Would you approach the offender? What would you say? Would you hear them out? Ask them to leave? How would you respond if they deny everything? If they tell you that the victim is lying and trying to ruin their life? If they tell you that they are the real victim? What if they cause a scene? Do you have on-site security to ask for assistance? Would you notify the victim? What would you tell them? Where would you go for privacy? What support would you offer? How would you follow up during and after the event if they are visibly scared or upset? How would you ensure their safety inside and outside the venue? Who would be taking care of your tasks while you are handling the situation?

Would you be handling the situation at all?

Failed to Subscribe / Failed to Activate Storage Event Trigger After Publishing in Azure Synapse Analytics

I ran into an issue today while trying to publish a storage event trigger in Azure Synapse Analytics. After publishing, I got error messages that said “failed to subscribe” and “failed to activate”. The storage event trigger had been published, but it wouldn’t start. Help! 😱

Screenshot of Azure Synapse Analytics notifications showing “failed to subscribe” and “failed to activate” errors.

(Skip to how I fixed the failed to subscribe / failed to activate errors πŸ‘‡πŸ»)

The Error Messages

The error messages hinted at access control or permission issues: