Azure Coding Architect

Tinkering in the cloud...

GHAS - How to use CodeQL custom queries?

2023-02-10 8 min read General Bas Van De Sande
Over the last two years, I have seen a growing awareness when it comes to zero trust computing. When organizations look at zero trust computing, the first thing that comes into mind is getting the infrastructure secure. Assuming breach, ensuring that there are multiple layers of security applied. As an engineer I love seeing this growing awareness. What a lot of organizations seem to forget is that perhaps the most important part of securing its data starts with analyzing the source code of its proprietary software. Continue reading

How to prepare for the Azure Cybersecurity Architect SC-100 exam

2023-01-20 2 min read General Bas Van De Sande
Frustration! If one word should describe the learning experience using Microsoft Learn (other words could have been: indigestable, wut?!, uncohesive etcetera). I have never encountered a Microsoft Learning path that was so hard to digest. Then you could ask yourself: “Is the subject that hard?”. It is not the subject, it is the way the self-study was written. In this blog post, I will share the way I prepared for this exam. Continue reading

Just do it! Work on your certifications.

2022-08-28 5 min read General Bas Van De Sande
If you asked me 5 years ago if I would do any Microsoft exam, I would have told you that getting certified is something that you need to do at the start of your career. Besides that I would have told you that once your work experience and technical influence increases, you can rely on your seniority. I have to admit that for a long time I could get away with using the correct buzzwords at the correct moment supported by a certain arrogance. Continue reading

Techorama Antwerp 2022, human connection

2022-05-26 5 min read General Bas Van De Sande
Techorama is a conference that has long been on my list of conferences to attend, but for some reason I never went. Looking back I think I had this idea that world class conferences could only be held in the US (or in a place far-far away from home) with thousands of visitors. I was dead wrong. What the organizers understood perfectly is that in order to have a world class conference, you should offer the same smooth, convenient and rich experience with the very best speakers, but then at a smaller scale. Continue reading

Sometimes you need to reboot...

2022-02-18 2 min read General Bas Van De Sande
Almost a year ago I created this blog… I mean not exactly this blog, but its predecessor “blog.somethingazure.com”. I thought that the name did match the content. Fast Forward a couple of months in time…. I learned that my job as Azure Coding Architect involved quite a few more technology areas than just Azure. Furthermore I was not happy with the look-and-feel of the blog; it was visually not attractive. Time for a major overhaul! Continue reading

Certification Renewal

2021-08-09 2 min read General Bas Van De Sande
When Microsoft introduced the new role based certifaction paths, a new expiration policy was set as well. After two years (as of july 2021, one year) the certification will expire, and you have to renew it in order to keep it. At the time, I was among the first people who passed the new certifications and back then the new expiration policy was unclear. There was no information on how to renew the certifications and costs involved, until a few weeks ago… Continue reading

Introduction

2021-07-24 2 min read General Bas Van De Sande
You have found my personal blog. This blog will be focused around Microsoft Azure technologies, hence the name “something Azure”. Let me introduce myself, my name is Bas van de Sande and I work as an Azure Coding Architect at Xpirit in the Netherlands. As part of my daily job, I offer technical guidance, advice and hands-on assistance for a large number of (global) companies in various industries. I have been working with Microsoft technologies since 1995 in various technical roles, since that time I have seen a large number of technologies passing by (Visual Studio technologies, SQL Server, BizTalk, Microsoft. Continue reading