Interview with a Wiki Ninja: Horizon Net, a Microsoft Student Partner, ASP.NET developer, and the winner of our Translation Challenge

Welcome to our Monday Interview!

Last Friday we concluded our TechNet Wiki Translation Challenge (round 2). Someone rose to the top to win for the most individual translated articles! Meet Horizon Net, a.k.a. Jan Hentschel. Jan translated 45 articles in German!

As promised, we're interviewing Horizon Net (Jan is also a blogger for our site now), and we'll create a special Wiki Ninja stick figure image. What should the image look like? Let's continue the conversation in the comments. Horizon, what do you think the ninja should look like? Do you have a favorite weapon, hat you like to wear, kind of glasses (sunglasses like your avatar?), type of clothing, favorite flag, or other aspect? Do you like to read a lot? Do you use a mobile smart phone a lot, laptop, slate/tablet? Do you like to play a sport, ski, or do another activity? Would you like a student style ninja (with a college hat, tassel, and robes)? Leave some answers in the comments!

 

And here's Jan's profile...

Horizon_Net

 

 

And now, the interview...

 

Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies?

 

My name is Jan Hentschel and I’m living in Magdeburg, a city near Berlin, Germany. There I’m studying Business Information Systems in a master course at the university. Most of my free-time I’m working as a Microsoft Student Partner, that means I teach students in workshops and other events on Microsoft technologies.

A few years ago I started as an ASP.NET developer, so my favorite technologies are ASP.NET MVC, Windows Azure, and jQuery. Since the first public preview I’m also working on Windows 8.

 

What are your big projects right now?

 

A few weeks ago I completed a big Business Intelligence project with Avanade. Since this project I try to finish my MCITP Business Intelligence (and some MCPDs). The last weekend I presented some sessions at a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Coding Camp. Currently I’m working on articles, sessions, samples, and workshops about Windows 8 and Windows Azure. Also I’m involved in some research projects at my university.

 

Besides your work on TechNet Wiki, where do you contribute?

 

A year ago I started on contributing on the ASP.NET forum (http://www.asp.net). Since this time I also try to answer questions on the Silverlight forum (http://www.silverlight.net) and of course the TechNet forum.

 

What do you do with TechNet Wiki, and how does that fit into the rest of your job as a student?

 

TechNet Wiki is one of my first research points when I’m looking for information on technologies which I’m using in projects and workshops. On the other hand I try to put my sessions into useful articles which I can contribute to the wiki.

 

On what Wiki articles do you spend most of your time?

 

Most of the time I’m writing new articles for the Training and Certification Portal. Beside this articles I’m working on new content, especially about Windows 8.

 

Who has impressed you in the Wiki community, and why?

 

There are a lot of people who have impressed me, so this list could be to long for this interview 😉

In general, everybody who contributes to the wiki is a ninja, because they are investing their free-time to help others with their knowledge.

 

What does success look like for TechNet Wiki?

 

Success is the passion of everyone, who is contributing to the wiki. This passion is the trait that explains why there are so many excellent TechNet Wiki articles.

 

 

Thank you, Jan! Remember to leave a comment if you have any ideas for what Jan's Wiki Ninja stick figure image should look like!

   - Ninja Ed (Blog, Twitter, Wiki, Profile)