Interview with a Windows Server, Azure and PowerShell Wiki Ninja – Subhro Majumder

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Welcome to another Interview with a Wiki Ninja! Today's interview is with...

Subhro Majumder

Let's look at some of Subhro's statistics:

  • 13 Wiki Articles!
  • 345 Article edit!
  • Published 20 scripts in the TechNet gallery, with more than 2500 downloads!
  • Member of MSDN Leader-board!

Example articles:

Received TechNet Guru Silver Medal award for following articles:

Now let's dig into the interview!

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

Hello Everyone! I am Subhro Majumder, from Kolkata, India, with 15 years of IT experience, my skill sets include Windows Server, Active Directory, Azure, PowerShell, VMWare , and AWS.

At present I am working at Cognizant, providing solution for Active Directory, Azure and Windows Server.

Before joining Cognizant, I was working at Accenture as a SME of Windows Server, VMware and Cloud Computing.

I have authored and published various articles at TechNet wiki, some of which have won Technet Guru Gold and Silver awards. Those articles are about Active Directory, Windows Server, Clustering and Azure.

I have also published some useful PowerShell scripts in TechNet Gallery, most of which are related to Active Directory and Windows Server.

Apart from Technology, I spend my time reading novels, watching movies and listening to music. I like thrillers, and one of my favorite authors is Agatha Christie. My favorite director is Stanley Kubrick, and favorite singers are Jim Morrison and Phil Collins. I also enjoy swimming and playing pool.

What are your big projects right now?

I am currently exploring different areas of Microsoft Azure. This includes Azure IaaS solutions like Server Virtualization, Storage, Networking, Backup, ASR and Azure Migrate. In addition to IaaS, I am spending good amount of the time in Azure Active Directory, which is the IDaaS solution from Microsoft. I am also planning to explore Office 365 in near future.

Apart from the Azure project, I am busy in writing and publishing various articles related to Active Directory and Windows Server.

I have recently completed certification in Azure, and planning to complete another within next two months. I have also obtained MCSA in Windows Server and Active Directory.

Another area where I am working on is Automation. Scripting is my passion, and in last 2 years I have reduced approx. 30% work of my team’s daily workload by implementing various PowerShell scripts, related to Active Directory and Windows Server. The good thing about PowerShell is, once you know how to use it, you can implement it for almost all Microsoft Products. You can also use PowerShell for various non-Microsoft products like AWS.

What is TechNet Wiki for? Who is it for?

TechNet Wiki is for those people who loves to work on Microsoft technologies, and for those wants to contribute.

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

I have been working with Microsoft technologies for last 15 years. I have come across various situations where I did not find proper solution and documentation in Internet or in books. There are various lessons learnt after each activity I did and after each solution I designed. TechNet wiki is the platform where I can document and share those experiences, which can be used by others who are working on the same platform.

What is it about TechNet Wiki that interests you?

TechNet Wiki is interesting because it provides following features:

  • A platform to share knowledge, exchange ideas and document solution.
  • When we publish an article, we get valuable inputs from other members.
  • An open forum, yet controlled by experienced admins to ensure compliance and integrity.
  • Multiple awards and recognition, to encourage us to contribute more.
  • Maintains article versioning, which is an important feature.

In what other sites and communities do you contribute your technical knowledge?

Presently I am publishing my articles only at TechNet. In future, have a plan to start my own blog.

What are your favorite Wiki articles you’ve contributed?

There are many, however let’s pick a few of those:

What could we do differently on TechNet Wiki?

There is one feature that should be included in TechNet Wiki. Every contributor should see all the articles authored by him / her by following a link, something like "My Contribution". TechNet Script Gallery has this feature, so I can anytime go and check all my PowerShell script uploaded by me. I am not familiar with any such feature for Microsoft TechNet Wiki. If I search by my name in the search box, I will see all articles authored as well as edited by me, which is not the purpose.

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

In fact, all the community members are impressive in their own domains. I have received significant help and support from Kamlesh Kumar and Ronen Ariely from the TechNet Wiki group.

What does success look like for TechNet Wiki?

There are many ways I can look at it:

  • The experience and knowledge which I have shared has helped someone at some part of the world, even if we do not know each other. This is inspiring.
  • As an author, I get valuable feedback and input from other fellow members who are working on the same technology. This is an important value addition, even if it includes criticism.
  • By documenting and publishing these articles, I ensure that the knowledge and experience which I am gaining today will not fade away over time. This is the factor which made me start publishing articles in TechNet. At any point of time, I can turn back pages and refer those articles as and when required.
  • By publishing these articles at Wiki (and publishing scripts at TechNet gallery), I create my own space in the industry and the community.

Do you have any comments for product groups about TechNet Wiki?

I think sub groups can be created under major product groups. For example, the Azure group can be subdivided into smaller groups like Azure IaaS, Azure Database, Azure IOT etc.

Similarly, a sub group for Active Directory can be created under Windows Server, as AD itself is vast enough to justify a separate group / subgroup. Same concept might be applicable for other technologies.

Do you have any tips for new Wiki authors?

While publishing an article, authors should keep few points in mind:

  • Do not reinvent the wheel. Please avoid those topics for which there is sufficient documentation available in Internet. Always focus on those topics where less information is available but the topic is important and deserves more insight.
  • Please ensure that your content, language and lab is unique and not borrowed from any book or Internet. In such cases, appropriate reference should be provided within the article.
  • Never publish company / client information in an article. Most of the organizations have their privacy and security policy, and by publishing that information in any public forum (like TechNet Wiki) you will violate those norms. Please be careful while publishing screenshots, it should not contain any company / entity information which is private. Please remember, the purpose of publishing article is sharing knowledge, not sharing information.
  • Always turn back pages, refer your old articles and keep on updating those. Otherwise, over the time, those articles will become irrelevant / obsolete and will lose their importance. You can also add new sections as and when required.
  • Tag your article carefully. Make sure it appears in the first page (or at least second page) in the search result when someone is searching with relevant keywords.

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Thank you, Subhro for nice tips for new authors!

Everyone, please join me in thanking Subhro for his contributions to the community!

Join the world! Join TechNet Wiki.

— Ninja [Kamlesh Kumar]

PS: Today's banners are from Ronen Ariely.