Coffee with Pros ft. Isidora Katanic || C# Corner

Thank you

Hello everyone

Welcome back to C Sharp Corner Live Show. I'm your host as always, Stephen Simon

And in this episode of Coffee with Pros, we have an amazing guest joining us today from Europe

She has been in the past on our live shows. If you have tuned in for Women in Tech virtual conference, she along with her co-host Annie

you were amazing hosts of those five hours virtual conference. And today I'm really delighted to have that host to host that host in this live show

So without waiting anymore, let me just invite the guest Isadora joining us all the way from New Zealand

Thank you

Hey, Isidara, welcome to the live show. Hi, Simon. Thank you so much for having me here

What a beautiful intro video. You got me all emotional, like seeing some amazing friends from the community I haven't

seen in a while. So thank you so much for that beautiful introduction

And I think, Isidara, I missed it while I said it. Instead of saying Switzerland and I think I said New Zealand, right

I think that both sounds very similar. So, yeah. So, guys, you've seen the video

It's Switzerland and it's not New Zealand. Yeah, that's right. It's okay

I mean, it is confusing. I mean, people often also say Sweden or any other country

And then also with me, you actually never know, right? I mean, I lived in three different countries

So, it could have been that in the meantime I'd moved to New Zealand

But, no, I'm still here in the beautiful, peaceful village in Switzerland

Yeah, well, I think that's amazing. You're joining us from Switzerland. So you have been on a live show earlier, right? People do know you from the C Sharp Corner community. But still, I would like you to go ahead and give a short introduction to the new viewers who are joining us today

yeah absolutely so uh my name is Isidore Katanich uh I'm currently I live in Switzerland but I'm

originally born in former Yugoslavia um I was four and a half when I moved with my parents and my

sister to the Netherlands and that's uh where I grew up almost all my life and then two years ago

it was love that got me here to Switzerland. And basically, so what I do during daytime is I'm on

the management board at Make It Noble, which is a Swiss IT consulting company. We basically help

our customers with everything around Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365. Then next to that

I'm also the co-founder of District Up, which is our event management company where we organize

IT conferences, including Experts Live Europe and Experts Live Switzerland, which I will talk about

a little bit more later. And then, of course, everything I do around those jobs is a breathing

community. So I love to be active in the community, whether if it's attending conferences or being part

of the C Sharp community, as well as being here today on the Coffee with Pros. So yeah, I would

say Simon, share away, ask me anything you would like to know about working from home, community

all the other questions you have lined up and I'm happy to talk with you today as well as

to our audience. That's amazing I think from the very beginning you talked about the community part

and this is where I think something that you are very known is that your community service that you

have been doing not just in the technical tech community but also you have been to different

parts of the world to help the NGO and all we will definitely talk about in the later section but

here's something that I would really like to know at the very first place is that how this you got

into this community part I mean I know you have a full-time job right you work as you said at

Make It Noble which is a Microsoft partner company and you guys are doing an amazing job

and so but how do you actually manage your time contributing to the community and before that how

even you got it into this old community part yeah so actually it started uh started in the Netherlands

in Amsterdam where I used to work for Dutch ISV, also Microsoft Partner. And it was actually

very funny. Just I was not even supposed to go to there was a certain conference, Microsoft

conference in the in the States. And my colleagues were supposed to go there. However, one person

couldn't. So the CEO asked me like, hey, like, we really need you. Could you help us? Could you go

to that conference in the States? And of course, like at connections and network and so on

So I came there and actually from day one I mean I met so many knowledgeable people For example a huge inspiration for me at that time who I met at that conference was Cameron Fuller who you might know as a well Microsoft MVP

And actually from there on, I connected so well. And yeah, just the whole conference experience was really amazing

Also work-wise. And yeah, from there on, I was almost going to any conference out there

yeah yeah and i think uh people i think nisadora has her twitter handle as a name if you just go

and follow you'll find tons of timity event that she's she has been in the past and now since we

all cannot travel to in-person events so here we are with the virtual events happening almost every

other day so i think that that's pretty great so of the community part you talked about eventually

you were not you were working somewhere and you got an opportunity to move to the states and that's

how you build a relation, right? So I think one of the really core part of being a part of this community

is like this really helps you build a relation, right? You go out and meet different people coming from different ecosystems

some maybe from development background, some maybe from sales, some maybe from marketing, some maybe from leadership

Community events are something where everyone comes together irrespective of their background and exchange their knowledge

And I think that is something really amazing. So it's a drop, but here's something that we have often found is many people work nine to five in the IT field, right

They often ask, what is community, right? How to contribute in the community, how to be a part of it

And one of the questions you find IT professionals like guys who are pure deaf is, why is it important

So my first very two tough questions will be for you to explain in a very layman's language is what is community and why it is so important

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for the question. So basically, when you look at community, it is any group of people who are connected with each other by something they have in common

So think of it as like common unity, community. but for me community comes with a lot more than just that connection I mean for me it's also a

very strong feeling I always felt very close to the community and why I also think it's very

important and maybe also especially now so normally I would be traveling to conferences

worldwide and I could like easily connect with the community and meet with people in person

and establish business relationships as well as friends, seek opportunities, how you can like help each other, uplift each other

And I think that's something that's very important in the community. And also, I mean, look at our community

We are speaking of IT community, right, of the tech community. And to narrow it down for me, it's mainly in the Microsoft community

And what I just love is how, I mean, for me, it blends in from my job and basically anything I do with the community

And I just love the opportunities that I have been given by, for example, being invited for the Women in Tech virtual conference, co-hosting the global Azure feature track, delivering a session during Microsoft Build

and there are just so many opportunities where community comes to place like help each other

uplift each other so yeah for me it's not just a word or a common unity it's also a very important

feeling for me day to day and especially now where we cannot meet in person we're seeking

new ways we're seeking new opportunities to stay connected and yeah just like we are having our

virtual coffee right now yeah exactly well said so when you work 95 in a job you this committed

really help you to not just relax go and meet people have a kind of informal conversations

so i think it takes you uh and when you attract people from from different ecosystem where you

really exchange knowledge and and it really it really relaxes you from just uh delivering projects

to the clients I think that is something it really does it really does but then also not just like

outside of the nine-to-five I mean I definitely don't have a nine-to-five mentality um not just

like in private time but also work time what's also for me very valuable in this community that

if you need somebody whether if it's for work or maybe if it's at a conference I mean organizing

IT conferences is also part of my work. There are people I can rely on, like who can help me, who are there

who can deliver sessions, come to the conference, speak, share their knowledge, and so on

Exactly. And I think a couple of conferences that you're really active is the Experts

like EU and Suzy Line, I think, right? So why don't you go ahead and talk about how you organize it

and how excited you are for the upcoming conference. Yeah, so basically, so I'm part of the organization for the European edition of Experts Life and for Switzerland

And of course, I'm not doing that alone. I'm doing that together with the team, where with Microsoft, Azure MVP and RD Marcel Zener, we bring the community together

And it's an annual conference fully focused on Microsoft Cloud, data center security and modern workplace solutions

so for this year we actually um have some challenges of course with the current situation

we had to postpone our swiss conference and we had to cancel the european edition so that's a

little bit uh disappointing but of course we had no other other choice for this year but i'm very

much looking forward to the future and when conferences uh come back and we can meet everybody

again in person yeah and i think in-person events have just gone because both is happening right now

even at c-sharp corner we had annual conference in the month of uh march i believe uh i think maybe

april we usually have around april we can do it so now all the mvps so we have a c-sharp on an

mvp program so all the mvps and speakers who were supposed to come to this conference they have now

started sending goodies to them and uh and guess what people are receiving any posting on twitter

and i think one of the uh amazing program also the different communities have is the mvp program is

is it recognized all the contributions that they have made? It may be Microsoft, it may be C Sharp

or any other community. So there are many ways anyone who's watching us today

if you want to be a part of community, there were a couple of things that I feel you should do is

if I talk about just the tech community and more specifically about the MVP program, kind of you should have an expertise in your field

if you want to become an MVP, and maybe a community reach so that

if there's any new product coming or there's new launch or demos

you must be someone people should be looking for and I think both in Experts Live that you do over

there in Europe and C-Shav I know conference that we do here in India I think MVPs are one of the key

persons who joined that conference am I not right? Absolutely no definitely yeah so we work a lot

with Microsoft MVPs for multiple reasons of course they are very active in the community they write blogs they have their own websites They speak at conferences There so much that they do for the community

And especially, yeah, just like for you, also for us, they really help us with the conference by sharing their knowledge and supporting us

I mean, running a conference is not just something which is like two days or three days

It's basically all your efforts that you have to keep up. You have to stay motivated

you have to stay dedicated, you have to stay consistent. And in cooperation together with Microsoft MVPs

as well as also other community champions, it's, for me, a fantastic experience all year round to be in that community

Exactly. So once you talk about the challenges, right, and I think when you say you run these conferences

and you've been a part of this community, what are the different challenges that you face

I mean, because you just said, right, It's not a three-day conference that you're looking at. It's months of months of preparation that goes behind the scenes

And then you get those three days of the conference. So what are the challenges that you see, not just organizing a conference, but just being a part and just leading that conference or just the community

Yeah. So basically, I mean, of course, there are always challenges in anything that you do

And, I mean, I love challenges. They keep you sharp. they also make sure you get creative right like how do you overcome a challenge how do you face

the challenge and what are you going to do or how will others help you or how are you going to help

others to conquer that challenge and um yeah so basically when I look at something that's very

current which reflects to me personally uh what's for me challenge what's challenging for me now in

a community is of course that we are all kind of stuck at home we're tied to our home offices which

I will show you later, of course, on the show. But I'm really a people person

I love to be out there. I really love to be at conferences or go to meetings or meet people

And that's a challenge which currently, yeah, it's just impossible. And same with the conference, which we couldn't host or can't host a European edition

You just have to seek other ways to still remain active in the community if you want to, of course

And for me personally, I really want to. And yeah, what I just love seeing is how many of our community members, what they are doing to stay active or to help each other or to uplift each other

I see a lot of amazing community conferences, which are being organized virtually, creative ways, just like you said, of like sending goodies

Another example, which like if you follow me on Twitter, you will see that I have an 8-bit avatar as my profile picture, which is done by Mark Duiker

He is a Dutch Microsoft, I believe, category Azure. Yeah, Microsoft Azure MVP

and basically what he does, make sure you follow him on Twitter

If you donate him a cup of coffee, so speaking of coffee with IT

sorry, a coffee with pros, make sure you donate him a coffee, then he will actually create you that avatar

But that's also something which, yeah, I just love seeing of people getting creative

and sometimes also out of their comfort zone to really give something to the community

and um as you can see i can really talk a lot about it yeah and then the avatar that you're

talking about why the eight bit avatar it's i think it's gone viral on twitter and every other

mvp or the european guy who comes from microsoft background you can see that everyone has that

even you have that avatar maybe after this show i'm gonna get that out there too maybe you should

yeah yeah indeed no it's but it's funny i mean it's something that uh yeah for me it's really

like you give some and you get some and what goes around comes around and you help each other

and what's for me also a great experience during these times so as I'm not connecting in person

with the community of course I'm trying to be active on LinkedIn on Twitter have virtual

coffees with whether it's my colleagues or my family or indeed the community and that's how

Holly Lehman based in Redmond, based in Seattle, USA. She works for Microsoft

How she and I, I mean, we were already connected and we were supposed to meet in Seattle this March for the MVP summit

I would be in Seattle during that week. However, of course, it got canceled and we couldn't travel to the US

But somehow we stayed connected online through Twitter and that went on to having, yeah, just coffees over Teams to catch up

and then we came up with the idea there are so many uh great things happening during this crisis

and of course i mean we all check the news or at least i check the news and and i mean for me

sometimes it's very depressing like especially in the evening if i like open up my phone and i start

reading what's going on it's really yeah it's not it's not always positive news and so what we

wanted to do is create a platform where we would shine a light on the positive things happening and

not just right now i mean also in the past but also what's coming in the future so that's where

we started our own show head in the cloud heart in the community and um

yeah maybe you can quickly show us a little piece of that simon what have you been doing so for the past weeks uh well i've just like everybody here

I have to admit Your geek chick brings all the geeks to the yard

La la la Here we go with the community Power Booyah Alright

Alright so I think I just lost the power

so so i didn't talk about the weather right so it's really thundering outside the delhi i'm

joining from delhi india uh there's a thunderstorm coming the monsoon is here so there's a regular

power cut so i i thought i would be back by the time this video ends but that just didn't happen

you're here okay all right so that was a really amazing video i think hot in the cloud that you

do and and uh okay i'm not sure if you should do that you should of course okay okay uh heart in

the cloud i think that's also head in the cloud too right those are the yes head in the cloud

heart in the community yeah we still struggle to like head in the cloud community heart okay

head in the cloud heart in the community but i think by now i managed to like memorize exactly

how we named it. But yeah, so we started that show. We released our first episode already

with Samuel Erskine. We have a second episode coming up. It is already recorded

So in the next couple of days, we will share it. So make sure you follow Head in the Cloud

Heart in the Community on YouTube, as well as you can just check out my Twitter once the episode goes live But basically what we doing there is shining a light on the amazing community members and all the great things they have been doing or they are going to do

And yeah, that's definitely one of the highlights for me in the past few weeks I've been working on

That's really amazing. I didn't think the video that you made, the introduction video

there's some hiccups and all, but that was really amazing. and so and i think uh the the idea behind to bring the positive content of whatever is happening

right this time it's very tough we all are locked in our homes and we're going to talk about home

and i think the guys who are joining us right now we're going to have an amazing tour of isadora's

home office right you can see the background is so beautiful right so we're gonna have it later on

I mean, before that, Isadora, as you said, as a community leader, right, as a community leader, you just don't have to be technical, right

You just don't have to be contributing the technical community. but I believe in the past you have been to different parts of Asia and to other world to work with the NGO, right

So why don't you talk about that a little bit? Yeah, absolutely. So like how I said how important community is to me, I was mainly speaking about our tech community

and especially the small but actually huge Microsoft community we have. However, like I said, there's a lot more to that

I mean, there's also a community which can be your neighborhood or can be your city or completely on the other side of the planet

And like I said, for me, it's important that we help each other in communities

So I was thinking, like, how can I use the skills which I have learned

So whether it are tech skills or business skills, lessons I have learned in life, mistakes I have made, and how can I use all that experience and knowledge to help others

And something which I always wanted to do. And I finally found the courage, found the time, saved up money to take one month off from work and to go volunteering in Indonesia and Vietnam, which was earlier this year for the whole month of February

and to me that's really one one of the most memorable challenging beautiful experiences

I had in my life and especially because I was going there thinking I'm going there to give

something but I was not prepared like how much I was receiving back like all the love you receive

from the people there they're so thankful to have you there uh even like just very simple at the

airport like when they when I was leaving and they asked me like why I was there for like one

month or what I was doing and then I just quickly told them yeah like yeah I came here to like

volunteer and to to help like teaching English and computer classes and arts and science and like

the woman at the airport she was like oh you're a hero and yeah which is not the case but it uh

yeah no it was definitely something uh um I look back at with with amazing memories and I I just

kind of wait to do it again as soon as those kind of travels are permitted again and I have the

opportunity I would love to to do something like that but yeah maybe you can just quickly show also

a video of how my month looked like in Indonesia and Vietnam and then I'll tell you a little bit more definitely

I know how to say thank you, thank you for all the reasons you gave me

And I'm so sad because today is your last day. And I hope you come back to YSR again

You are a good teacher. Thank you

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

wow what an amazing video and i think it is more than amazing it is so emotional

and it is it really gets to me like right away yeah so so you know what while i was watching

that video i just realized that to me people and everyone who is watching this show remember we all

are very fortunate that we have all these resources we were educated we had very good

resources with us we have internet we have a shelter with us and but there are many more people

who cannot even afford uh two times food in a day right so a community is not just about a technical

community so even if you get time to go and serve in any way possible it may be your local uh well

you have been i think you have been to another side of the world right you had the opportunity

to go over there but if you have if anyone's watching this live show today if you get any

opportunity it shouldn't be a technical just go and contribute share whatever you have and I think

by doing one one one we will make the difference and this is the time we all really should help

each other because this time this time is very tough so that was really amazing so tell me more

about it and those guys saying thank you to you you know struggling with the English language and

saying bye and I think they were very connected and emotional with you

Yeah, yeah. So first of all, I fully agree with you. I also really hope this is an inspiration to many others to, yeah, just keep giving, like no matter

in what possibility there is like any little thing you will do can make a huge huge impact so

yeah I truly hope it inspires others to help out in their community and and beyond so yeah about

that journey so it started off I left from Switzerland to Indonesia and there I worked

at a non-profit organization supporting the children who live in the village in poverty

to help them get a better future. So it was teaching them English lessons, which of course

nowadays it's, yeah, it really opens doors of opportunities. I mean, just something very simple

for me. I mean, I moved from the Netherlands to Switzerland without actually speaking the Swiss

language but because I can speak English it still opens doors and opportunities for me

and so yeah it was very important for me to yeah to give that message also to those children like

how English can open a world of opportunities to them so whether if that's in a job they will stay

in Indonesia or if they would move elsewhere so yeah that was beautiful we did many projects

with the kids. So it's not, don't think of like sitting in a classroom and now I'm just teaching

them English grammar and English words, et cetera. It's basically spending a lot of time with the

children, singing, go outside. We did like beach cleanups. There was a lot of trash, a lot of

plastic on the beaches where we would go out there with garbage bags, fill them up, bring them to a

recycling station. And of course, while you're doing those kinds of activities, you activate the

kids to speak English. And yeah, so that was really, truly amazing. And then from there on

I went to Vietnam. And there I volunteered at an orphanage for children with disabilities

which was completely different from the project I did in Indonesia. And yeah, it was again

just so rewarding to spend time with those lovely children and they're just they're just so innocent

and they're so kind and um yeah it's yeah i think i think you're emotional now right yeah yeah i am

of course because i think back and of course it was a very uh yeah just a very beautiful month

and also to open my eyes indeed like you said like we are privileged and and i mean i know i am i

I mean, I live here. You will see my home office. I mean, it's also not something which I just got like this

Of course, also I worked hard. And maybe to give you a little background to the story

it's actually a topic I never talk about. I think I never spoke about in any show conference or et cetera

But also when I came to the Netherlands with my family when I was four and a half

I mean, in the early 90s, it was a turbulent time in the Balkans, in Yugoslavia

I'm not sure how much, maybe it's like before your time. But I mean, also for us and my family, it was not easy, right

We arrived in the Netherlands with nothing more but a backpack. And I just managed like to build it with experiences and everything to come where I am today

And yeah, I just hope, truly hope that I have been an inspiration to those kids that like from nothing you can really like get somewhere

and you just have to work hard and seek the opportunities to grow

Well, definitely, Sadura, you have worked hard, and I think it's been a long journey, right

Everyone has their challenges, and what you just told, we are fortunate and we feel honored that you have shared

a part of your life with us, with the C Sharp Corner community

And even, you know, at C Sharp Corner, we support an NGO where we educate students or the kids who live in the slums

They don't have proper sanitation, they don't have a proper education. So we help them every year

the speakers who come at our annual conference, we take it to them at their slums

And you know, so when you just go out and reach those kids, as you said, they're so innocent

the smiles on their face that they have is so pure. It's literally so pure

And even just going and meeting to them, it brings so happiness in their life

and they just remember it. So I think everyone should contribute in any way possible

And let's just, I think let's just change the topic now. Yeah, so just one more thing I would like to add to that

is maybe actually a question back to you. So I know C-sharp community, you're very active in all kinds of ways

And actually on July 14th, you have a conference coming up, right

A virtual conference called the Light Up Conference. and you're basically collecting donations for UNICEF

Can you quickly tell us more about the conference? So now it's a question for you

Okay, fine. The first question I've ever received in 30 live shows. So we at C Sharp Corner do conferences every month

and this month we are doing a Lighter Virtual Conference which is entirely based on Microsoft technologies

and speakers are from, speakers are MVPs, Some speakers work at Microsoft

They are at the leadership level. And speakers from the entire ecosystem of the development

they're coming and having their sessions. It's a 24-hour virtual conference with seven tracks

five being English, two being Spanish. And it's going to run in seven tracks, 24 hours

in 10 different global time zones. And the main idea behind for this conference

is to raise the funds for the kids who have been affected by this uh covet 19 um the the you can go

ahead and just donate it even a dollar would count and up to its uh sky's the limit we i think as i

said we all have been fortunate enough so if anyway you can go ahead and contribute for this

light up conference uh you can just google 2020.20 2020.net slash light up and there are more than

100 speakers joining us and i think it's going to be a really good one it's meant for a cause

so even if you're not able to attend uh like five to six hours and if it's only for one session

go ahead and to contribute uh i think as i said in the past we all are very very fortunate

even to those who are watching this live show so so let's let's uh make it try to make a difference

all right so having said that i think let us move to the second part of the live show which

is really exciting right i see the c-sharp corner community written at the back uh so isadora right

so why don't you go ahead and start your home tour and then eventually i'm going to ask you

some of the goodies and the home studio setup that we have that you have at your amazing home studio

yeah yeah so did you first want to discuss about uh the disadvantages and advantages or

I think I did miss that. I think I did miss that So one of the very important thing is like when we work at home right our lives have changed Working from home is a new normal But of course there are many advantages but it really comes with disadvantages

So what are your thoughts, Isadora, about working from home? Yeah, so I have been working from home even before like this current time

So it's something that for the past two, three years, I already got used to by working at home

However, I was not used to constantly working at home. So to start with the disadvantages, well, like I said previously, like I love to be surrounded by people

I give and get energy from people. So not being able to go to the office and meet my colleagues or go to a conference, meet the community, that's definitely a disadvantage for me being at home

Also, it can get lonely sometimes. I mean, you're less connected with others, but thanks to, like, for example, Microsoft Teams or other collaboration tools, luckily, we do stay connected

Another disadvantage is also I'm sharing, well, I don't want to call it a disadvantage, but, I mean, I'm sharing my home office, which is fun, of course, with my boyfriend, Thomas, Thomas Mauder

but it can also be a disadvantage sometimes especially since we are both doing these live streams

and it happens that it overlaps that it's at the same time

I mean how do you handle with that which I will show you also a little bit later

during the tour but those to me are just like minor disadvantages

and in general I see a huge advantage of working from home

So I'm definitely a supporter of working from home, maybe not constantly as we are doing now, but in general

So what I love about working from home is having the flexible schedule

So whether if I'm dealing with the U.S. or dealing with Europe, you can easily shift your hours

If it's like in the morning or if it's in the evening, you're a lot more flexible

I also have a lot more focus hours. So you can really just like zone out and you're not distracted by colleagues or other office distractions, if I can call them that way

What I also really enjoy about working from home is no commute

So no travel. I would definitely agree on that. Yeah, yeah, definitely the commute

I mean, for me, it takes approximately an hour and a half from door to door

So that's like three hours per day for me to travel to our office

I mean, luckily, I go by train, so I bring my laptop and I can work on the way

But still, it is a commute three hours in your day, which now you get back to do other things at home

And let me see what else. Comfy clothes. I'm a huge fan of pajamas and comfy pants

And I'll show you bunny shoes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's on your Twitter, too

yeah i've seen that yeah yeah indeed yeah you might have bunny shoes i have unicorns uh star

wars i have all kinds of uh yeah so that's definitely also something um which i see as an

advantage and then lastly your own setup which i will show you in a little bit uh of course in the

office it's a little bit different and it's not the way it is here now at home so maybe instead

of me just talking about it so just get to it and see if the mobile camera works yeah it definitely

works and i think i'll tell you i had to travel like 60 kilometers 60 miles 62 miles specifically

to reach the c-sharp corner office like 62 miles there 62 miles back i have to change like four

subways then there's oh wow then there's a bike that i have then there's uh there's a lot of

happening in the one time yeah i have it's a bike that i got it from high school i've not changed it

yet but yeah i think i would definitely agree it really saves your time and that time we can

actually utilize it and comfort i mean i'll be i remember we did five hours virtual conference

and that couldn't have been possible if you did it from office hours right so i think

We are at home. All the units from the beachside. That's a different story

Yeah. And just to go back to that point, so when you said, like, how do you make time for community

I think now that's a perfect time you can use. So those two hours or three hours or one hour, 20 minutes, depending how far your commute is, use that for community activities

So when you ask where to find the time, there it is. Great

So it's high time we should go and have a home office tour

An amazing one. Okay. Well, everyone's who are watching. Just hold your seat tight

Something really exciting coming. All right. So tell me when do you want me to switch to your other camera

Yeah, you can switch. It's good for me. It's 26 degrees Celsius, I see

Perfect. All right. You can see the camera, right? Yeah, I can definitely see the camera

All right. So basically, this is where I'm sitting right now. Water, very important

And that mouse too, right? Yeah, that mouse too, indeed. Well, as you can see, so I work for my Surface Laptop 3

I have two additional screens which I don't have in the office

Well, I do have one additional screen, but like this, of course, it's a... Super cool

Then when you look at the background, what you have been seeing

So what I really love is actually to create a background which shows a little bit also

the person who I am. So this looks very clean. I'm not that clean, but as you can see, it has a lot of goodies, which I collected throughout the years at different conferences

Like, for example, if we look at this one, this is a sticker from Teculas, Sarah Lean

She actually shipped it to me because we could not meet at a conference now

So she sent it to me by mail. That's very, very nice. this Toblerone which is a personalized

Swiss chocolate Toblerone for our conferences Experts Live I love this chocolate

the chocolate is very good it's still in there oh my goodness

let me see what else I really love this one which is like dream big start small

I got it from my best friend Carly in the ISV I used to work for in the

Netherlands we worked there together and we would basically all the time bring like small gifts to

each other so that's maybe an advantage of working in the office that you get a little bit spoiled by

by your colleagues what else do we have then what I also like to do is like use stickers of course on gadgets but also on those little plans

You can see from the Azure Heroes, those sort of cute. And you're a community leader too, right

You're a community leader award. Yes, so I got this one, the inclusive leader

and basically, well, resumes for the community activities I've been doing where of course I always try to create a very inclusive environment everybody and

anybody is welcome and yeah so I'm very happy to have received the badger for inclusive leader

then actually this one so I was thinking I do have a bag of goodies which I'll quickly show

here. So maybe later on I can show you like the stickers and the small goodies that I would like

to give away, anybody who's watching. But to win the bag of goodies, you will have to guess

what's in this little box. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So you can either put the answer on Twitter and

make sure you tag me at Isidore Katanich or you can post it anywhere in the comments

but if you guess what's in this little box then I will ship you a package of

goodies with stickers and some other some other swag what else yeah so what

kind of yeah what kind of mic do you use yeah so now currently I have this one

the road but I used to it's also here have the the Jedi which is also fantastic

hmm and let me show you how sharing office looks like so this is Thomas this

part he's currently and not here and he's watching us from YouTube maybe but

But yeah, so that's his part of the office. And let me see

Well, I see a lot of badges over there. I mean, I think I've been to many conferences

Well, those are from Thomas, like his speaking engagements. I see he mainly put Microsoft Ignite, the tour badges here

One from Experts Live. I actually also collect all my conference badges from the past years

Me too. Yeah. So speaking of... He also has one. Chocolate is in there

Yeah, okay, this one is empty. So how did he get two of them and you only one

Well, he spoke at two conferences. Lucky. Got one each. Yeah, and then my part of the setup, what I love of course

is that I have daylight, but currently I'm using the Elgato gaming lights

which are fantastic for live streams. And what's also very handy is because we both do live streams

Yeah. We can easily like turn them around so they can be used on my side of the

office as well as for Thomas when he needs them. Definitely sharing is caring

And I think, okay, I think one thing that I really like about your office is that you have used

many the green right those parts and all of their artificial if i'm not wrong yeah they are

yeah which is great you asked because of course it has a reason because normally we travel

so much wait i will i will show you a different part we travel so much tom is live on youtube

is Tom at home? No, he's not at home. No, no. This is actually Tom's

plant. This is the reason why we cannot have real plants because this is what they look like

It's very green, that's why. Yeah, indeed. With the amount of travels

Actually, what I would also like to show you, because we're not so good

in keeping plants alive, I'll show you my smart garden

which I'm very proud of what is that? these are real plants

they just have artificial sunlight it's called click and grow smart garden

I think 9 because it has 9 pots so basically what you do

you just plant a little seed you plug it in the electricity

you add some water and you sit back and relax so we're growing, yeah you can see like

little peppers the tomatoes are starting to come out here, basil fresh mint

yeah so I'm very proud that artificially we're managing this is pretty interesting

I think everything is getting smart and I think this is pretty

cool yeah yeah and then uh um yeah maybe i'll quickly show you outside like the real green

yeah that's with the land you can make people jealous definitely well maybe not jealous but

just see the green yeah the green environment so if we don't manage to keep the plants alive

indoors luckily there's a big green environment out there okay i think i think that's pretty cool

someday we should be like uh walk around the switzerland we should name on that show and

you can take us around the city yeah all right shall we switch back to the front camera or is

anything else you would like to uh uh let me let me go around what what else do i see um everything

looks cool everything looks good what's inside that box that that big box the one up there

no the one at the down second shelf this one definitely i'll ask tom to help me the one that is on the other corner yeah this one

okay so basically it's a power plugs what else oh yeah humans of it community brochure yeah so it's

nothing really uh if not hearts then what else is in your place right yeah all right so that that's

amazing studio like yeah i'll definitely switch back you can sit back on your place all right

right and i'll just switch it back all right what an amazing tour it was i'm surely going to ask tom to help me what's inside the

yellow box i think you know tom if you're just hearing this dm me what's inside the yellow box

All right. So how long took you to build an entire setup

Long actually. So it started off... Let me just switch this one off. You can hear me all right

Perfect Yeah I can hear you Awesome Yeah so I actually started off with just a laptop and a mouse and a desk and a chair But it not something that like from day one we like had our office built like this

It's an ongoing process. And yeah, it took us for sure two years to get to this point where we are now

And what's very important for me is what I love is like the little personal touches

So especially with all the time we are spending at home, I think it's very important that you create an environment where you like to be

So whether if you have a spare room or if it's like at the kitchen table or if it's in the living room, make yourself a little corner where, yeah

what really feels like comfortable because you have to spend a lot of time there. You have to get a lot of inspiration sitting there, motivation to get your work done

So definitely one of the tips besides the technical gadgets, to call it that way, also make it feel like comfortable, nice and a happy place where you are

Now I don't hear you. so i just muted that oh i'm really sorry i muted myself yeah now i do hear you so

so mine is still under development i think it is still going to take time but definitely

uh the one picture that you had on twitter the other night i am using that as my wallpaper on

my four screens yeah i mean like there are three screens over here and all with the same

C sharp corner, C sharp corner, C sharp corner. So that's pretty amazing. So I use it like I have one system for the development, one with my laptop and the other three displays for the editing and all that I do

So as you said, one should start very small. Even in your back there, there's a quotation that says start small, right

And then eventually grow. I've seen many people. Yeah, I've seen many people investing a lot at the very first place

right do you have is there any tips on using your existing resources at home i mean uh i mean you

can maybe guide that on much better on not on not how to spend too much i mean looking at your setup

everyone would go now and start buying things especially that rack that you have right what

are some of your tips to use your existing setup and not spend too much

so let me let me think about that yeah so basically it also depends on on your needs

like if you're uh continuously uh doing virtual events like for example uh like like thomas and i

we are both very active in doing those online events then at one point you just realize okay

you need a better setup like you need better lights or you need a better camera or a microphone

however if it's like something you're doing maybe just one time or occasionally or just starting

you could use of course also your laptop I mean your laptop camera and your laptop microphone

if you don't have the budget to really expand expand in getting like all external equipment

yeah so so yeah definitely I think even when I started I was using my standard

webcam from the laptop and this laptop is from my uh injuring college days so definitely start

small right eventually you will grow now i have a mic with me definitely not the one that you have

but i do have a condenser mic and at three to four so start small use the resources that you have

and depending on your need you can eventually go need not just invest everything at the very first

place because you're not sure how it will turn up once you just buy exactly and and i think um that

things are falling in place now. People are coming back to their normal

lives, but I think people should be safe as much as possible. Keep the social

distancing. And I think masking your place is mandatory now. You're right

Yeah. So, yeah. What I would say, the main message is indeed, like, it's not

something that's overnight. It's there, right? It's something you just need to keep

optimizing, renewing, reusing, find creative ways. and yeah. Well that's great Isadora, I think I'm almost 16. Oh my goodness, yeah you need to show

your goodies right? We still have a good time. The person who guesses what's in this little box

which actually I also got from Carly, my best friend, she gave it to me in the office. So if

If you know what's in here, then I will ship. Is that a pen drive

Then I will ship this goodie bag. So basically what it is. My goodness

It's, well, this bag I received at Microsoft Ignite the Tour, which I believe in Amsterdam or London

But, yeah, I just collected some of my spare goodies. Because since we cannot meet in person or go to conferences

hopefully this will somehow still make it fun. So I have Microsoft Azure socks

Okay. What else is in there? A smart wallet. That's great. Yeah

A mouse pad. I need that. I need that. I have one from the scatters and now it's out of stock

Stickers. Born to be hybrid. Yeah. yeah so it's that's a pack of stickers yeah it's also stickers yeah indeed I

believe Thomas just created those so if you're watching Thomas I just took a pack

of stickers to give away Thomas is watching and he's saying like I'll try

to find that to find it out I mean and we also have our own robot so this is

actually Thomas Thomas's robots called Tommy the cloud robots and I also have my own version Dory

the cloud robots so there's also pack of those stickers from the as your heroes program the

learner sticker yeah so basically it's full of full of stickers and small gadgets and goodies so

So once again, you get that bag too, right? It comes with the bag

I will ship it to anybody proposed to who can guess this, right

All right. So anyone just guess it and tag Isadora on Twitter, right

I think guys have started getting someone says it's a cube inside the cube

Someone is saying it's a timer watch. Oh, Tom, you are my savior

No, no, no, no, no, no. absolutely not oh my goodness okay so all right so then we had an amazing session a live show

ECB talked about what is community how one can get involved what are different ways one can

contribute you shared your own personal stories on how you started how you went to states and then

started building relation and found out the importance of community uh you've been to

different parts of the world to contribute uh your home studio is amazing definitely you have

worked hard to read. share as he did share a part of your life so definitely you are an inspiration to many people

watching now the live show and also later on on YouTube Facebook Twitter Twitch and we are honored

to have you on the live show and hope you keep coming back again and again right and and really

thankful for your time and for all the efforts that you have done I think you really helped us

to reach a good number of people for this show. I'm helping us to reach a good number of audience

and their home too. So I'm really thankful for all your time. And I, Stephen Simon

on behalf of entire C Sharp OneL community and its millions and millions of users

would like to thank you for your valuable time and your contributions to the community

And we would love to have you back as soon as possible. Thank you so much, Simon

And also for inviting me again after we did the Women in Tech virtual conference together

which again, I just want to highlight that it's amazing how C Sharp community and you and Mahesh and Magnus

and everybody involved gave that platform to us to host a fantastic Women in Tech conference a few weeks back And thank you very much for having me here today

We already agreed the next time we see each other is going to be in India, right

I would love to come there. And as I showed you yesterday, the making of my Indian curry

Definitely. I'm sure you can help me optimize that to make like a real fantastic Indian

group when you see each other. Yeah. Yeah. I think I have to work on that part

Not good at kitchen. We take a cooking, a cooking class or something

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. We would love to have you here in India next year for the conference

And it's a three day conference that we do with over like a four or five different tracks

It runs from morning eight till night. and then we also have an mvp uh event with the same time for c-shop corner mvps so definitely

i think you're going to enjoy and we'll go to different ngos too here in india that we support

wonderful thank you so much simon all right bye bye bye isadora have a good day and take care bye

bye and thanks everyone for watching