Content:
The guest speaker May Alhajri (MVP) shares her power platform journey and some screenshots for her apps and dashboard and how we can use all these power platform tool within our day. 

Below are the questions and answers from the January 2022 Meetup Session. 

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself? – City, family, hobbies, job title

Hello everyone, This Is May Alhajri and you can call me (Agent008) From Saudi Arabia. (My Dad from Saudi and My Mom from Syria).

I have been graduated with Computer engineering Bachelor’s degree. I’m a digital analyst in SLB and started my journey as #PowerAddicts.

I’m 1^st Saudi Female with Microsoft MVP Awards.

I like to read and share my knowledge across all my social media account.

I have my own community on Meetup #SharingisCaring.

 Thank you so much for having me and super happy to be here today.

Q. Tell us something about yourself that not many people know about you?

• I’m a food vlogger and foodie person.
• I love to drive especially when I’m not in a good mode.
• I love to keep learning new things.
• I love to try new things.

 Q. What does a typical workday look like for you?

I usually wake up around 7am, and make myself a coffee 3 in 1. then check my emails and my social media accounts and spend two hours on my current project. Then attending my meetings.

After my workday hours, I start to work on my self-development.

Q. 1st job out of college

5 years ago, I had just started my career journey. I was working with SANAD company as IT onsite support, and it was my first job after my graduation. It was a totally new experience for me.

I was shy and not confident enough because I did not have any work experience,

I had no idea what I was doing and where I would be in the future. Then, I started to work on myself,

ask the people around me to teach me what I should do, and what kind of path I should follow to develop myself. The university life is totally different than work life. What I’ve learned is to NOT be afraid of new beginnings, don’t be shy about asking for help, and trust yourself and you can achieve anything.

 Q. Your 1st version of SharePoint that you experienced and what year

SharePoint Server 2019. Also the 1^st thing that I used it was InfoPath.

 Q. Last challenging project and why? (this should relate to your demo)

• When I was working on converting the monte Carlo simulation from excel to power Bi.
• Monte Carlo simulation is a computerized mathematical technique that allows people to account for risk in quantitative analysis and decision making. It was a challenges project.

 Q. What is the biggest mistake that your feel holds back your clients from the results they want (this should relate to your demo)

• As I’m working as digital analyst, I need to make sure my client they totally understand all the functionality for Power Platform tools and how to use it.
• The biggest mistake is delivering the project (App, Dashboard) without explain to the client how to use it and understanding the customer profile before working on any project. I really suggest for you to read more about how to deal with the client “ Value Propositions Design”

 Q. Describe a SharePoint train wreck project, and what did you learn?

• When I was working on a Project to automate The Teams Awards Program, my main data source was SharePoint and when I structure my data I stored my data within 1 SharePoint list and it was not a good structure for my app.
• What did I learn? I need to build a strong data structured, and make sure to have different SharePoint lists for my app.

 Q. Your favorite M365 feature/tool and why

All tools, Power Platform tools

Stream

Yammer

Planner

To Do

 Q. Where do you think Microsoft is going with M365.. Be totally honest

The Powerful things with Microsoft tools, every time there are new updates.

I love the integration between the Power Platform tools and other tools.

Demo –

 Your time to shine

 (Awards App)

Q. What was your first job out of hire school

IT Onsite support at SANAD

 Q. What’s your biggest nightmare project you have worked on … And what did you learn from this experience

Monte Carlo simulation.

Q. What are you working on to become a developer/consultant / CTO

 For me, the main ingredients to success in IT

are willingness to learn and excitement.

We need to focus on both Technical skills and Soft skills.

The technical skills you need can all be taught,

but without the right soft skills, you may not rise to the top in tech.

 For Technical Skills:

We can develop ourselves by training, certifications, and hands-on experience.

 For Soft Skills:

We need to focus on:

• Communication.
• Creativity.
• Problem Solving.
• Project Management.
• Helping Others, and
• Thinking outside the box.

 Q. Where do you want to be in 5 years?

 I wish that after 5 years to have my own company.

 Q. What’s your blind spot in your Microsoft knowledge? Pitfalls

My main focus area is on Power Platform and my blind spot is I need to learn other tools.

 Q. Where do you source your knowledge? – Twitter- who do you follow, site urls

  I have my own site Agent008.org. and also I’m sharing my knowledge through social media.

 Q. Where can people find you?

 Through social media accounts: