Welcome to my website. I’m Mischa, a Cloud Native Engineer from Amsterdam.
Here I share thoughts and learnings about technical topics such as Microsoft
Azure, Kubernetes, Cloud Native technologies, DevOps and Linux. I’m also very
interested in anything that increases my productivity, so you will also find
writings on Zettelkasten, (Neo)vim, study techniques and anything that has to do
with taking notes.
In 2024 I was awared the Microsoft MVP title for my efforts of sharing knowledge
with the community.
Years of sharing knowledge on YouTube and this blog have uncovered a talent for
tackling difficult technical topics and explaining them in simple terms to
others.
In other words, I’ve found out that I have a knack for teaching. Following this
curiousity I started a Skool Community
where I create video courses on Kubernetes, Productivity, DevOps and much more.
My courses are also available on
Udemy
My courses have been received very well and I receive plenty of positive
feedback.
This blog is also available for your preferred RSS reader. Use
this link.
Video: Deploying MkDocs To Azure Using With Azure DevOps
In this video, I will walk you through the following steps:
Set up a repo in Azure DevOps with MkDocs files Set up a Static Web App in Azure portal and link it to the repo Configure the Azure DevOps pipeline for MkDocs deployment Configure a custom theme for the website Demonstrate the pull request workflow for updating the docs By the end of this video, you will have a fully functional MkDocs site hosted on Azure Static Web Apps. You will also learn how to use Azure DevOps and Static Web Apps to collaborate on your documentation projects.
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New Running Record! Ran 12km today
New week, new record! For the first time in my life I ran 12 kilometers, and immediately another 10k PR!
This morning it was time for my long run, and while I was drinking my coffee I decided to watch a running technique video again to see what I could improve. Lately I have mainly focused on my heart rate and steps per minute, but today I focused more on maintaining a better posture by sticking out my chest a bit more and leaning forward a bit more. The result was that I suddenly ran much faster and more relaxed without this resulting in a higher HR, and my steps per minute were also fine afterwards with 171SPM. These days I usually run around 6:30 but I’m really surprised that I was able to set both a distance record and a higher average speed without having to make any effort except constantly maintaining a better posture. “Running Tall” was the mantra that I kept coming back to when I noticed that I started to sink back.
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Podcast Notes: Interview With Eliud Kipchoge, The Fastest Marathon Runner In The World
What I Learned from Kipchoge, the Fastest Marathon Runner in the World Kipchoge is not only a world-class athlete, but also a source of inspiration and wisdom for anyone who wants to improve their life. I recently listened to an interview with him on YouTube, and I was amazed by his insights on running, success, pain, discipline and happiness. Here are some of the key takeaways and a summary of what he shared.
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Podcast Notes: Marc Andreessen: Future of the Internet, Technology, and AI - Lex Fridman Podcast
In this post, I want to share some of the highlights and insights from a recent podcast episode that I listened to. It was Lex Fridman Podcast #234, where Lex interviewed Marc Andreessen, the co-creator of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser, the co-founder of Netscape, and the co-founder of the legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Marc is one of the most outspoken and visionary voices on the future of technology, and he recently wrote an article titled “Why AI Will Save the World” which I highly recommend.
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I used Azure OpenAI to create an AI model of my late meditation teacher
With the new Azure OpenAI service it is possible to host your own instance of ChatGPT, which allows you to bring your own data.
I decided to use this service to create an AI model of my late meditation teacher, Ajahn Chah. He was one of the most influential and respected Buddhist monks of the 20th century, and his teachings have helped millions of people around the world to find peace, wisdom, and happiness. He passed away in 1992, but his legacy lives on through his books, recordings, and disciples.
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Podcast Notes - Azure OpenAI with Dr. Linda Sharer
Key points I’ve learned LLM models are not malleable. A generative AI model is a static thing which took an enormous amount of compute to get it to the state that it is For example ChatGPT 3.5, 4. They are as they are, they don’t change. The models won’t remember your previous data. The only way to have a continuous interaction with the model is to feed all of the data into it every time. Summary This podcast is about OpenAI with Dr. Linda Sharer, a senior cloud solution architect for data and AI at Microsoft. The main topic of the episode is Azure Open AI, a service that allows users to interact with powerful generative AI models using natural language. The guest explains the concepts and capabilities of Open AI, such as prompt engineering, one-shot and few-shot learning, fine-tuning, vectorization, and retrieval-augmented generation. She also discusses the design choices and challenges of building applications with Open AI, as well as the integration with other Azure services such as Cognitive Search and ML. The host and the co-host ask questions and share their experiences with using Open AI for various use cases, such as transcribing podcasts, generating code, and searching documents. The web page also provides links to the podcast website, Twitter account, and relevant resources on Open AI.
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Video: Deploying AKS Cluster With Azure CNI Using Bicep
In this video, I will show you how to use Bicep to deploy a Kubernetes cluster with custom network settings using the Azure CNI.
Azure CNI allows pods to be assigned IP addresses from Azure VNets which allows them to communicate with Azure resources directly through peered networks.
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Wrote A Script To Delete All Resource Groups In An Azure Subscription
In the Azure portal you can’t select multiple resource groups for deletion.
I have a sponsored subscription to play around in which I sometimes wish to clean completely.
I wrote this script to delete all resource groups using bash.
#!/bin/bash # script to delete all resource groups in a subscription using Azure CLI # get the current subscription name to confirm subscription=$(az account show --query name -o tsv) echo "Use this script with caution!" echo "You are about to delete all resource groups in the subscription: $subscription" # prompt for confirmation read -p "Are you sure? (y/n) " will_delete if [[ $will_delete == [Yy]* ]]; then echo "Deleting resource groups..." groups=$(az group list --query "[].name" -o tsv) # Loop through each group name and delete it for group in $groups; do az group delete --name "$group" --yes --no-wait done echo "All resource groups have been deleted." exit 0 fi echo "Exiting without deleting any resource groups." echo "Probably wise." Links: 202307081507
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Choosing A Cloud And The Importance Of Specialization
As a DevOps Engineer or Cloud Native Engineer, I think it’s important to specialize in one cloud provider in the beginning of your career. Specializing allows you to gain deep knowledge and expertise in the specific tools and services related to that cloud provider, making you a valuable asset to any company using that provider. Although cloud computing is similar in essence no matter which provider you choose, each cloud provider has its own vocabulary and way of structuring things.
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How To Generate Random Strings In Bicep
In this video I explain how to generate random strings in Bicep and demonstrate a couple of deployments.
I use the uniqueString function combined with the utcNow function. But the caveat is that you can only use it as a default value for a parameter, as follows:
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