{"id":2316,"date":"2021-03-17T13:09:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T03:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2023-03-08T16:03:16","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T06:03:16","slug":"tap-tap-is-this-thing-still-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?p=2316","title":{"rendered":"*tap tap* &#8230;is this thing still on?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-rounded\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"781\" data-attachment-id=\"2336\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?attachment_id=2336\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C1500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,1500\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?fit=625%2C781&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?resize=625%2C781&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Photo of Jess dodson, sitting on a bench, with a Harley Quinn handbag beside her, wearing a stripey strapless dress and sunglasses; taken in March 2021\" class=\"wp-image-2336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?resize=819%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 819w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?resize=240%2C300&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?resize=768%2C960&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?resize=624%2C780&amp;ssl=1 624w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Oh hi!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why hello there, intrepid internet denizen.<br><br>It&#8217;s been an exceptionally long while since I last properly posted. Nearly 2 years. And *WOAH* has a lot happened in that two years&#8230;I don&#8217;t even know where to start with summing it up.<br><br>So in order not to drag everything out, let&#8217;s do a quick summary of all the things that have happened in the last 22 months since I got hired (and not least the amazing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8-RGnCBmTY\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">ever-changing stickers<\/a> that are on my work laptop!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I have travelled <strong>SO MUCH<\/strong> &#8211; not just interstate, but also overseas. From May 2019 to February 2020 I travelled to:<ul><li>Singapore<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4hljn1ALmt\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Florida, US<\/a> &#8211; including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4p5e4kgJVS\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Disneyworld<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4olciFgzq7\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Universal Studios<\/a>!<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8R_5OKh0nQ\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Seattle, US<\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8R_xyXh4xx\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">and the seat of power, Redmond<\/a> ????<\/li><li>6 trips to Melbourne<\/li><li>3 trips to Sydney<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>My knowledge, skills and experience have grown exponentially:<ul><li>I&#8217;ve almost completely moved from being an on-prem Identity administrator to being a Cloud Security Administrator &#8211; my skillset now lies in Azure Security Center, Azure Sentinel and other Microsoft cloud security and identity products<\/li><li>My presentation skills have become even more honed, because it&#8217;s what I now <strong>do<\/strong> for a living, and I absolutely *LOVE* it!<\/li><li>I went off and became security certified with my new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/jrdodson_microsoft-certified-azure-security-engineer-activity-6679561378849792000-V4sR\">Azure Security Engineer<\/a> certification!<\/li><li>I&#8217;ve been involved in hiring internally within Microsoft, helping my manager hire new members of our team &#8211; which was a fabulous experience. So much to learn being on the other side of the conversation!<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>I have been able to work with some amazing women and have have been able to go even further with my quest to empower women in technology:<ul><li>I helped start up the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B48JWwngda5\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">&#8220;Post-it Power Mirror&#8221;<\/a> in my local office, which is STILL going strong, despite COVID!<\/li><li>I helped start and now co-host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/o\/womenitpros-27492281211\">WomenITPros APAC community call<\/a> every month with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SoniaCuff\">Sonia Cuff<\/a><\/li><li>Helping out with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B9YnArphYe5\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">International Women&#8217;s Day 2020<\/a> (on my birthday no less!) and helping an amazing colleague and friend, Charlie-Marie Shanks, with her work helping women in domestic violence situations, &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/walkamileinhershoes.com.au\/\">Walk a Mile in Her Shoes<\/a>&#8216;<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>I was invited to take part in the <a href=\"https:\/\/techcommunity.microsoft.com\/t5\/humans-of-it-ama\/bd-p\/HumansofITAMA\">Microsoft &#8220;Humans of IT&#8221; AMA around mental health<\/a> due to speaking about it before at Ignite, Florida and also being <a href=\"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?p=1809\">so candid about it online<\/a><\/li><li>I was humbled to be asked to be part of Hashnode &#8220;She Inspires&#8221; series, and was <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.hashnode.com\/women-in-tech-jess-dodson\">interviewed in September 2020<\/a><\/li><li>The fabulous <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lehman__holly\">Holly Lehman<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IsidoraKatanic\">Isidora Katanic<\/a> invited me to take part in their amazing podcast &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCb7bTWzm764ixDEm8TAJjJA\">Head in the Cloud, Heart in the Community<\/a>&#8221; for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8Dl1k6Of_-4\">10th episode<\/a> &#8211; it was SO MUCH FUN! ????<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>I have attended and spoken at SO MANY different events and been involved in so many different speaking roles:<ul><li>I spoke at Ignite 2019 over in Florida in a number of capacities &#8211; as part of a panel on intersectionality and diversity; speaking on stage by myself around the <a href=\"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?page_id=2153\">hidden stories in the tech trenches and how you can help<\/a>; and then being part of the Channel9 crew and speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.microsoft.com\/en-us\/advocates\/rick-claus\">Rick Claus<\/a> about straddling the line between ops and security; and also taking part in SlideShow Shuffle on the last day which was AMAZING fun!<\/li><li>Attended my very first Microsoft Ready (internal Microsoft conference) in February 2020, just before COVID hit, and I was so very grateful I did get to go. It was a phenomenal experience being there and learning from such awe-inspiring people<\/li><li>I have been involved in the two remote Ignite conferences that have been held, as part of table talk topics on Security, on in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/jrdodson_msignite-security-secops-activity-6709958191700148224-4i9r\">September 2020<\/a> and one in <a href=\"https:\/\/myignite.microsoft.com\/sessions\/ed08f9d7-107e-431e-9843-3641e0f8ba9d\">February 2021<\/a><\/li><li>I was honoured to be asked to be <a href=\"http:\/\/runasradio.com\/Shows\/Show\/742\">interviewed<\/a> by the awesome <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/richcampbell\">Richard Campbell<\/a> for <a href=\"http:\/\/runasradio.com\/\">RunAsRadio<\/a>, discussing how you can get your Active Directory up to speed to be part of a Hybrid cloud environment<\/li><li>I spoke at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gdcfpday\/status\/1359840066563166211\">Global Diversity CFP Day<\/a> as part of the Oceania conference on &#8220;So Now You&#8217;re a Conference Speaker&#8221; to help new speakers build their confidence<\/li><li>I spoke at CrikeyCon 2021 in Brisbane, on security basics and all the things simple things that I keep seeing being missed<\/li><li>&#8230;and I&#8217;ve been invited to give this same talk at AusCERT on the GoldCoast in May 2021 ????<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that sums up work and career. Things are going well there. I am extremely busy and loving it. I spend my days talking about Azure and security and helping people make good technical and security decisions and it still blows my mind that I have the job I do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So then onto &#8220;life&#8221; in general. Which has been pretty topsy-turvy with highs and lows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Of course, we had COVID hit &#8211; which sent the world into a tailspin, grounded my travel entirely (where I went from travelling 50% of the month to not at all) and meant we all had to get used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B-gAkcQhcEG\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">working remotely and from home<\/a> &#8211; which I am still doing now.<\/li><li>My small human got older and she had two birthdays &#8211; her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B1UmUKQBPli\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">2nd<\/a>, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B1SxXTLA9Ws\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Bluey <\/a>themed; and her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CEC7oGbhcVk\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">3rd<\/a>, in which she had discovered her love of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CEJf8jnhRug\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Frozen<\/a>. Since the last time I wrote and she&#8217;s even more sassy than I could have ever expected&#8230;well, she is <strong>my<\/strong> daughter. She&#8217;s discovered her love of being a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CMY5V_qpNWt\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">princess<\/a>, so I forsee a lot of dresses, jewellery and glitter in my future!<\/li><li>We had two Christmas&#8217; in those 22 months &#8211; and let&#8217;s be honest, 2020&#8217;s Christmas was a bit of a shitshow because of COVID, so everyone needs their own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CHrti8yJdLR\/\">FuckFlake<\/a> to commemorate with<\/li><li>There were many toys bought &#8211; of the Lego variety (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B6zEEzlBKZS\/\">this one<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B_9wgbLg3nt\/\">this one<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAFfh8Qg1M7\/\">this one<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CHWQyRepJT_\/\">these<\/a>, or this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CJgMsPlpUWr\/\">GIGANTIC one<\/a>) of the geeky variety (my new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B46tEBqAqTJ\/\">Switch Lite<\/a>, to play Diablo 3 on; when I &#8220;tripped&#8221; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B4qG5t5AfD2\/\">bought my own Droid<\/a>; my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/ByCnlMig029\/\">favourite handbag of all time<\/a>; the notepads I got that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CBuIrt8heQf\/\">say what I feel<\/a>; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CMLcRsJpbAd\/\">me, in PopVinyl form on a throne<\/a>)<\/li><li>Because I was stuck at home, there was <strong>LOTS<\/strong> of crafting &#8211; including a ton of chainmaille jewellery (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCo7nL3BUEX\/\">this<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CCzJX5dB38q\/\">this<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CD5UE08hu8f\/\">this<\/a>) as well as my new love of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CFGR0KEB7DF\/\">diamond dot art<\/a>; and of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B8SUdUPBgjW\/\">colouring in<\/a><\/li><li>I continued to be repurpled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CAq_o7Eh117\/\">FREQUENTLY<\/a> &#8211; including having the odd bleach shampoo to make it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B7tyo63BvUW\/\">brighter<\/a>. I just wouldn&#8217;t be me without the purple ????<\/li><li>I still played video games, as much as I could &#8211; though my love for it died off towards the end of 2020 as I just didn&#8217;t have the time to commit. Still play the odd game when I can &#8211; especially a fan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CF2yQ8IJLs9\/\">Among Us<\/a>!<\/li><li>In really exciting news, we sold our house and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CG7QTc2JJC7\/\">bought a new one <\/a>&#8211; which, during a pandemic, is scary as hell. But we&#8217;ve been here for nearly 4 months now and are incredibly happy. And I&#8217;ve even got my very own home office and I&#8217;m <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CIh7j83Jzj5\/\"><strong>very<\/strong> comfortable<\/a> ????<\/li><li>And then the saddest news of, not just the last 22 months, but of my life to date: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/girlgerms\/status\/1304359854169944064\">my twin brother died<\/a>. Which was harder than I ever thought it would be. It&#8217;s still raw (it&#8217;s been just over 6 months) but I&#8217;ve been told that it will be for a while to come yet. But we&#8217;ll get through it. I&#8217;m talking with a tattoo artists to get a fitting tribute made, so that will be fun!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with that, you&#8217;re brought up to speed with where I&#8217;m at in life. All the major things that have happened (that I can remember!) from the last 22 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is my way of catching everyone up so I can (hopefully! ????) start blogging more again, as I have a lot to share &#8211; stay tuned! ????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why hello there, intrepid internet denizen. It&#8217;s been an exceptionally long while since I last properly posted. Nearly 2 years. And *WOAH* has a lot happened in that two years&#8230;I don&#8217;t even know where to start with summing it up. So in order not to drag everything out, let&#8217;s do a quick summary of all the things that have happened&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/?p=2316\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"*tap tap* ...is this thing still on?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,329,246,7],"tags":[456,455,174,54,51],"class_list":["post-2316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","category-personalstuff","category-travel","category-work","tag-456","tag-career","tag-life","tag-personal-2","tag-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/girl-germs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/158673739_10165162853670525_543602343991922041_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Tmk1-Bm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2316"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2517,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions\/2517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girl-germs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}