NavaneethaKrishnan (NAVAN) - MVP 2021 Community Introduction

 

NavaneethaKrishnan (NAVAN) - MVP 2021

Hello Sitecore Community!

My name is NavaneethaKrishnan (NAVAN), from Victoria, Australia.

I started my career in 1997 and switched over to Sitecore about 4-5 years back. I've been lucky to work in different roles across different locations during all these years of my experience. I've made it a point to update myself with Sitecore and other technologies by way of certifications and courses. I've completed the following Sitecore-specific certifications and courses:

- Sitecore 8 Certified Developer
- Sitecore 9 Certified Developer
- Sitecore Helix Collection (May 2020)
- Commerce Foundations Collection (May 2020)
- Commerce Developers Fundamentals Collection (May 2020)
- Web Experience Management Collection (May 2020)


My Sitecore contribution in 2020

I'm someone who believes in mastery over one specific area rather than concentrating on multiple areas at a time. This year, I concentrated on streamlining the Sitecore developer installation process. As part of that journey, I initially started with creating a GUI-based tool named Sitecore Commerce Install Assistant (SCIA) and now, I renamed it as Sitecore Complete Install Assistant and is aimed to cover the following areas. The tool automatically downloads the necessary pre-requisites, generates the necessary PowerShell scripts and launches install/uninstall from a GUI:

1. Sitecore Commerce Installation: Accommodates re-install too while the default Sitecore install PowerShell script needs developer intervention
2. Sitecore Commerce Container Installation: Auto-generates .env file based on site details and does a docker-compose up / down (under testing: .env file gets generated with a button click and docker-compose gets launched like a charm)
3. Sitecore Installation using SIF: Generates PS scripts specific for the site and launches the same (in pipe-line, must be a breeze given that others are covered)
4. Sitecore Container Installation: Installs Docker as part of pre-requisites (other work in progress, subset of commerce container installation)
5. Launch SIA: just bringing everything under one umbrella

Note that the user has to provide SDN credentials for the automatic download.

The tool is flexible enough to understand a version - zip name mapping and the auto-download process takes over from there. This way, future releases are just about adding a mapping in the tool since the tool automatically creates a SCIA db and stores settings. The following lists only the features of the Commerce Installer but, the other installers work the same way and lot of features like pre-requisites auto-installation have been recently added.

List of SCIA Features:


Video Content

The link below contains a list of video / General links I shared in social media about the product although there are more features getting added and yet to be released-

https://community.sitecore.net/developers/f/6/t/11250

I also produce video content and post in my LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/navaneethakrishnansrnna/

 

Github Contributions

Apart from developing my own tool, I was also instrumental in adding SXA-compliant sites as part of Sitecore Instance Manager (SIM). I raised two PRs this year for SIM, while one is approved and released as part of the product, the other is approved and waiting for a product release. Here are my github urls:

 

https://github.com/navancommits/sitecore10
https://github.com/navancommits/SCIA
https://github.com/navancommits/SitecoreCommerceInstaller
https://github.com/navancommits/Sitecore-Instance-Manager

Blog posts

Most of my blog posts this year have been about Sitecore installations. There have been a few issues I've uncovered and found solutions too. Here is the link to my blogspot that has all my blog articles: navansitecorenotes.blogspot.com/

Out of my blog articles, I'm proud of the following since either I was an early-bird writing these or my tool covers some of these errors thrown by Sitecore installers / default PS scripts and, installed as prerequisites by my tool:

 Other Popular Blog Articles:

 

SIM Changes Blog:

Apart from the above blog spot, I also blog at https://navanblogs.blogspot.com/


Sitecore User Group Participation

This year and every year, I've ensured to attend local and virtual user group meetings. Last year, I travelled to Sydney for the SUGCON. This year I was waiting for the Melbourne event but good that everything is available virtually.

My objectives for the next year

My plan for the next year and the coming years as such is to pick one area of expertise and master it. I wish to provide product value-add in that one specific area while I update myself with other areas. Specifically, I'm keen about Content Hub/CAAS/DAM but open to others too. I'm also looking forward to present SCIA as well as my future work across SUGCONs.

Why do I want to become an MVP?

I like what I do in terms of analysing the platform, providing value-add, share my thoughts and knowledge in social media. Coincidentally, this has become a hobby since the release of Sitecore 10 and the Corona lockdown while not to forget the encouragement by the Sitecore community. These days, I somehow have to do at least one post a week as a way to communicate with my LinkedIn mates. I think the Sitecore MVP credential is an affirmation that what I do is liked by the Sitecore team. I feel this will pave a path for many to start thinking that you don't need to be jack of all but be passionate about what you do and the other things will follow.

Sitecore Community Profile

Sitecore Community Profile - NAVAN

Sitecore Stack overflow Profile

https://sitecore.stackexchange.com/users/6977/navin

Thank you note

Thanks to one and all for helping me get this far. When I started this year, I never thought I would be proud of my Sitecore work this year. I would also like to congratulate all of those who have taken that step to submit a nomination this year and the previous years. Its not an easy job and I realized it as I started detailing mine.

Last but not the least, let's build a compassionate world... the world needs it now more than ever... Before I sound like a President candidate, signing off with love, respect and a :) - NAVAN

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