Like Dale Carnegie, Carnegie Johnson is an expert at winning friends and influencing people. Of course he is, he’s an MCT. Based in Columbia, SC, Carnegie splits his time between consulting, teaching and volunteering for causes he’s passionate about. I had the opportunity to chat with Carnegie earlier this week while he was working on a project in Los Angeles.

MSL: What’s special about you?

CJ: I'm a PC. I'm an MCT. I’ve been doing this for 5 years - it's like being part of a family. It gives me the opportunity to travel all over the world and meet other MCPs, MCTs and Microsoft Partners. I feel lucky and blessed to be an MCT - and a PC.

MSL: What do you specialize in?

CJ: I specialize in developer training, Visual Studio, SQL Server, Office business applications. I do primarily consulting, about 70% and 30% training. This combination happens to work out because that's the market I'm in. I'd rather do more training because it's so much fun and you stay fresh with the latest products, but it's always good to stay in touch with the real-world application of the technology and solving complex problems.

MSL: When and why did you get started with Microsoft Learning?

CJ: I got started by meeting the fine people at Microsoft Learning (MSL) at TechEd in 1999 in Dallas. That was my first TechEd, I'd always wanted to go. At first, I was blown away by the sheer size - the number of people, the number of like-minded geeks all in one place. I went on my own and didn't have anyone to pal around with. As I went from session to session, the biggest group to make the most positive impression on me was the MSL group. I’ve been an MCP since 1993 or 1994 and I was familiar with MSL, so I went by the MSL booth and that's when I met a lot of the people behind MSL and they hung out with me, went to sessions together and it opened my eyes as to all of the other things going on with MSL like the MCT program.

MSL: What advice would you give to someone going to their first TechEd?

CJ:

• Wear comfortable shoes.
• Try to drink plenty of water and don't over-do it with the snacks, they'll slow you down!
• Engage and meet people and make sure that although you might not know the person, introduce yourself. I sat with different people for breakfast and lunch every day.
• Network - that's one of the things that I primarily do at Tech Ed. It's led to some opportunities work-wise.
• Of course attend the sessions. The amount of information is just amazing. You can't absorb it all in 5 days, but take notes and keep track of who gives the presentations so that you can dig deeper later. You're trying to drink from a big fire-hose, but the little bit you get is good stuff - Dom Perignon.
• Don't skimp on the social aspect of it. Even after the event is over, there are ways to stay in touch like email. I haven't seen some of these people in 9 years, but then we get in touch. You can bounce ideas off these people and contribute to their work, too.

MSL: You won a prize from Microsoft Learning a while back. What was it?

CJ: That was the most awesome prize in the world - Dell XTX M1730 super-duper laptop. It ROCKS! I won it for soliciting the most ads for a promotion that Ken Rosen announced at the MCT summit in 2007. It was to raise awareness for different offers for the certified community. I was able to do the sales pitch to a few companies and they followed through and I ended up winning the contest.

MSL: What are you passionate about?

CJ: I'm passionate about solving problems, especially when someone says, "you can't do it." If someone says, “you can't do it,” I'm determined that it can be done. I'll get creative with it.

MSL: What advice do you have for certification-seekers or people new to the industry?

CJ: It's pretty challenging right now and certification can be a long road, but don't give up. It’ll really help with getting a job. There are a lot of really good people out there not going into IT because they perceive the learning curve as too steep.But I think that once people start, they can realize that it's not that hard of a task. Case in point - one of our MCT colleagues, Matthew (Roche), tells the story of plugging away at it constantly and now he's at the top of his game. No one is born knowing everything.

MSL: As a small business owner, what are you doing to protect yourself in this economy?

CJ: I need to be more proactive. Most of my business comes to me by word of mouth, by referrals. I've been reluctant to do advertising and marketing, but I probably should do it. More marketing is my resolution.