This week's interview is with Gokan Ozcifci.
1) Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies?
“Bonjour” to the community. My name is Gokan Ozcifci, also known as SharePoint Pirate and I am real passionate about Microsoft SharePoint Server.
I’m working at the company Vision Consulting Group in Belgium, a multinational and a Microsoft GOLD Partner. I have specialized in SharePoint since January 2010, almost 3 years (it feels like 3 days!). Actually I work for the biggest “energy client” in Belgium, for creating an Intranet web application. I am the Technical reference and the SharePoint Farm Administrator.
2) Tell us about the Turkish and French communities on TechNet Wiki. How did it start? What’s it like? Is it growing?
To be honest, I began with the French community. It was very exiting to share information and see persons like Pierre EROL (SharePoint MVP) or Lionel Limozin (SharePoint MVP) sharing and liking my contributions. It was a fantastic sensation.
But I have Turkish blood, and I asked myself, why don't I contribute in Turkish? But Turkey doesn't have a “SharePoint Community”. There are technical references for SharePoint, but they are not enough developed for a “sharing group”. There are many Turkish groups and forums about Windows Server, Citrix, Lync, C#, Exchange… But what about SharePoint?
I will be in touch with Microsoft Turkey in a few weeks to create a “Turkish SharePoint User Group”. So there will be a place to share information between contributors.
3) What are your big projects right now?
First, I’ve sent an email to 45 MVPs all around the world and asked 3 questions. My objective is to create the “most interesting wiki page ever”. Just wait a few days. My new article will serve future generations.
Second, I already wrote 2 eBooks about SharePoint 2010, but they are in French. I received a ton of mails asking if there was an English version. I couldn’t provide it, but now, I am writing my 3rd eBook in English about SharePoint 2013. I hope it will be another success like the 2 previous books.
4) Besides your work on TechNet Wiki, where do you contribute?
Ohh, that’s a nice question. I’m contributing on several platforms (portals) and in different languages. Actually I don’t exactly know the number of contributions, but here a little summary of the different platforms where I contribute:
- Gokanozcifci.be (Belgium)
- BTGonulluleri.com (Turkey)
- Nothingbutsharepoint.com (USA)
5) On what Wiki articles do you spend most of your time?
I’m spending the most time on specific SharePoint articles like FBA, Project Server, out-of-the-box services, or other stuff that I know that a society will 100% use. As you know, contributors, users, and Administrators want to read impressive articles on Wiki. If you see articles from Thuan Nguyen, Christian Buckley, or Hakan Uzuner, you know that you have to be competitive if you want to be “a” real challenger.
6) What are your top 5 favorite TechNet Wiki articles?
I love every article on TechNet Wiki, because if a contributor posts his article, it’s for one reason: “To share knowledge”. I do the same; so each article is awesome for me, but if I had to choose 5, it will be those on this list:
SharePoint 2010 Best Practices: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/8666.sharepoint-2010-best-practices.aspx
SharePoint 2010: The beginning with Designer: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/6187.sharepoint-2010-the-beginning-with-designer-en-us.aspx
How to Build a SQL Server 2012 Hyper-V Virtual Machine (KIWI build): http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3402.how-to-build-a-sql-server-2012-hyper-v-virtual-machine-kiwi-build.aspx
Customizing SharePoint Server 2010 Fast Search to crawl related data (Lookup Columns): http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7244.customizing-sharepoint-server-2010-fast-search-to-crawl-related-data-lookup-columns-en-us.aspx
How to Be Sure that Your SharePoint Farm Is Fully Protected with DPM 2010: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/926.how-to-be-sure-that-your-sharepoint-farm-is-fully-protected-with-dpm-2010-en-us.aspx
7) Who has impressed you in the Wiki community, and why?
Ed, you impressed me the most on Wiki, because your knowledge is limitless. You can edit every article, you can add content and modify content, and it’s just wonderful. You are the first to improve our articles when there is a mistake. Your contributions make our world better.
Also Fernando Lugão Veltem is a great contributor on the Wiki who impresses me. Every time when I went to the Wiki to add an article or modify any article I can see his name on the Wiki.
He can be proud of all his time passed on TechNet Wiki!
Met vriendelijke groeten / Meilleures salutations,
Gokan OZCIFCI
SharePoint Community Expert
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Thank you to Gokan! If you have any questions for him, ask below!
I have a question for Gokan: I've seen the all caps in last names before... Is that a Turkish custom?
Thanks!
- Ninja Ed
