About Sonia Cuff

Don’t you love writing about yourself?

Let’s start with the basics - I’ve been working in tech for over 30 years. When I started, you had to plug your computer into the phone line and make a call (that’s if you were lucky enough to have a computer at home.) I started out by learning how to build 286/386 PCs running MS-DOS and the rest as they say is history. I’ve always been an infrastructure girl - hardware, networks, servers, operating systems are my thing, then Infrastructure as a Serivce and all the foundational services of the Cloud.

I don’t like Macs. I’ve been running Windows since v3.1 and I don’t write software.

But I’m building more stuff by myself now, including this blog, thanks to VS Code and GitHub Copilot. Pull requests still scare me.

In my day job, I lead a global team at Microsoft, who make content to help people by successful with Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Native and Linux services, including building and running open source software. It’s a world away from my Windows server hugging days, but it’s super interesting. My leadership hero is Cy Wakeman and her “Reality Based Leadership” approach. “I’m also a FinOps Certified Practitioner and I could talk for hours about estimating and managing the costs of technology.

I’m curious about AI. I use it daily for work and home, and I also dig into how people manage the cost of their AI applications.

My work also includes making a bunch of stuff that’s used publicly. You might see my face on a Microsoft website or delivering a training webinar or YouTube video. Or you might not realise that the documentation or training module was authored by me. I’m really happy on a stage on front of thousands of people, too.

Home life is based in Brisbane, Australia though the accent is still a little bit Kiwi. I have two amazing daughters who have grown up faster than I expected. I love to travel, read non-fiction and fiction (more historical drama, less fantasy), hit the gym or the Pilates reformer, take photos of landscapes, follow Formula 1 and zip around in my AMG A45.

And I should really add some photos to this page :)