>> Hello, I'm Dona.
>> I'm Sarah.
>> I'm Mr. Dang.
>> Stay tuned to hear about how
this fourth-grade teacher turned Power addicts expert,
can help the next generation of students
roll into their first job looking like a rock star.
[MUSIC]
>> Hello, welcome back to Less Code,
More Power. I'm Dona.
>> I'm Sarah.
>> Today, we've got
a very special guest who probably all of you already know.
>> He doesn't need any introduction.
This is like Brian Dang.
I don't think any words would ever be able to
describe him in a short sentence in any,
but it won't do him [inaudible] ,right?
>> Not at all. But you have to introduce yourself anyway.
>> Yeah, go for it, please.
>> Sure. But I think you guys normally call me Mr. Dang.
>> We do call you Mr Dang.
>> [inaudible] yeah, we do.
>> Yeah, we do do that.
>> That name comes from being an elementary school teacher.
I was creating apps for
my classroom to solve every little problem in the class.
>> Fourth grade classrooms to be clear.
>> That's like ages nine and 10 and we teach everything.
Math, science, social studies.
I teach PE.
That's right, getting the Kids out there.
>> Wow.
>> So school teacher to?
What's your official job title now? What do you do now?
>> Today, I'm a Power Platform Program Manager.
>> Wow.
>> Power Platform Program Manager.
Because he made a bunch of Power Apps for his kids,
then you had an interview with James Phillips?
>> James Phillips, and that's not all.
>> And?
>> In that interview with James Phillips,
I'm showing my apps,
ways that I'm bringing in educational research,
methods, he asks me midway.
"Brian, I'm going to be meeting Bill Gates in two weeks,
do you want to come meet him and show your apps to him?"
>> Wow.
>> In that moment I'm thinking,
"Should I be starky here and say,
let me try to fit him in my calendar"
>> Wow.
>> No, I'm just kidding. No, I said,
"Yes, of course, yes."
>> You took that. Wow.
>> But that wasn't the end of the meeting.
>> No.
>> So I'm showing the ways that
I'm pushing the limits of what Power Apps could do,
the Business Applications Development Platform,
and I was creating video games on it for my educational apps.
>> Amazing.
>> So that's when he asked me,
"Do you want to come work at Microsoft?" Here I am.
>> Were you expecting it like in all honesty,
when you got to that question,
was it just a complete surprise?
What was going on through you at that time?
>> I had left the classroom when I had
discovered that I know how to make apps now,
and I was able to make apps
because I've got these Excel skills, these spreadsheet skills.
If I had just the right tool,
I could lift that ceiling of what I could do in
spreadsheets and finally solve problems in the way that I want to.
That's where Power Apps comes in.
It's that replacement for those macros that you have in Excel.
It gets to that "Less Code, More Power" message,
where somebody who doesn't have the time to spend four years in
a college degree can ramp
up because the barrier for entry is lower, right?
>> That's right. Exactly.
>> That's amazing.
>> Because you don't have to go to four
years computer science school
or go to a coding boot-camp,
you can actually just use the tools you've got
available and learn things and solve your own problems.
>> Exactly.
>> Which is amazing.
>> It's accessible for all.
>> Exactly. So tell us,
you believe in this vision of Less Code, More Power.
It's affected your life dramatically.
Now you have this whole another job being
a Program Manager at Microsoft no longer teaching kids,
but instead you go around
the world and teach people to build Power Apps.
What is that like?
Is it the same as teaching kids?
Is it different from teaching kids?
>> You're feeling so [inaudible] when you asked that question.
>> The audiences are very similar in some kinds of way.
You're learning something that you've never seen before.
So for fourth graders,
let's say we're learning something like fractions,
well, we need to make sure
that we've got the right tools for learning.
So when I'm going around the world teaching
something like Power Apps suite,
we've got the right tool,
and we take it to
this level where we
finally solve something like a device order management.
Device order management is the tutorial
that we've got for workshops around the world.
>> [inaudible].
>> It's a really wonderful experience to see
people's eyes light up when they insert a button on
the screen that just does
navigation to another screen and see that come out.
>> [inaudible] moment.
>> There is so much instant gratification in building these out.
>> They are like, "I did this, I did that.
That button was not there.
It didn't use to do a thing and now it does because of me."
>> Then at the end of the workshop,
they've got that app pulled up on their screen.
>> Yes.
>> Straight from here to here.
>> Straight from there to there,
regardless of their operating system.
That's mind-blowing.
>> They're addicted.
>> Yeah.
>> That's how Power addicts are.
It's exactly how it happens.
>> I have a really burning question.
So you've done all of this stuff like it's been amazing,
what's next for you?
What's the thing that you're working on?
What's the thing that's in front of mind that
your mission right now and for the rest of the year?
>> So there are so many audiences of people who are just like me,
where we don't have
that feeling that we can solve problems by creating apps.
My goal is to give that cognitive dissonance.
Put people in a position where they would have
felt like all of these excuses would have been true.
Like I don't have the time to make things. I'm not a maker.
>> That's right.
>> Put them in that position and then show them.
You can create the screen with image controls, labels.
That's one of the first things that we do in
our books workshop is to get that feeling that you can.
So I want to enable
the next 10 million developers, who are just like me.
>> That's the way to learn.
>> These are people who say, "Oh,
I'm not a maker," and suddenly
they've made something and gone home with it.
You say, "In fact, you're a maker."
>> It's like FYI you are [inaudible].
>> FYI you just did..
>> That's the thing. It kind of blast from the shows,
very much about that, especially when we get
into the homework kind of agent stuff.
But this show is all about the fact that the excuses are not real.
>> No.
>> We don't want those excuses and you
can go and make a difference now.
>> That's right. Brian and I did a workshop at
the London Microsoft store
and it was a room full of over 100 people.
I would say 80 of them were like adults and 20 of them were kids.
It was wild to see these kids and these adults,
all of them making these books
app and all of them had that "Hello,
World" moment where they said, "I can do this.
I did this." Then they're all staring at the screen and they
won't stop playing with their app once they make it.
Half the room is obsessive over their pixels,
they were like, "No,
this is the wrong icon.
I don't like this icon."
They were just obsessed
with getting their app to look exactly right.
>> We didn't even put in instructions for
like change the color of this, the boldness of this.
>> Wow, so people just did it themselves?
>> They just did.
>> They were making it on their own.
>> Yeah. They were like, "I hate these colors, they're horrible."
So this kid is like, "They're orange and all."
It was really interesting.
>> That's amazing about
the insight because you're essentially just giving people
a toolbox and then everyone's got
their own vision, their own creativity.
They can go ahead and do the things
themselves that we would never have thought of.
>> That's right.
>> That's cool.
>> So we always have our guests
bringing something to show, what have you got?
>> Here's an app that has really
helped me connect with our community.
Some of my favorite makers are these creatives over in Japan.
I speak Vietnamese, I speak English,
and I'm a huge otaku.
I love Japanese culture,
but I don't know how to speak Japanese.
>> Well, why not?
>> I'm learning.
>> What kind of excuse is this?
I'm a huge fan of cultures who don't speak [inaudible].
>> Well, you can probably guess that I'm making an app
for getting to know the language a little bit more,
and this is where this app comes in.
>> All right, will you show us? Yeah.
>> Today I can already
translate the tweets that our friends tweet out.
>> Okay.
>> But this one is, how do I communicate back in a faster way,
and how do I communicate correctly, more accurately?
>> Okay.
>> So suppose I wanted to say something like hello.
Now, I do know the word for hello in Japan.
>> I know this is a power app that you've built.
>> Yeah. I type in the text,
it translates it, but it does one more thing.
In this third field,
it takes that translation to Japanese,
and it brings them back into English.
>> To see if it have been translated right?
>> Yeah.
>> So like translate in the translation?
>> I'm translating the translation.
This is my Re-translator App.
>> I love that. If this way,
you're wondering, did I say something horribly offensive?
>> I know, I just have [inaudible]
>> Exactly.
>> It just happen, right?
>> That happens to me all the time.
>> All the time. It's not finished though.
I've put in some audio so you can replay this back.
>> Oh, wow.
>> But say, you picked out a word that you just learned,
how have you actually acquired it?
Why save that word?
It adds it to my existing list of words that I know.
It's like my dictionary. It shows the progress,
I can search the word that I've already had.
>> That's cool.
>> But one more layer that I've added to this is,
I can add tags to this.
I can relate each of the words.
Where did I acquire a word like magic?
I got it from Animate, got it from this one, right?
I'm relating all these things together.
>> Does that help from the learning experience perspective?
>> Yeah, because all learning is connected.
You know how you memorize
a random fact because it's
related to this one time you did this one thing?
>>Yes.
>> It's all relational.
>> Yes.
>> Just like the data that we were working
with these applications.
>> He's a teacher. He knows things.
>> Yeah. He knows things.
>> That should be our new description,
and that's where [inaudible].
>> I'm a teacher, I know, things.
Yeah. That's exactly what it should be.
But that is super cool.
>> Yeah.
>> So what is the data source you're
using to do the actual translation?
>> This one's using the Microsoft Translator from Azure.
>> Okay.
>> So I just plug in a key in that Connector,
and it could translate to all of that,
and even gives me back, those sound files.
>> That's right. So you just use the Translator Connector.
Built a Power App, use translator connector,
and now he's built this very custom language
learning app that works incredibly
well for him to be able to prep for an upcoming trip to Japan.
So you can suddenly be speaking
Japanese in a context that makes sense for you.
>> Yeah, that's amazing. In real time, I guess as well.
So you actually just go ahead and key in on your phone
just a word that you really want to go ahead and know it,
and [inaudible] That's amazing.
>> I love that.
>> There was this one word in particular
I learned on my last trip,.
[FOREIGN].
It's a spirit of endless innovation.
>> That's cool.
>> A spirit of endless innovation.That's [inaudible]
>> So beautiful.
>> Continuous progress.
>> We should just use that word across
the globe, that's a great word.
>> Yeah.
>> So separate topic for Brian.
>> Sure.
>> We have recently had been working with
this huge community of
very passionate young people called the MSPs,
the Microsoft Student Partners.
Now you've taken a great fondness
on this group of people just have adopted Brian.
We've got MSPs all over the world in many countries.
Recently, you've been engaging with them
and do want to share that experience?
So what that's been like,
especially related to MSPs plus Power Apps?
>> Yeah, I was speaking with some of the MSPs just
last weekend and they had asked
me to share about my personal journey and I was sharing more about
how I was a student and some nuggets of wisdom.
After that, they started coming up with some workshops to
do in their own environments, right? In their own regions.
>> Wow.
>> So they've really taken to it.
Now, some of them come from
coding backgrounds, some of them do not.
>> Right.
>> They're bringing on their friends
who don't have that background.
>>That's right.
Because they can.
>> Yeah.
>> So I love that enthusiasm, I love the energy,
and I encourage all of our MSPs and
anybody who is in the collegial world,
If you're running a college club,
you need some business applications to be honest.
>> Oh, yeah so much.
>> So many good scenarios there.
>> That's so cool.
I bet it's quite
nice to know that your stories impacted them in that way.
Because, people need that kind of role model,
that kind of story in terms of "I did that, I made this possible".
Because we don't know what's possible until someone's
proven that theory wrong in our head.
Someone is kind of be good.
Does it bring you happiness?
>> It does.
It drives me towards this goal that I have.
Where I want people to see that,
you don't have to finish
this four-year degree in computer science.
What if you become an expert in health.
What if you become an expert in mathematics.
Can you add coding to that?
Can you had development to that?
Problem-solving to that? All of a sudden,
the degree that you develop,
no matter which one you take,
has added value because
you picked up a skill like app development.
>> That's right.
>> Yeah, we're not trying to demonize education. >> No.
>> No. >> Look at what we've got here,
but it's more like arguments in it.
It's more like applying it because
ultimately we can all go sit in a classroom and
not be out in the real world and get experience and
get human connections and
see problems and know have to solve them.
Because those people though do have the degrees but then,
learning in about, doing it the other way.
Go into health, go into retail,
going to see those problems and stuff
and learn how to solve them using what you've learned and stuff.
You don't have be almost chained to your degree.
>> Totally. In our episode with Charles Lamont,
we had a great conversation about
the demand for App Developers and not tech.
So apparently this year,
for the first time for all of you,
the demand for people to become developers in retail,
finance, marketing, hospitals, government,
weigh the heck higher than demand in tech.
Because all these industries are like, ''Hey,
we're doing this digital transformation thing.
Well, we need a DevOps to make our apps,
make our websites, make our chatbots,
make our lives easier, automate these processes.
Where do we get DevOps from?
Do you have any DevOps to give away?''
We're like, ''No, we don't just give away.
We can barely make and keep
our own DevOps because
the number of computer science graduates in the world,
that's not going up very high.
It's not going up fast enough to fulfill all these jobs.''
So it's really cool to see people like Brian going out
into the world and engaging with young people and saying,
''You, learn to to build business apps because you're
probably going to be doing this at your job.''
It doesn't even matter what kind of job you have,
you're probably going to be doing researcher job.
So why not roll up looking like
a rock-star on day one and say, ''Yeah,
I've already built apps for finance, government, medicine, etc.
You're welcome.'' Right? Suddenly you're
like super technical in like a hospital.
>> Role into the interview room with your app there.
>> With your app made.
>> You would get that job.
>> Exactly. Like, ''Oh,
you work for a government agency.
Do you ever have a problem with block?''
''I have an app for that.'' People are like,
''Who, are you even?''.
>> You're hired, this is your contract.
>> Exactly. So go do that.
That's exactly what you should do.
>> So I've be looking forward to this moment.
Not that I wanted to speed through this,
I'm a homework person and I love homework.
So part of the show is basically we ask
the guests to come with something that you can do, now.
The big thing is there's no excuses.
We've spoken about that, right?
There is no excuses.
So Brian, what have you got?
What's the homework that you want for our viewers?
>> All right, here it is. The last time you're going to use paper,
take a sheet of paper,
write down every single complaint that
you've made in the last 24 hours or the last week.
Write them all down. What are those problems?
Then pick one that you care about the most.
Solve it by learning how to create your very first step.
So aka dot MS slash power app.
>> You're right.>> So
that's the last time you're going to use paper.
>> That's amazing. That's this kind of true, right?
>> Yeah.
>> We're helping environment, and using technology.
Right, find a problem in your life,
not someone else's life, your own life.
You complained about it yesterday.
So go write it down, build the app,
and share it with us. Tell us what you did.
>> Tag us on Twitter. I feel like
shaking your heads and I totally
didn't make a complaint in the last five hours.
>> Of course you did. You're definitely a liar.
>> Liar, just a liar, and that's adorable.
>> Yeah.
>> But you can do it anyway and once you build it,
tell us what you did because guess what?
We'd love to have you in this chair terrorizing
you and hearing about what you did do. All right.
We're of course obviously out of time because we don't shut up.
So please tune in next week to
see what we've got on in The Hot Seat.
Till then, I'm Dona.
>> I'm Sarah.
>> I'm Mr. Dang.
>> Bye.
[MUSIC]