This week’s MVP is from the Ukraine, ha, you weren’t expecting that were you.

One of Andrii’s favourite pass times is reading books whilst standing up whilst standing in front of blue back drops

Andrii has a blog has the words CRM Magic in the title – http://crmmagic.blogspot.co.uk/ – it’s not in English so Google had to translate for me and I read an interesting post about chainsaws!

His main blog – http://a33ik.blogspot.co.uk/ is excellent and very useful if you are a CRM developer.

This is the famous picture of Andrii looking like a CRM terminator sent back in time to develop CRM!

Andrii has been a CRM MVP since 2010 and has five MVP awards

A big thanks for Andrii for answering my questions and if you want to read more answers from CRM MVP’s they are featured at the bottom (e.g. once you have read Andrii’s answers)

Andrii Butenko Answers

1. Name, current job title and social media links please
Andrii Butenko, CTO/Technical Evangelist with Slickdata LLC
http://a33ik.blogspot.com
Below are some details from Andrii’s Rockstar 365 profile – http://rockstar365.com/andriibutenko

2. What does an average day at work look like
Prototyping, developing, testing

3. What different roles/Job titles have you had whilst using CRM
Developer/Team Leader/Architect

4. What job did you did before you starting using CRM
.Net/T-SQL Developer

5. What was the first version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM you worked with and how long have you been using Microsoft Dynamics CRM
CRM 4.0, 6 years for now

6. How do you stay up to date with the CRM
Online resources, previews of releases and so on

7. How do you find time to contribute to the CRM community whilst doing your job
Just a hobby 😉

8. What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a successful career in Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
Don’t be lazy and try to create something new

9. What where your first impressions of CRM 2013 and what do you think now.
Navigation is awful, all other things are amazing

10. What one feature would you add to CRM 2013
SQL-Based reports for CRM Online

11. Most annoying feature of CRM 2013
Autosaving

12. You favorite 2 CRM blogs (I have filled the first one in for you)

1. Hosks Dynamic CRM blog
2. http://garethtuckercrm.com/

13. What year will Microsoft Dynamics CRM have more customers than Sales force
I hope it would be this year J

14. Are you doing more CRM projects with CRM online? Do you think it will all be online in the future
Yes, doing online projects. Not sure. Some customers are paranoid and they want to have everything onsite.

15. What is the best tool/solution you have used recently
Ribbon Workbench, XrmToolbox, OData Query Builder, SSIS Integration Toolkit I love all this tools and proud that I know authors in person.

16. What CRM certifications do you have, do you try and keep up to date with CRM certifications
Whole stack of certifications for 4.0. Hope will get new certifications next week

17. How important is it to have good business analytical skills working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
It is required.

18. How useful is it to have programming knowledge to become a good Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional?
It is not required. Leon Tribe is really good sample 😉

19. What knowledge/experience do you have with software/systems which integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM e.g. (sharepoint, SQL Server, Scribe, Etc)
Mostly SQL Server. For all other I can find right person J

20. How often do you travel as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional?
Travelling time to time. Spent about a year at Germany, then year at Russia.

21. Can you see yourself not using CRM in your career in the future
Nope.

22. What is favorite part of being a CRM MVP
Really not sure what is better – free MSDN Subscription or MVP Summit…. Of course MVP Summit J

23. What are your hobbies outside of CRM
Travelling, taking pictures, sports.

24. What was the last book you read and what was the last film you watched
Film – “The wolf of Wall Street”
Book – “Black City”, b. Akunin

25. Has CRM ever got you in trouble with your partner/family.
Nope.

26. Have you friends ever told you to stop talking/tweeting/blogging about CRM? What does your partner/family member(s) think of CRM
Nope, never. My wife works with me 😉 And I’m happy.

27. Tell me something interesting/unusual about yourself
My wife calls me “crazy workaholic”

28. Who is the first CRM MVP you remember reading/seeing
Ronald Lemmen or Jim Wang, not sure.
29. Tips for someone who wants to become a CRM MVP
Contribute with community. Do something innovative. It is better to try and regret then regret that you haven’t tried.

Quickfire questions (choose one option and no explanation)
Steve Jobs or Bill Gates