What you need to know about me in 2026 – Andreas Hartig

Hi, I am Andreas Hartig.

You want to know more about me? I am an Enterprise Architect, Microsoft MVP, and a CGI Director Consulting Expert. If you are looking for sugarcoated IT advice or trendy buzzword chasing, you are in the wrong place. I value the foundational systems that built the modern enterprise, and I focus on how we can implement them in a more resilient, efficient, and automated way today.

My passion lies at the intersection of traditional core infrastructure and modern hybrid cloud platforms. I look at IT architecture as a continuous stream of decisions, balancing what works reliably on-premises with the scale and speed of the cloud.

My Journey and Background

My path into enterprise architecture started on the ground floor. I entered the industry without an academic background, beginning my career at a regional IT consulting company. I started as a helpdesk specialist and server administrator, learning the realities of user support and infrastructure maintenance from scratch. Through commitment and knowledge, I earned my way up to server manager and later took over leadership of full datacenter management teams. I am incredibly proud of making the journey from zero to my current enterprise role through hands-on capability, practical experience, and real-world results.

I spent nearly 30 years handling both strategic and operational responsibilities as an IT manager in the manufacturing sector. During that time, I managed over 100 global sites and led multiple complex Merger & Acquisition (M&A) projects, navigating the chaotic realities of Active Directory migrations and Azure/M365 Tenant merges. My early engineering days were filled with NetWare Novell 4.x and early Windows Server deployments, ensuring operational survival where reliability mattered most.

This deep background gives me a classic T-profile. I can design high-level, complex governance structures inside Microsoft Azure, but I still understand Active Directory replication, group policies, and network data flows down to the actual TCP and UDP ports. I believe that a good architect must be able to ride the architectural elevator, communicating business value to executives on the top floor and troubleshooting a broken WSUS pipeline with engineers in the basement.

Professional Expertise and What I Do

Today, I guide large organizations through complex cloud transformations, application modernization, and infrastructure overhauls. My goal is to maintain high-level visibility for my architectural work, push my career boundaries forward, and actively contribute to the technical ecosystem.

  • I lead the German CGI RCDA architecture framework as a certified trainer, teaching agile architecture methodologies to the next generation of IT professionals.
  • I specialize in Microsoft Azure Hybrid Cloud and IT Management, with a particular focus on Azure Arc, Windows Server 2025, and hybrid control planes.
  • I audit legacy setups and design production-ready, debt-aware hybrid infrastructure that bridges on-premises realities with cloud capabilities.
  • I host the Meetup Azure Infra & Entra ID Süddeutschland, which I started in June 2026 to foster deep technical exchange within the community. You can join the group via https://www.meetup.com/de-de/azure-infra-entra-id-suddeutschland

Because of my continuous work and contributions to the technical community, Microsoft has recognized me as a Microsoft MVP in both Cloud and Datacenter Management and Microsoft Azure.

Beyond the Architecture: Community and Dragons

When the screens turn off, my focus shifts toward storytelling and community work. I have a long-standing passion for fantasy literature, born from years of playing Ultima Online, Everquest, Dungeons & Dragons and diving deep into the lore of the Forgotten Realms. You will quickly find that my love for dragons is a permanent fixture in my personal life.

Closer to earth, my wife and I are committed to social activities. She is the author of “Nala und ihre Geschichten“, a book inspired by our labrador Nala. Together, we use our time to give back to children who need it most. We enjoy reading sessions for kids who need a break from reality in hospitals, hospices, and care facilities.

We have also supported the national German reading day (Bundesvorlesetag) for years, organizing special reading events for children. If you run a facility, hospital, or organization that supports kids and could benefit from this kind of reading event, please do not hesitate to reach out to my wife and me.

The Homelab and Hands-On Engineering

I strongly believe that architects who stop building things lose their edge. If you do not touch the technology you recommend, your designs become academic and detached from reality.

To stay sharp, I run a dedicated homelab that mirrors real-world engineering challenges on a smaller scale. My setup revolves around an UGREEN DXP4800 Plus NAS driven by an Intel Pentium Gold CPU and 64 GB of DDR5 RAM.

Within this environment, I maintain my technical expertise by running a homelab with Active Directory, Azure Arc, and a VPN connection to Azure. To combine existing on premise infrastructure at home, I run tools for privacy, security, and to improve our quality of life at home. This includes a Ubiquiti Unifi network stack, Pi-hole integrated with Unbound, and several Docker containers running tools like Paperless-ngx.

Testing tools, setting up automated alerts, and breaking things in a controlled lab is how I ensure that my advice is based on the most modern solutions that are currently in preview and potentially not ready for production.

Connect and Collaborate to know more about me

When I am not designing hybrid cloud solutions for global enterprises or writing technical deep-dives on my blog, I am active across various communities. You can find my latest commentary, updates, and community groups here:

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