Yesterday I received an email that simply stated the following:
"Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others."
I am humbled and honored to have received this award. Though my reasons for being involved in the developer community are not about awards (even this one), I would be lying if I said I didn't want this award. The photo here shows my "MVP shrine" I created after speaking at the Alabama Code Camp, which sits on my windowsill above my desk and serves as a reminder that I'm working through my chosen dip.
The shrine started out with just one Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat), holding up my business card. I cut out the MVP logo from another MVP's card (sorry Jim), and taped it to mine. Luck alone is never something I will count on (but a second Maneki Neko doesn't hurt), so I added He-Man for strength, and the studying wizard frog for his knowledge. The frog doesn't know many programming languages, but he does know how to score with a princess, so I thought that was qualification enough. Buttercup brings the fierce determination, and the Starcraft Marine stands guard so the group isn't caught off balance. The last addition, courtesy of Cicelie, is a plaque that reads "ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy."
There are many, many people to thank for helping me get to this point. Wally McCulre nominated me to the ASPInsiders and helped a great deal with CodeStock, as well Glenn Zahn who offered up most of his staff to run the event. I'm very grateful to the people who attended my sessions and talks, and for the questions and feedback that followed every session. Nathan Blevins, Ed Schmidt, Walter Lounsbery, Dylan Wolf, and Lewis Frazer have all been great to work with on CodeStock and the .Net Users Group. There are many more than I could possibly name, but there is one person I do want to call out in detail...
Alan Stevens helped me through the hardest part - getting started. I had attended the user group for a few months when an email from Alan went out asking for speakers. I had been doing a lot of work digging under the hood with ADO.Net DataSets and asked if it was a topic the group would be interested in - to which I got a classic Alan response, "any topic you're passionate enough to present, is a topic I want to hear." Later, during the DevLINK call to speakers Alan asked if I had submitted to speak at DevLINK - which I hadn't, but he convinced me that I should. It wasn't a case that I didn't want to speak, it was I didn't think my name would make the cut. Alan vouched for me with something like, "John, you gotta give this guy a slot." Once I had spoken at DevLINK, I had a "resume" in the speaking world and this is in big part due to Alan's help.
It's not over now, not by a long shot. I still have no end to ideas and things I want to do with the community. CodeStock 2009 will be great I have no doubt, but I want to help it be amazing. The open spaces ideals have really sunk into me and I want to apply them in interesting and unusual places. I'd love to see a Knoxville Give Camp, and most of all I'd want to pass on the help Alan gave me to the next developer out there who wants to get involved in the community.
Posted By Mike On Thursday, October 02, 2008
Filed under mvp |
Comments (5)
Arcane Code
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Thursday, October 02, 2008
10:44:06 PM
Congratulations! I'm glad to see the hard work you've put in recognized and properly awarded. Now you can make up some real cards with the MVP Logo!
John Kellar
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Friday, October 03, 2008
2:07:09 PM
Who would have thought letting you speak at devLink would turn you into a speaking fanatic. Congratulations!
Alan Stevens
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Friday, October 03, 2008
4:05:18 PM
Congrats, Mike!
You have more than earned this recognition.
++Alan
Jim Wooley
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
12:47:05 PM
Congratulations on having your contributions recognized. I'm also glad by business card got some good use and was able to inspire you.
