July 1st is a super important date for everyone in the Microsoft MVP Community as that’s when Microsoft will renew every MVP’s award depending on their contribution for the previous year. In case you are new to this MVP terminology, here is an excerpt from the official MVP website
Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs, are technology experts who passionately share their knowledge with the community. They are always on the “bleeding edge” and have an unstoppable urge to get their hands on new, exciting technologies. They have very deep knowledge of Microsoft products and services, while also being able to bring together diverse platforms, products and solutions, to solve real world problems. MVPs make up a global community of over 4,000 technical experts and community leaders across 90 countries and are driven by their passion, community spirit, and quest for knowledge. Above all and in addition to their amazing technical abilities, MVPs are always willing to help others – that’s what sets them apart.
2016-2017
I was conferred with this prestigious award in July 2016 for my community contributions for the year 2015-2016. My First Year with the passionate, highly skilled elite technical group was super awesome. One of the most memorable experiences in the past year was – I got a chance to attend the MVP Global Summit – an event which happens once in a year where Microsoft hosts all the MVPs across the globe in their Redmond office and throw them with technical parties 😉 I was flabbergasted to meet in person, some of the great leaders from Microsoft like Scott Guthrie, Scott Hanselman, Scott Hunter, Miguel De Icaza, James Montemagno and other geeks from all over the world. That was definitely a lifetime experience for me and I must Thank Microsoft for providing that opportunity.
I also got a chance to interact with most of the fellow MVPs from India. The kind of passion, energy, dedication and commitment they have is stunning. Almost all of them were very down-to-earth and humble. Some of the very inspiring people among the lot were Suprotim Agarwal, Subodh Sohoni, Vikram Pendse, Lohith GN, Dhananjay Kumar, Anoop Nair who have been serving the community as MVPs for nearly/more than a decade now. Of course each and every one in the MVP community is very special in unique ways. It was definitely a very proud & humbling times to be one among them. Honestly, most of the times I have felt very small in front of them and that gave me a lot of motivation to do more.
I am where I am today because of B.Net (Bangalore .Net) and Xhackers. B.Net is one of the largest .Net user groups in India which was founded almost 13 years ago in Bangalore. I was very fortunate to have got associated with it. I must render my special thanks to Lohith GN and Nish Anil for their inspiration, motivation and guidance. Without them and B.Net I wouldn’t have gotten exposed to community contributions at all.
2017-2018
After spending an awesome year with bunch of geeks, I am getting more opportunities to hang out with them. I have been awarded the Microsoft MVP for the second time in a row. Yes, I received that much awaited email this evening. I am deeply humbled with this award and I am truly looking forward to connect more with the technical community to learn and share the knowledge.
It would be bad on my part if I miss to thank the amazing readers of my blog who found value in the posts I write and kept visiting for further posts. I should also thank B.Net, XHackers and other meetup community members for accepting me as a speaker and listening to all my talks.
Finally, a very special thanks to my wife – Raji – for her unconditional love and support by allowing me to spend most of the weekends with the technical community 🙂 and of course my parents for their continued blessings and well wishes.
I am super charged and motivated to bring my best to the technical community. Hoping to do more and better than the previous years. Fingers Crossed!!!
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And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep
Swaminathan Vetri 