{"id":10363,"date":"2010-02-05T18:52:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T18:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=10363"},"modified":"2010-02-05T18:52:08","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T18:52:08","slug":"what-is-a-microsoft-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=10363","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Microsoft MVP?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I thought I\u2019d write this post to explain what a Microsoft Valuable Professional (MVP) is and how a person can become one.  The description from the Microsoft web site<\/a> is: <\/p>\n

\u201cMVPs make exceptional contributions to technical communities, sharing their passion, knowledge, and know-how. Meanwhile, because MVPs hear the opinions and needs of many others in the technical community, they are well-placed to share highly focused feedback with Microsoft.<\/em><\/p>\n

MVPs are independent experts who are offered a close connection with people at Microsoft. To acknowledge MVPs\u2019 leadership and provide a platform to help support their efforts, Microsoft often gives MVPs early access to Microsoft products, as well as the opportunity to pass on their highly targeted feedback and recommendations about product design, development, and support\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

To put it simply, Microsoft awards MVP status to people who are experts and who share their expertise.  There are no exams.  You are evaluated by Microsoft staff.  An MVP will usually have some expertise on a specific product or set of products.  For example, I have been a Configuration Manager MVP and I am currently a Virtual Machine MVP.  The expertises span the breadth of Microsoft products, e.g. XBox to .NET to Active Directory.  The directory<\/a> gives you a good idea of what expertises are covered.<\/p>\n

MVP\u2019s come from around the world.  There are around 4,000 of us globally, including 90 or so expertises and 40 languages.  There are around 11 or 12 of us in Ireland.<\/p>\n

The word independent<\/em> is important when it comes to describing an MVP.  We certainly are not shills.  One Microsoft executive once described an MVP as a person who makes a statement of opinion to Microsoft and sticks a question mark on the end.  Very often, we\u2019re quite critical, trying to get the most out of the product.  Dealing with MS employees, I feel very safe in saying that they genuinely want the same thing.  I guess you could see us as being intermediaries; we often convey MS\u2019s message to our audiences and we provide the feedback directly into the product groups in Microsoft.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to describe how to become an MVP.  It\u2019s not like deciding to become an MCSE.  You cannot sit down and say \u201cI will be an MVP by June 2010\u201d.  It helps if you are an expert on some particular subject related to Microsoft products.  You then have to share that expertise.  That can come in many forms:<\/p>\n