MVP 2008

Yesterday Microsoft re-awarded me as Most Valuable Professional for the 3rd year. As a self-employed person, there are really very few awards that you can attain that indicate that you are proceeding through your career successfully and the MVP is one of them. Getting an MVP feels kind of like being promoted. It's a really good feeling. There are about 30 people world-wide in my category of award.

As with all meaningful promotions, it doesn't come easily or without hard work. It also comes with a sense of responsibility to keep on excelling.  Being an MVP is hard work and there's no monetary compensation. Because MVP is an award and not a certification, Microsoft keeps the process for becoming an MVP secret so I can't say exactly what causes me to be chosen. But there are things that we know are part of the process and those are your volunteer activities on behalf of the IT community at large.

Why review books, write articles, write chapters for books, attend conferences, speak at conferences, host live meetings and webcasts, post a technical blog, help IT people with security issues all over the world and run a local chapter of an IT organization whose primary goal is to improve small IT businesses? Because every time I do, I learn something and for me learning is everything. I bring back knowledge on how to make Harbor Computer Services a better business. I make contacts with IT professionals from all over the world and that in turn allows us to grow our technical knowledge and resources beyond just ourselves. 

Thank you to everyone who helped me receive this award.