Dave Burke - Freelance .NET Developer specializing in Online Communities

A freelance .NET Developer

Observations of an MVP

Julie Lerman, an MVP here in Vermont, mentioned my blog in a recent post (Thanks, Julie!), and my first thought was that I never would have gotten into blogging had it not been for Julie taking the lead in blogging as she has in other areas which I have admired and tried to emulate.

I've been writing code for as long as Julie has, I'm sure, and was assimilated into the Microsoft Collective in 1996.  That is, I abandoned Linux development, put my PowerMac 6100 out on the sidewalk--literally--and bought a bunch of MSFT shares.  But I never gave any consideration to the idea of being an MVP.  Didn't know about it.  Didn't care.

Then about two years ago I became involved in the Vermont .NET Users Group which Julie had founded.  It has been an awesome experience for me, as well as for the 30 or so others who attended faithfully every month.  I've gained from the VTDotNet website Julie built, observed her beginning to become published shortly after the group started, read her blog, watched her take on speaking engagements (sat in one of her sessions myself at DevTeach. She spoke at DevDays as well, but I happened to take the other track and didn't get to catch her presentation), and see her work so hard and sacrifice her time and talent to make VTDotNet the success it continues to be.

This post is about what it means to be a Most Valuable Professional and why its a good thing, particularly in light of RoryGate.  :-)  I'm not the community-oriented kind of person Julie Lerman is, but by her example I'm becoming more of one than I ever thought possible.  Like I said, I never thought much about the MVP program until recently, but I have certainly come to appreciate it and can attest personally for what it has given me through Julie and other MVPs doin' what MVPs do.

MVP definition at http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/:

  • Recognized: Microsoft MVPs are acknowledged by peers and also by Microsoft for their active participation in Microsoft technical communities around the globe.
  • Credible: Microsoft MVPs have demonstrated practical expertise providing the highest quality information and content.
  • Accessible: Microsoft MVPs are active technical community leaders sharing their experience with peers.

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    Posted: Apr 18 2004, 10:06 AM by daveburke | with 12 comment(s)
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    Comments

    M. Keith Warren said:

    Dont forget the SVPs

    http://weblogs.asp.net/kwarren/archive/2004/04/13/112411.aspx
    # April 18, 2004 2:17 PM

    Dave Burke said:

    Keith, I wanted to mention the good work of the SVPs as well, but I couldn't deal with TWO accolades which I would never obtain. Well, some day I MIGHT achieve "somewhat valuable" professional status...
    # April 18, 2004 2:29 PM

    Justin Lovell said:

    For about 50% of the MVP's that I have seen around the community, they truly deserve the title and the respect. I post a lot at the www.asp.net forums (I am a top 25 poster) and I have also seen my share of bad MVP's.

    For example, I have seen one person who posted an average of 70 posts per day since sign up and then just dropped the postings four days after five days of being awarded as an MVP. What is he doing now? I do not know... haven't heard a peep from him for six months. I am not critizing the nature of his posts (just links) but on the thought of recognition that took place to select him.

    And I have also seen people who seem to act like a complete ass. The usual reply from them are "Read the docs."

    I have been doing some serious thinking on the credit of the MVP Program because, as I have already said, only 50% of them really deserve it to the "definition" of what an MVP is. The title does not appeal to me anymore... only the type of person appeals to me.
    # April 18, 2004 3:33 PM

    Dave Burke said:

    Justin, Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with the MVP issue. Those are good points we should remember. I really like how you put it, "the type of person appeals to me." Couldn't agree more.
    # April 18, 2004 3:41 PM

    secretGeek said:

    Don't you mean "RoyGate" ?

    (you say to-mata, i say po-tata)

    secretGeek, LVP.
    # April 18, 2004 8:24 PM

    secretGeek said:

    Oh -- i meant to say "Three Cheers for Julie Lerman"

    She does more to encourage technical blogging than anyone else i know.

    I went from 'sometimes writing web articles' to 'continually blogging about anything technical (or otherwise) that happens to me' mostly because of the extra traffic and attention that *she* sent my way. And I've seen her do that for a lot of other bloggers/developers too. I'm sure that in the off-line world, she also encourages many programmers to do what they do.

    (i only ended up your blog, for example, because she'd mentioned you!)

    i say again: Three Cheers for Julie Lerman

    cheers
    Leon
    # April 18, 2004 8:52 PM

    Dave Burke said:

    Leon, I enthusiastically join you in the Hip, Hip, Horrah for the Lermanizer. Well said regarding her blog-zone of influence.

    As for "the Gate's" point of origin, technically speaking I'm with you on the Roy-O-Gate source, but the nerd masses know the incident as "RoryGate," so I'm compelled to go with the flow.
    # April 18, 2004 9:11 PM

    Frans Bouma said:

    Justin: life isn't build around www.asp.net's forums. An MVP can be doing something else now which has nothing to do with www.asp.net's forums.

    What disturbs me is that a lot (and I mean: A LOT) of people are so incredibly lazy, it hurts. They don't read any docs, don't search google groups, hell, don't even try the idea they post in their question first. However they expect answers, and fast. An MVP is not a payed helpdesk employee. I can perfectly understand that an MVP says: "Read the docs", as that's often the only right answer to give. I roam hte C# newsgroup and a couple of others a couple of times a day to answer questions and often I see questions which are too silly to bother with. Not because they're hard to answer, but because the person has no clue what he/she is dealing with. We're not baking a cake here, this is software development, often these people are 'professionals', earning money for what they say they can do. If these people ask silly questions, sorry, but "Read the docs" is the only appropriate answer: they not only start reading the docs for the answer on their question, but they also learn that reading the docs is good, and will avoid having to ask the NEXT question which follows from the answer on their previous question(s).

    A lot of questions are also just good questions and require an answer. However, you can't and shouldn't expect that an MVP answers silly questions just because he/she's an MVP.
    # April 19, 2004 4:50 AM

    Julie said:

    wow Leon- thanks. I know how hard it is for you to be serious :-) so I appreciate your comments that much more.
    # April 19, 2004 11:21 AM

    Justin Lovell said:

    Frans, I am not trying to start a debate but when I respond "read the docs" all the time, I am sure as hell that I would not expect (or should I say "dream") to be a MVP or even get some sort of respect from someone else.

    Sure, there are rather "lazy" people... they normally hang out at the Getting Started / Newbie sections... I steer clear of those sections.

    I am being rational on this. I am not going on the extreme sides of the scale -- but what do you think of a person who just says "read the docs" when someone asks a rather good question for the topic of that forum (and keep in mind that I have witnessed some of those actions in the intermediate to high level forums and newsgroups)? That is what I am talking about in the last post... I am not targetting the guys who get frustrated at newbies for rather stupid questions -- I also get frustrated as well.
    # April 19, 2004 3:44 PM

    secretGeek said:

    Frans is right: People who ask questions that demonstrate a complete inability to check google or docs first deserve no more than a "read the docs" response.

    Justin is right: People who give the answer "read the docs" have hopefully done nothing to get themselves any closer to an MVP.

    Ahh, isn't it nice when we can all just agree and get along and be happy with each other and give each other a big hug. In a manly way of course, not in a kinky way. I didn't mean it like that.

    lb

    ps. JL: who says I was being serious? cheers!
    # April 19, 2004 10:46 PM

    Justin Lovell said:

    Don't I know from somewhere? Andrew??
    # April 20, 2004 10:27 AM
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