I Got Awarded as Microsoft MVP 🥳🥳🥳
Tags: mvp, mvpbuzz, devops, community
Published: 2022-03-18 10:01:46

I've been awarded as __Microsoft MVP__, Most Valuable Professional!

![MVP Email](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/d3i6euhl4xzpjyplx2qt.png)

I’m __super proud__ to be part of this community and share and work with technologies that I’m passionate about. I believe I’ve got this award mainly because of my [YouTube videos](https://youtube.com/CoderDave) about GitHub and Azure DevOps, but also for my contributions on online communities (like here on [Dev.to](https://dev.to/n3wt0n), and speaking to conferences and events (even tho, of course, due to Covid the opportunities for this have been quite slim). 

![MVP Box](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/bb3q8n3y3pn3vskz5w8x.jpeg)

I've been in fact awarded in the ___Developer Technologies___ category, which indeed includes Azure DevOps and GitHub, as well as Visual Studio and other tools.

![MVP Plaque](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0d9du3y87gng274dzair.jpeg)

This award means __a lot__ to me, and the people close to me really know how much time, effort and passion I’ve put into sharing my love for DevOps, GitHub, Azure DevOps, etc...

Never with an award or title in mind, because I believe that __the goal should always be sharing your knowledge and helping people__, not getting an award (_more about this in the video below_).

I'll continue to do what I’ve being doing and more, because __I love this__. I really do. And I’m having so much fun doing it.

### A Bit of History

I've been an MVP before as well, __this is not my first time__.

I've got the MVP award for the first time in 2015, and then got re-awarded in 2016 and 2017. But being the MVP an award for independent professionals, I had to give it up when I've joined Microsoft in 2017.

![MVP Older Plaques](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/iz486mp5d49ud07wfu4t.jpeg)

Those 3 times, the award category was "Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management"... a fancy name which basically meant a Team Foundation Server and Azure DevOps expert.

But this time is different... it feels different... for some reason __it means so much more to me__.

### OK, But What is The MVP Award?

The MVP Award is a global program that Microsoft created many years ago to __recognize technology experts and community leaders__ who actively support technical communities via __knowledge sharing__. 

MVPs also actively contribute to support the developer and IT Pro communities worldwide, helping them learn, build, and use the products.

![MVP Tower](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0k6sxm4xi5side9zvteh.jpeg)

There are many kinds of contributions that may lead you to become an MVP, you can read more about this on the [official MVP website](https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/pages/what-it-takes-to-be-an-mvp)

### My Take on Community Activities and Being an MVP

I got recently interviewed by some IT Industry Leaders here in Hong Kong, and part of the interview was about community, learning, and being an MVP.

Check out the video here to watch the extract of the interview (sorry for the low quality... it's a Zoom recording)

{% youtube dbZS-Zc893w %}

[Link to the video: https://youtu.be/dbZS-Zc893w](https://youtu.be/dbZS-Zc893w)

If you rather prefer just listening, well... I got this on my Podcast as well:

🔉 [Podcast](https://geni.us/cdpodcast)


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