Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award and Tips to become an MVP

It came as a pleasant surprise to me when I got a message from Lee Stott, hinting that I might be awarded and asked if it's okay for him to introduce me to Claire Smyth, who runs the MVP Award Programme in the United Kingdom. I spoke to him with the ecstatic feeling later to find this message in my inbox:

Excellent! its well deserved for all activity within the community, keep up the great work. Hope to see you soon.

A new avatar for my signature and this article!

My happiness knew no bounds. I was literally on Cloud 9 knowing that and well, this happened more than a year ago now. It was the time for our renewals and almost everyone is extremely busy in making contributions in the development area, while I was doing as much as possible from my side in the following areas:

The above three are my major contributions towards the award. Also I am extremely active in twitter and post my tech content in my LinkedIn as well. This time I wasn't in the city when I received the award. It was one kind of crazy chase to find my FedEx parcel through which the package was delivered.

Finally, it was like this when I was unboxing it in my office:

The 2017 - 2018 box was totally different, plain and smaller in size, compared to the 2016 - 2017 one.

As usual with a thank you note and with an extremely creative packing, just showing the MVP logo and my name and year of award, the certificate is packed tight and nice.

This is something that was unexpected for me. Generally, the MVP Award will be signed by Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President & Chief Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation. This time, it was Satya Nadella himself! 😻

As usual, the perks of being a Microsoft MVP. The contents were:

Award Certificate
Lapel Pin
Name Badge
Award Disk
Stickers, Stickers, Stickers
and rest are the confidential documents that I had to sign.^{Not shown here. 😜}

How do I become a Microsoft MVP?

When I meet my friends and those who know about this, a frequent question that I get from them is, how do I become one or how do I get an award. Well, there are many good resources online that explains how one gets this award. My advice for the developers is:

Be proactive in the development community. Stack Overflow is one of the best places, where one can literally fish a developer of any sort. Try engaging a lot there. Maintain a great GitHub profile too.
Try to showcase your skills and talent. I have a lot of friends who are extremely skilled and they haven't received a single award, just because they are not active online.
Get your voice to the crowd. Did something? Tell the world. Even the first program ever written tells itself to the world as Hello, World! Then why not you?
Organise BootCamps and Hackathons. When it is possible, try to gather the developers you know and organise something awesome! Give away gifts and nice prices and make a coverage!
Get Recognised. This is the main thing that you need to do. Make sure the community recognises your contributions and achievements. This serves as a base for someone from Microsoft in recommending you for the award.

WikiHow has drafted an article online, which has a few nice steps:

Know that the Microsoft MVP award strives to facilitate the unrestricted sharing of knowledge. The goal is to provide reputable resources that encompass expansive expertise that can benefit all members of the community.
Realise that individuals that are given the Microsoft MVP award do not work for Microsoft nor do they represent the company. Microsoft MVP's are independent individuals that were chosen based upon their accomplishments within technical communities.
Consider that a requirement to be nominated and selected as a Microsoft MVP is to be at least 18 years of age or older. The age requirement reflects Microsoft's guidelines relative to the privacy and safety of minors.
Know that the process of selecting Microsoft MVPs includes a review of accomplishments and achievements made by technical community members within the past year prior to nomination. Factors that are considered during the evaluation process include the quality and quantity of contributions in addition to the influencing effect within the technical community.
Realise that the scope of the Microsoft MVP program extends worldwide and includes millions of active, participating members within the technical community. Microsoft's customer base is expansive and encompasses a broad range of technologies.
Consider that Microsoft MVPs generally will have acquired extensive knowledge of a particular Microsoft product or technology. Those individuals that receive the Microsoft MVP award are not required to have extensive knowledge and expertise covering all Microsoft products and technologies
Realise that Microsoft MVPs do receive benefits and services as a result of receiving an award. Recipients do not get any form of payment or monetary award when selected to become a Microsoft MVP.
Know that individuals selected to be a Microsoft MVP award maintain that title for 1 year only. Recipients must follow the MVP code of conduct and adhere to the Microsoft community rules during that period.
Know that Microsoft MVP nominees are selected from community members in more than 90 countries worldwide. Potential new MVPs are selected from a variety of venues, including, but not limited, to newsgroups, public forums, social media sites and event speakers.
Consider that you can apply directly yourself to be awarded the title of a Microsoft MVP. You can also be nominated by fellow peers within the technical community or by Microsoft.
Learn more about the application process for becoming a Microsoft MVP by visiting Microsoft's website. Direct links have been provided below at the end of this article.
- Include the nominee's name, email address, country of residence and primary language spoken when completing the nomination process. You will need to enter this information into the form which can be found via the links following this article.
- Mention several Microsoft products or technologies within which the nominee has acquired and developed extensive knowledge and expertise. Examples include Microsoft Office products and Windows Media Center.
Provide some examples of technical community activities that the nominee regularly participates in. Possible examples include podcasts, forums, newsgroups and blogs. A Microsoft MVP Award Program member will officially contact those applicants that have been selected to receive the Microsoft MVP award.

Microsoft MVP Award Resources

Let me know if you want me to refer you for the award program. As usual, pen down your comments (as anonymous, if you like it) and share this article, if you did find it useful.