It is with profound humility and insurmountable gratitude that I accept the title of Sitecore Technologist MVP for 2017. A lot of hard work has gone into this, and there is a laundry list of other MVP’s and Developers that I can thank who have helped me get this far. I’d also like to give profound thanks to Coria, who has had to deal with my self-promotion and time-eating efforts in order to make this achievement happen. And lastly, a big thank you to Sitecore, Pieter Brinkman, and the Sitecore MVP Community for allowing me this honor and putting up with my never-ending passion.

What is a Sitecore MVP?

In the Sitecore Community, the highest honor you can receive is being recognized by your peers and Sitecore itself.  This achievement and recognition grant you the title of Sitecore Most Valuable Professional.

Each year, prospective MVP’s and MVP’s alike have to continue providing a great service to the community, contributing in ways that live outside of agency and company lines, and often times includes a level of self-promotion that can be unsettling for an employer if they’re not used to this. In the Sitecore realm, most prominent agencies actually have MVP grooming farms where fellow MVP’s train fellow coworkers on how to become an MVP. Key channels of influence include personal and company blogging, attending and presenting at local and national (and sometimes international) User Group conferences (I’m looking at you Mike Reynolds!), activity and participation in the Sitecore Slack community, and most recently this year, participation in the new Sitecore Stack Exchange Q&A site.  There are other ways to promote and contribute to the community as well such as attending the national conference, Sitecore Symposium and creating modules for the Sitecore Marketplace!

The key being… getting active, staying active, helping fellow developers succeed and promoting Sitecore in ways that only a well-built community can do. The challenge is, it’s getting harder every year. Each year, competition for the award grows larger, and in order to really stand out, developers are having to find new ways and new methods for contributing to the community. Here are some stats (provided by Sitecore, thanks for letting me use) going into this year’s nominations.

My MVP Journey

I’ve been involved with Sitecore for almost 10 years. During that stretch of time, I’ve have not ever really taken the step to work for getting an MVP (and it really is work!). I had been happy helping others build their knowledge base as well as continue to grow my own expertise. Between blog posting, assisting with the creation and start-up of the Sitecore Stack Exchange, numerous bug reporting to Sitecore Support, activity and assistance on Sitecore Slack, attending the Symposium, and attending user group meetings, advocating and supporting Sitecore and it’s Community is no small feat.

Interested In Becoming an MVP?

The best advice I can give you is to get involved! Don’t know how? Let’s start here, which is the Sitecore Stack Exchange question on How to be Recommended For MVP. And while you’re at it, register your profile and ask a question. Participation starts with one step at a time. Most importantly, HAVE FUN! Why do it, if it’s not fun.

Closing Thanks and Congrats

In closing, again, I’d like to thank my wife (for putting up with me), Coria (for putting up with me), the entire Sitecore Community (for putting up with me), and Sitecore (for putting up with me).

Also congratulations to all of the 2017 MVP’s! I look forward to seeing you at a Sitecore event near you soon!

Categorised in: Sitecore, Uncategorized