I’m currently a 12-time recipient of the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. The Microsoft MVP award is something Microsoft grants annually to individuals in the software community who are experts and actively share that expertise with the world. This can include speaking at conferences, writing, contributing to open source projects, and helping developers online, among other things.

Contrary to many people’s assumptions, it’s not something you just pay to get or a certification you earn once and keep forever. It’s awarded for only one year at a time, and you’re re-evaluated every year based on what you’ve done that year. You don’t just get it and keep it. You have to keep showing up and earning it.

Microsoft MVP Summit

This week I’ll be joining MVPs from all over the world at the Microsoft MVP Summit at Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington. If you’re not familiar with MVP Summit, it’s an invite-only event where Microsoft invites current MVPs to come on campus to meet with the Microsoft product teams that are building the platforms and tools we all use.

Almost everything that happens in those meetings is under NDA, which means Microsoft can be a lot more open with MVPs than they can in public settings. However, unlike real employees, MVPs work every day with Microsoft customers in the real world and have a valuable outside perspective that comes from that.

MVPs are not just watching from the audience, either. In most sessions we ask questions, push back, and share what we’re seeing in the real world. There aren’t many places where one can directly influence the direction of the tools they’re building with, but MVPs get that.

We also get a look at where things are heading. Not in a marketing sense, but in terms of technology direction, priorities, and the kinds of problems Microsoft is trying to solve next. That combination of seeing and shaping the future is pretty rare, and that’s a big part of why I love being an MVP.

So What

The obvious question is: what does any of that actually get you? For Trailhead’s clients, it comes down to two things — our ability to:

• See where Microsoft is heading, and
• Have a voice in shaping where things go

The seeing part matters because technology moves fast. When you’re choosing a platform, planning a migration, or deciding what to invest in next, you’re making a bet on where things will be in two or three years. Most people are making that bet based on what’s publicly available today. As an MVP, I get a broader perspective on the direction things are moving. I can’t share specifics that are under NDA, but that context absolutely sharpens the advice I give. There’s a real difference between reading the announcement blog post on the same day as everyone else and having the broader context to know which bets are safer than others.

The shaping part matters just as much. As consultants, the Trailhead team spends much of its time in the messy middle. Legacy systems, partial migrations, integrations. We see where things break in ways that sample apps and demos never reveal. The MVP Summit gives me a direct line to bring that back to the Microsoft teams building the tools, languages, and platforms. What’s working, what isn’t, and what our clients actually need.

That’s not something most consulting firms can offer. It’s not just that we know the Microsoft stack. It’s that we’re actively involved in the conversation about where it’s going next.

Why I Stay Involved

The recognition and MVP title itself is nice, but that’s not really why I stay involved. What I appreciate is the ability to see and shape the future of technology, and the expectations that come with it. If I want to stay an MVP, I need to work for it by staying up on what’s happening and sharing that with the software community. The same thing applies to my leadership in the .NET open source community through my board seat at the .NET Foundation.

So yeah, I’m looking forward to the MVP Summit this week. Not just because of big announcements or secret reveals, but because of the conversations that shape what comes next.