I'm renewed as a Microsoft MVP!

I’m renewed as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional today, for the sixth time in a row! I started my journey in 2014, and I’m again honored to be chosen as part of this elite community of enthusiasts and professionals around the globe. Every year has been great, and I’m anticipating for the next 12 months to be even greater!

Microsoft MVP is a non-paid advocate and community role, consisting of technology experts who share their knowledge. You can view all current MVPs here.

For the first five years, I was recognized for my contributions to Office Apps & Services, which includes Office 365, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, to name a few. You can view the award structure here. This year my category changed to Microsoft Azure, and I’m thrilled to be recognized for all the work I’ve done around Azure in the past year!

Sometimes people ask me what I do as part of the program. It’s not a full-time job, but depending on week, I spend hours to help the community and share my knowledge and experiences. Here’s a snippet of my latest community activities from the past year:

• Authored a book on Azure, Modern Business Powered by Microsoft Azure (get a free digital copy here)
• Created and maintained several GitHub repositories – Azure DNS Updater, Tenant ID Lookup, Oura Cloud Connector, Presentations
• Wrote and managed the comprehensive licensing guide to Microsoft Flow and PowerApps – it also became the most read article on my blog
• Presented at tens of conferences, user groups, and events
• Mentored a few people aspiring to become MVPs
• Organized several conferences and events

As I do all my MVPs activities on the side, it sometimes gets busy trying to balance work, family and kids, hobbies, sports, travel, and school at the same time. I’ve taken the habit of not working in the evenings unless I have to. I had to let go of some things to make room for others – notably, I unsubscribed from Netflix and Facebook, and that helped me balance my weeks.

What next?

You can expect a plethora of Azure-related content in the coming months – a couple of books and many blog posts. I also have a couple of new announcements to make, but I’ll leave those for after the holiday season!