MVP today

Today I became a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for the very first time. Whilst I am delighted to receive the award and immensely grateful to Microsoft for awarding it to me, I won’t pretend that this journey has been easy or expected (which I wrote about here). Some of you will also (by now) be aware of personal problems that my family and I have been dealing with for the last 2 and a half years which I also wrote about in Dear #sqlfamily, so you will appreciate that this news today makes the award extra special to me. It is/was something that I never believed would happen.

My biggest hope with my new found status is that it will help facilitate and encourage my community efforts both public and private so that I can give even more of myself back but also hope that I can exponentially improve my technical skills in any areas that I may be lacking in this ever changing Data Platform landscape. I am flattered to join this community of fellow Professionals who I not only look up to, but which I also consider many to be personal friends.

 
First and foremost I would like to say a massive thank you to Niko Neugebauer (w|t) a man who I first met in 2012 and someone who has been a personal inspiration to me. Technically brilliant but also a Community champion and if I ever needed a role model (which I do), then Niko is it. Niko has not only believed in me from the beginning but has supported me whenever I have asked for his help or advice. Through his support, it is credit to him above all others that today I can call myself MVP.

Another Community devotee who I have also found inspirational and deserves my thanks has been my good friend and fellow MCM Edwin Sarmiento (b|t), who I first met in 2010 and has been encouraging me to succeed ever since.

I would also like to thank everyone who nominated me for the MVP award over the years. This time around I managed to complete 11 submissions, each taking me approximately 1 hour to fill in, and unfortunately ran out of time on the last 2. I even had 4 nominations that I had missed and had expired. So to those people who nominated me, regardless of whether I managed to fill in your nomination or not I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for believing that I was worthy of the award. Without you this could not have happened.

Thanks also go to SQLPASS and its staff, directors and members who have enabled me to grow both technically and socially over many years.

Finally I would like to say a big thanks to my family who have endured my Community trips for years and continue to do so. This award is as much for you as it is for me.