A few hours ago I was notified that I have been awarded with the Microsoft MVP Award for Development Technologies.
This came totally unexpected. Especially so considering that during the last few years I have been splitting my time between Microsoft and other open source technologies. My public work has mostly been on Python and MongoDB. Yes I also released .NET open source projects in the meantime (more are coming soon) and yes, I wrote a few articles here and on the MSDN Blog, attended Microsoft events and did interviews. But really, I did not expect these activities to have an impact. This is probably why only a couple minutes from learning about the award I was suffering Impostor Syndrome symptoms.
Now however, as I ponder on the whole issue a little bit, I start to realise how this could probably make (at least some sort of) sense. New Microsoft has been eager to catalyse attention and interest from the open source community and, in a broader sense, from people not yet accustomed to the brand. In light of this, people who have been active in communities other than Microsoft’s and have also been exposed to different technologies, mindsets and approaches to common IT problems could indeed offer some value. Or at least that’s how I am reading it right now.
So a new chapter is unfolding in my twenty-five years long love/hate relationship with Microsoft. It is my intent to live up to this award, for which I am very grateful.