SQL Server Experts: Part III - Becoming a SQL Server MVP and other Career Choices
Part 1: MS SQL beats the "ACID" test for Database Technology in Features, Ease & Cost
Part 2: Stress, Pet Peeves, Roles and Responsibilities of a SQL Server DBA/Developer
Part 3: Becoming a SQL Server MVP and other Career Choices.
6. Whats a SQL Server MVP and what does it take to become one?
Cristian: MVP means an acknowledgment from Microsoft for the work done in technical communities or for contributing by writting books or delivering technical presentations.
I personally run two IT communities, one of them being dedicated to SQL Server.
Andrew: A Most Valued Professional (MVP) is an award by Microsoft in recognition of work to promote our stuff to the wider community including SQL Server. To achieve this a nominee would be doing some or all of the following:
- Supporting a community portal (like http://www.sqlserverfaq.com in the UK)
- Blogging,
- Actively helping on Forums
- Podcasts
- Presenting
- Writing articles
- Posting resources on codeplex (e.g. scripts, projects etc.)
Namwar: SQL Server MVP (Most Valuable Professional) is an honour instead of a certification. Microsoft recognises your contribution to the community and awards you MVP status. You need to keep sharing your knowledge to maintain MVP status. Sharing of knowledge can be done in various ways like Blogs, Presentations, writing books or magazine articles etc.
Brent: The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional program recognizes folks who go way, way, way out of their way to give back to the community - doing things like teaching others, helping out with problems, and getting involved with community events. I wouldn't worry about how to become one: either this kind of thing is in your blood, or it's not. If you like to give back, start doing it. Good things like MVP awards will come in their due time, but focusing on that is putting the cart before the horse.
Denny: The MVP award program is a program run by Microsoft to acknowledge the outstanding work of IT professionals within the IT community. Microsoft awards MVPs for most every product they have including Microsoft SQL Server. You can't apply to become a Microsoft MVP, you must be nominated by either a current Microsoft MVP, or by a current Microsoft employee. After being nominated the selection committee will review your public postings, articles, web casts, etc and if your content is found to be of exceptional status then Microsoft will grant you the MVP awarded for one year. Each year they review the community contributions of the current MVPs to ensure that they are still active in the community. More information about the process and what it means to be a Microsoft MVP can be found on the MVP website.
Brian: A SQL Server MVP is a community award from Microsoft for participation and passion over the previous 12 months. The exact criteria for selection isn't revealed.
Chris: An MVP is a person that does a lot of work above and beyond what they are paid to do to help people get educated about SQL Server. This is a reward that is offered by MS, and there are very few.
Pinal: Just help community in any way you can.
7. What will you recommend to others for keeping track of whats happening in SQL Server?
Cristian: MSDN and Technet blogs.
Andrew: There are loads of great community sites:
Namwar:
- Keep an eye on SQL Server news groups.
- Subscribe to RSS feeds of good SQL Server blogs and read them whenever you find time.
- Microsoft SQL Server Home Page
- Read good books as recommended by your peers.
- Attend seminars and group meetings wheneve possible.
Brent: Read blogs! They're like free books, plus they're free, AND they're written by some of the same great people who wrote the books you know and love. Dozens of DBAs out there are writing some phenomenal blogs, like StatisticsIO.com and SQLSkills.com.
Denny: There are a number of fantastic websites out there which have information about what's going on in SQL Server. The Microsoft SQL Server web page is a great start as is the Microsoft Connect web page . The connect web page is where all the bugs that the beta testers have found are logged giving the user base a direct line of communication to the developers of SQL Server. There are also a number of excellent blogs on SQL Server. My blog "SQL Server with Mr. Denny" is of course a most excellent resource (enough of the shameless plug already). The Microsoft PSS engineers have a blog where they talk about some of the more interesting issues which they have come across. I also keep an eye on the blogs of a couple of friends of mine Kevin Kline, and Denis Gobo to name a couple. I also keep an eye on a couple of forums to keep myself up to date. I regularly read and post on Tek Tips , the IT Knowledge Exchange and Less Than Dot . Between all these resources I'm able to keep track of most of what's going on with SQL Server.
Brian: Developing a core list of blogs related to SQL Server, staying active on a community site like sqlteam.com or sqlservercentral.com, and keeping up the general feeds for Microsoft news.
Chris: Virtual conferences on SQL Server
www.sswug.org
Pinal: Notes of a SQL Server MVP and Database Administrator
8. Whats the next logical career step for you?
Cristian: As I have 8 years of SQL Server knowledge the next logical step was to use the knowledge. You can do that as a consultant as a trainer or in my case as a content developer. I love to write about SQL Server.
Andrew: My wife and friend think I have the best job in the world, so apart from a move to the product or customer advisory teams in Redmond I am happy where I am.
Namwar: I am now working in Business Intelligence area mostly and using the products like SSAS, SSRS and Sharepoint 2007. Although Sharepoint is not part of the SQL Server itself but it is one of the greatest collabration tool built entirely on .NET and SQL Server. Using all these tools in a systematic way allows you to create efficient solutions which are quick to develop, resilient, manageble, highly useful and have low total cost of ownership.
Brent: I just made my next step, actually! I'm now working for Quest Software as a SQL Server Expert. I get to use my years of database experience to help build tools that make other DBA's lives easier. Instead of helping DBAs one at a time, now I'm helping thousands every day. For me, that's as good as it gets.
Denny: Currently I am a Senior Database Administrator and Architect for a Network Security firm named Awareness Technologies . Since I'm quite happy in my current position, I don't envision myself leaving anytime soon (much to the delight of the owner of the company). However were something to happen the next step I see in my career is probably going to be moving into a consulting company, or professional services company.
Brian: I'm currently serving as an infrastructure and security architect so the next logical step would be to continue in this career path.
Chris: I would like to achieve my SQL Server MVP.
Pinal: I am currently working as Project Manager. I am hoping to have more responsibility as project manager.
I would like to personally thank
Cristian Lefter, Andrew Fyer, Namwar Rizvi, Brent Ozar, Denny Cherry, Brian Kelley, Chris Shaw, and Pinal Dave for taking the time to share their views, opinions and suggestions and making this as interesting, a 3 part series, as possible. Thank You Guys.
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