Slides From Quest 2013 Posted

Thanks to the folks who attended my talk at Quest 2013! I appreciated the interaction, and I hope you found the talk useful.

You can find my slides, and the mind map, here on SpeakerDeck.

Exciting News: I’m Now an MVP for ALM!

I just got news today that Microsoft has changed my Most Valuable Professional award from C# to Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). This is great news for me because this is much more in my wheelhouse both technically and passion-wise. Moving to ALM means I’ll be much more inline with things I work on regularly and care intensely about: testing, process, and making teams awesome.

I’m also very excited because I get to hang out with a bunch of awesome ALM geniuses like Esteban Garcia, Ryan Cromwell, and others. This is going to be awesome!

Oh, you thought my last post meant I wasn’t an MVP at all anymore? Oh, terribly sorry for that, but I figure there had to be something evil I could do on April Fool’s Day…

I’m No Longer a Microsoft MVP for C#

Yes, I realize it’s April Fools Day; however, this isn’t a joke. After a wonderful string of years, I got notification from Microsoft that I’m no longer an MVP for Visual C#. Frankly, I’d figured this was coming some time ago and I’m surprised it took this long.

Why? Because I don’t code for a living, and I don’t focus on C#. I don’t know anything about C# 4.0, contravariance, or covariance. Ask me to write a lambda, or explain how it differs from a delegate, and you’ll likely see my head explode or me head for the nearest bottle of scotch. I was put into the C# category in 2005 because they didn’t have a better spot to put me for all the community work that I was being recognized for, and it’s always been awkward for me.

My award wasn’t so much due to specific things I’ve done as it was due to all the awesome folks in the community, and I want to make sure to thank all the wonderful people who made the last seven or eight years great. Well, I can’t thank all y’all by name, but I hope you get the idea…

My time as a C# MVP has been awesome. I’ve gotten some wonderful opportunities, and I’ve met some amazing folks.

And by the way, no, I’m not going to go on an anti-MVP rant about how the program leeches off everyone and makes MVPs lose their morals and self-worth. The MVP program is what individuals make of it. I got a tremendous amount out of it, and again, thanks to everyone for their support over the years.

Nor am I going to give up .NET and go to Ruby. Duh.

Despite this news I’m sure cool things will come along, so please don’t get your undies in a wad over my case. I’m good with it. It’s been a great experience.