Hello Sitecorians & technician around the world !!!
I had my learning and sharing activities in pipeline for this year and before i start them i just wanted to make sure i take out this blog first and share about my experience and journey of being MVP and thank the community too and my team mates who helped me along the way, and express my gratitude.
This is purely to help and encourage other members of the community, and explain them that i am no exception but there are steps, and rules, few check points, if you follow them, you can also become MVP.
WHY
One of the question or the overall mood i have observed is why MVP? So question is actually not about becoming MVP, It's not even about being Sitecore expert , but questions is about sharing as much as we know and learn, if you already are working on Sitecore, You know how much is happening in that zone, Things are changing at rapid pace, so if you are already working in that technology and already know things and modifications that you do and different bugs that you resolve, why don't just share them?
Forget about becoming MVP, just try help community and share as much as you can about your learning, you point of views and create content out of it, real time bugs, your experience, technical solution,Sitecore tickets that you created, all these are catalyst of becoming your MVP, and i am sure if you work in Sitecore, you must already be doing all these, so you are already entitled to apply for MVP and can become MVP.
I will not write much about benefits of becoming MVP, as there is enough material out there and a good one is MVP Benefit but i would definitely write points using which other developer can relate with it, as i have had the same journey too, you can do that too
I wanted to share my Sitecore MVP journey, and just want to motivate others and give some pointers which i followed personally and using which i think i was able to make it to MVP
1) Write when it's fresh in your mind
Generally, In our day to day life, we see bugs, we see things which are modifiable, so any of those points which you think that other people will face or must have faced, you can create content about it or blog or share it on the social channels.
The best way which have worked for me is, the moment i see that this can be a potential bug, content opportunity, i quickly make a draft of 2-3 lines of high level pointers which i was looking into it and using which i resolved the bug or did some functionality, because you can write with 100% efficiency when its fresh in your mind, if you wait for another week or a weekend, it could be possible that you already have forgotten about it, so because in day to day life it becomes difficult to take out time, make sure you just quickly make a draft, and later on you can articulate an article on a weekend over a coffee :)
2) Look for every opportunity, keep eyes and ears open
Normally, we tend to forget things one we have resolved, but to get your material and a good content, you will have to keep your eyes and ears open, Because most of the blog content or webinar content or any technical learning content will come from your day to day work only and if you ignore them then you will be ignoring a lot of good material, so always make sure you note them down and use it further to write an article or share it on a social media.
3) Self discipline & Self motivation
It is all about making sure you commit to the plan, Because its a year long process, You will have to make sure that you keep that motivation going, and it's very easy to loose that rhythm or the momentum if you do not keep yourself motivated, Make sure every month you contribute or at least make sure to keep your drafts and do not miss out on it, Otherwise down the line there will be too much at once and you will feel overwhelmed, Instead as i said, keep drafting offline couple of lines and do a full fledged article writing on a weekend or a free day, You can join hands with local developers or communities to keep yourselves motivated.
4) Plan activities of the year
To make sure that you have a plan and you can work on it, having a plan is a good way to gauge your progress and plan things in more efficient way, Make sure you maintain a good balance among writing blogs, webinars, helping community by answering their questions etc. because you have to have contribution in those categories, Below are those categories
- Blogs - Write articles and share them
- Webinars - Schedule sessions with user groups
- Slack channels - There are lot of slack channels which you can join and answer queries
- Sitecore Stack Exchange - Answer queries on stack exchange.
- Social channels - LinkedIn, Twitter, Promote Sitecore, like and share
- Help community in offline channels - If you are working for some organization then you can do local webinars or take part in training, be a solution provider and help team in learning Sitecore and new technologies around Sitecore.
5) Don't target to become MVP, But target to share more, care more, help community authentically
If i take my example, i have been blogging before i was working in Sitecore, so i always had intention to share things which i thought is new or could be helpful for others and if i can help others by any means i would always want to do that, so that is my inspiration comes from there where i feel, If i put something on internet and if its saving someone else's time and if its helping them resolve their blockers then i would go and do it
Now, I work in Sitecore, but intention is same, so i keep sharing and keep updating myself and at the same time i keep sharing things and plan to do webinars etc. in that way MVP becomes the bi-product of your efforts, Even if MVP does not happen, you never tried for it, but you tried to share things and that should be the intentions, and MVP will be cherry on the top of cake for the efforts you did put into it.
I love this quote "You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don't Take.' You Need To Start Shooting"
6) Do your karma
Similar to point-5, You just have to do your bit and rest will fall in place, keep putting your efforts and be consistent / persistent / authentic / honest in your efforts.
"If you light a lamp for someone else, It will also brighten your path.", Just keep doing your bit.
7) Note down your contributions
Over the year, There will be times where you have contributed directly or indirectly to Sitecore ecosystem, but note down those points somewhere handy, because you can mention those points while filling up your MVP application on the day of submission.
It will be difficult to recall smallest contribution, major contributions are fine and those are blogs, webinars, and you can remember those and mention those, but there will be times where you have attended events, marketed Sitecore, took part in surveys, took part in any Sitecore training as trainer, and what not. all these you can still mention but you can do it easily if you have drafted them somewhere
7) Sell yourself and your hard work when you fill the form and be authentic about it
Personally, What i feel is, if you have worked hard over a year and if you do not draft your final MVP application properly, it will be injustice to your hard work, so fill the application very calmly and don't miss out on any points of contributions you did over the last year.
I hope, as a reader and as a Sitecore enthusiast, it will make sense and help you relate your journey and plan and encourage you to try for MVP this year.
Thank you
MVP is something very personal generally, you do it, you put efforts and you get it (Or don't get it), but i would like to thank Horizontal Digital for always encouraging the team to prepare, take part and facilitate so that they have opportunities to explore things, I would also like to thank Khushboo Sorthiya for her talks and guidance whenever needed, and Nikki Fulp to promote my work and creating a buzz.
