“MVPs are recognized and awarded for their exceptional commitment to helping us improve our products and helping people around the world make the most of their Microsoft technology.” – Karen Young, Microsoft

Over the last 4 years being active in the local development communities I have had the fortunate pleasure to work with some of the South African MVP’s. The amount of energy and passion these guys have for their various technologies is breathtaking to see, and often you can’t help but get caught up in the excitement of what they do. However, often people also misunderstand what an MVP and the MVP Program from Microsoft actually is, and they are often wrongly accused because they were not able to assist with a specific problem or didn’t know how to deal with a particular issue. However, most people miss that MVP’s are not working for Microsoft, and they are also not forced to do anything for Microsoft once they received an MVP award.

The MVP program is an award. It lasts for one year and there is an extremely secretive nomination and approval process involved, and each selected MVP is sponsored by a particular product group within Microsoft, which is why the MVP programs is awarded by product. The recipients are rewarded based on their online and offline contributions to a particular Microsoft product over a minimum period of a year. The bar for entry is set extremely high, as it is defined by the current MVP’s based on their contributions, and therefore re-selection after a year can be an extremely difficult process. The award is also given for past contributions, and therefore an MVP is not required to continue contributing once the award has been given, unless they want to be re-nominated after a year.

South Africa has quite a few MVP’s across various products. Some of the current MVP’s I have personally met over the years include: Craig Nicholson (X-Box), Hilton Giesenow (C#), Rudi Grobler (WPF), Zayd Kara (ALM), Robert MacLean (ALM), Zlatan Dzinic (SharePoint), Gail Shaw (SQL) and Peter Wilmot (SQL). Each one of these individuals and more spend a huge amount of time in their selected fields. One of the reasons they are able to achieve so much is that they work with the technology they represent every single day. Another reason South Africa has the highest renewal rate for MVP’s, is due to Ruari Plint, the MVP Lead from Microsoft South Africa. Ruari does not only represent the local MVP’s, but he is the Lead for MEA (Middle East & Africa). He recently started a series of post on his blog introducing each of the African MVP’s, and it is definitely worth following.

So the next time you are in the company of a MVP, or at an event with a MVP as a speaker, keep in mind that they are just another user like you and me, who simply spends a lot of time talking about and working with a technology platform they are passionate about. The reality is that even if Microsoft did not reward them with an MVP status, these individuals would still be involved as actively and passionately as they are.