MVP

Renewed as a Microsoft MVP 2018-2019

Marky Roden Just Marky, MVP

I am very honoured and humbled to be renewed as a Microsoft MVP for 2018-2019 in the category of Office Development. The MVP program recognizes content creators, code providers and conference speakers who want to share their knowledge and broaden the outreach of the platforms they work with.

Since I got involved in Office Add-In development over two years ago it has been an truely gratifying, eye-opening experience to see what a transformed company Microsoft is. I have never written a line of .NET code. I am a web developer, and using those web dev. skills I am now a Microsoft developer and MVP. The me of ten years ago would never have believed it possible 🙂

 

Thank you to Microsoft for the recognition and all the perks which come along with the award.
Thank you to every one at PSCGroup who continues to enable me in what I do and love, and long may it continue.
Thank you to all the friends I have met along the way and who’s encouragement is always wecome and appreciated.

 

 

Thank you – Microsoft MVP Summit !!!

Marky Roden MVP ,

Just over five weeks ago I was humbled to be awarded Microsoft MVP for the Office Development group and it has been a whirlwind few weeks. I was quickly enrolled in the Microsoft MVP Summit in Bellevue, WA and expectations were high. I now sit in Seattle Airport reflecting, glad to be going home but sad to leave…

Just like the first time I went to a major technology stack conference nearly 5 years ago, I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Professionally and personally this week exceeded my expectations. Not such much the technology, I kinda had a good idea about where that was going, but mostly the people, the company and the attitude. I got to go to Microsoft HQ, I got to see Building 1 and “Bill Lake”. Nerdy and kinda cool at the same time.

Technically, I can’t share what I learned – but that is not the point of this post…….sorry 😉

I wanted to say thank you to all the Microsoft employees for being so embracing, enabling and approachable. The summit was an excellent opportunity to share ideas, and more importantly discuss a vision for the future. I care less about what we do today and more about what we will be doing tomorrow and that is what I found. Plan for growth, go with a realistic vision, embrace tomorrow, take risks.

Due to rearrangements and program restructuring, there are only a handful of “Office Developer” MVPs and I am very excited to be in on the ground floor of something I believe in.

  • I learned that the Microsoft campus in Bellevue is one of the most beautiful business parks I have ever been to.
  • I learned that Seattle rush-hour traffic sucks just like anywhere else
  • I learned that the Microsoft product group I have met and worked with this week are aligned with my vision for their product and I am really excited it.
  • I have learned that what Microsoft is doing is complimentary to my IBM world, not competitive. It is perfectly OK to play in both worlds as a web developer.

Thank you to the poor souls who said no no…..”bitching is OK” and “it’s what we want”! I still don’t really believe you, and I still didn’t come hereto bitch, but you asked for it 😉 Thank you to all the product group people I met and I know I will forget some names (it’s only been a few hours)….I love what you do, I love what you did this week – THANK YOU to:

Rolando, Daniel, Michael, Yena, Sean, Michael, Gabriel, Sonia, Gareth, Sudhi, Caitlen and everyone I clearly forgot at Microsoft…..

Thank you to Lisa Anderson for corralling the Central MVPs and enabling me.

Thanks also to the many MVPs I met including David, Max, Leonid, Donald, Andrew Connell, Maarten, Colin and all the others !!!

I look forward to all seeing all you all again next year !

 

This coming year is going to be a lot of fun…..but then, that was the plan wasn’t it……….? 🙂

Microsoft MVP for Office Development

Marky Roden Just Marky, MVP ,

This weekend I was thrilled to receive an email from Microsoft announcing that I had been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in the Office Development technical community. This is a very natural evolution of my journey over the last two years since I branded out from nearly 20 years in IBM Domino. As I said about the xomino365 blog it was all about taking my skills on tour and seeing where it took me. While that blog served it’s purpose and I have come back to https://www.xomino.com exclusively, I am very content with the place it took me.

I wanted to take a moment to thank those people who nominated me (that I am aware of): Theo, John, Rob, Michael, Ren? and I am sure others – I really appreciate your support and belief in me.

I also wanted to thank Lisa Anderson (MVP wrangler for the mid-west) and Simon Jaeger (MS developer advocate) for their encouragement and support. They helped me know I was on the right path and are now responsible for what they helped create 😉

Finally I wanted to thank John Quirk and @PSCGroup who have given me a job and platform to allow me to do what I do best. I really love my job and the people I work with.

This (as always) is going to be fun 🙂

 

Thanks again