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Experience of a first time Sitecore MVP

The Journey

I have been working in Sitecore for almost 10 years now. When I was a beginner in Sitecore, I was highly impressed by the incredible community support. In fact, my initial Sitecore learning path was entirely based on community written blogs on Sitecore. During a discussion with my then technology lead Neeraj Gulia, he proposed the idea that I should start giving back to developer community whenever I get chance. Just like I have been helped by many developers via online blogs, stackoverflow etc., I should also try to help others. Fast forward a few years and I met Nehemiah Jeyakumar (now an MVP). He had a big archive of his technical notes in the form Sitecore blogs. I realized my first blog dont have to be perfect and it can be as simple as notes to a specific problem for reference in future. That's when I probably created my first blog post on Sitecore. At that time, I didn't knew about the Sitecore MVP program.

Over the years, I gained more confidence to write more about my Sitecore exploits. As a result, people learnt about my work and started reaching out to me to seek suggestions on their technical issues and projects. I started getting the sense of belonging to the Sitecore community.

I have always tried to write about unique issues/experiences which are less popular online rather than  writing blog posts about redundant topics which are widely popular online.

A big factor which helped me this year to contribute more to the Sitecore community was my Measure What Matters plan which is Crowe's internal program for career growth. After reading my technical blogs, my technical manager Mr Mike Moklak suggested to add a goal in my plan to focus on contribution activities towards Sitecore community. As such, I could dedicate more time towards achieving this goal.

I also had numerous discussions with my software architect Curtis Thornton about how we can contribute in different manners to the community and get closer to MVP program. This helped me and kept me motivated to follow this path till the end.

Last year, during a discussion with Nehemiah Jeyakumar, he suggested that I should try to share about the new bugs I discovered in Sitecore and also about my support tickets which got converted into documentation requests or feature requests. Being an MVP, he asked about my 2022 contributions and after learning about them, he convinced me to apply for Sitecore MVP program this year and guided me with the application process. And this is how I rolled in for the MVP program.

The Moment

It started with a message on Slack from very popular Sitecorian Mr. Tamas Varga, Manager of Community Programs in Sitecore. The message said - "Hi Ghanendra, I sent you an email yesterday and it was returned with Access Denied. Is your email ID ghanendra_singh@xxxxxxx.com still working".

I started thinking why would Mr Tamas want to send me an email. Is it some beta testing program where Sitecore developers are getting invited or is it regarding the Sitecore MVP program for which I applied earlier. I was interested in knowing more. Without any delay, I sent him my working email ID. He confirmed that he has forwarded THE EMAIL. I checked my mail box and the smile on my face widened. I was reading that I have been awarded Sitecore MVP for Technology. This is the first time I applied for it and I made it to the list of winners. It is a great news at the start of 2023. It is the culmination of my Sitecore journey. The MVP logo shined in my eyes.


The Benefits

I was excited to share it with my colleagues and friends. So I posted this on LinkedIn and soon after, I started receiving- 

  • lots of support and love from Sitecore community on my LinkedIn post
  • wonderful appreciation by my technical manager Mr Mike Moklak in team meeting
  • direct appreciation emails from higher leadership in my organization
  • organization level recognition by getting featured in a special Congratulations Email for winning the award
  • another recognition internal to my organization with some reward points
  • numerous connection requests on LinkedIn
  • a big boost of confidence in my capability and career
  • one less item in my bucket list
  • a sense of belonging to a special group of individuals

But this is merely the beginning. Being part of the MVP program now, there is lot more to come about which I will learn soon and share with you guys too. My learning curve and Sitecore exploits may rise to newer heights.

The Journey Ahead

I feel winning this award is beginning of a new stage in my career. People who know me have started looking at me differently and I need to come up to their expectations. My professional responsibilities will increase. Above all, I feel it is my sincere duty to take my contributions to developer community to next level now.

I would especially thank Mike Moklak, Curtis Thornton and Nehemiah Jeyakumar for guiding me to achieve this, Neeraj Gulia for showing me the right way early in my career and the Crowe family for supporting me. Thank you Sitecore and the community for this honor!!

Thanks for reading this! I hope it helps you :)

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