Addressing the Rumors that I Have Been Removed from the MVP Program

I’d like to openly and honestly answer the rumors that I have been removed from the Microsoft MVP program.

Firstly, it’s true

I’ve started a new job at Microsoft. As of Monday, I am now a proud member of the Content Development team which brings you documentation on all things SQL Server and Azure SQL. I will be working with the product team, other Content Developers, and community contributors while focusing on Azure SQL Database.

As a Microsoft employee, I’m no longer eligible to be a member of the MVP program. It’s been a privilege to be an MVP, but this was a job I couldn’t resist.

I was not forced to leave the United Kingdom

Some say I fled Boris Johnson’s hair.

While this is plausible, the truth is that Jeremiah and I have moved back to the United States to be closer to our families. We found that it was very hard traveling across oceans in a global pandemic and decided that the right thing to do was to move back from the UK. It made sense to shift our careers as part of this process.

Why I’m excited about my new job

I owe so much of my career to the Microsoft documentation on SQL Server. Hardly a workday has gone by over the last 20 years when I haven’t read, shared, discussed, or blogged about these docs. (And in my heart, I will always think of these docs as ‘Books Online’.)

As the SQL Server engine expands and as the Azure SQL offering evolves, the docs continue to help the community learn, grow, and share.

To me, this is hugely exciting and I’m so honored and thrilled to get to work in this space.

Want to learn more about the SQL Server and Azure SQL Docs team?

If you’d like to learn more about the team or how you can help out with the docs yourself, my teammate William Assaf is giving a session at the upcoming PASS Community Data Summit, Become a Contributor to Microsoft Docs.

The session is free and takes place on Thursday, November 11 at 2pm EST. There will be an interactive Q&A session with the team following William’s 30-minute talk.

A lot of the work I’ll be doing is collaborating with contributors and helping community members suggest changes and improvements to the documentation. Learning how to work in this process is simple. It also builds activity on your GitHub profile which can be a nice feature for your resume. I hope you can join us.