Gifts Received for This Year-2019
December 10, 2019
I thank Malathi Mahadevan (b|t) for hosting T-SQL Tuesday #121. The topic for this month is Gifts received for this year. I also want to acknowledge Adam Machanic’s vision behind this project. I learned a lot from some of the #TSQL Tuesday’s and participated in a few. Thank you, Steve Jones (b|t), for coordinating this program. If you are interested to see previous topics, visit here.
Boston Global Azure Bootcamps 2019 was on April 27, 2019. I spoke at this event. Jason Haley(b|t) was one of the organizers of the event. I know Jason for a few years. I spoke at his user group twice. He also introduced me to other Azure User Groups in the area. Jason is also a long-distance runner, and we do talk about that some times. During this event (I do not remember what exactly prompted this discussion), Jason asked me if ‘I am an MVP’? Of course, my answer was no. Jason thought I was and said he would send a recommendation. I thanked him and left.
On April 28, I got this email:
Dear Taiob,
You’re receiving this email because Jason Haley nominated you for the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award. The MVP award recognizes experts who make outstanding contributions to their technical communities.
If you’d like to accept the nomination for MVP award consideration, complete the nomination form no later than July 27, 2019. Please include all community activities that demonstrate your impact and influence.
I was nominated before one time by my good friend Vladimir Ivanovich (t) in 2018. This time I decided to fill out my activity more diligently. I had a four weeks overseas trip planned for the summer. The deadline was July 27th. I got everything in before I left for the trip. Once I submitted everything, It was not on my radar any longer. On October 1, while I was at work, I received this email to my utter surprise.
Dear Taiob Ali,
Congratulations! We’re pleased to present you with the 2020-2021 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award in recognition of your exceptional technical community leadership. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in the following technical communities during the past year.
I consider this as a gift, and I thank Jason and Vlad for the nomination. I could not do this alone. I am sure I missed a few people, but I sent a personal note to a few people who also I consider as a gift during my data professional career.
I want to thank you for your help and support during my journey to this point in my career. Without your support, this would not happen. I am committed to helping others as you helped me.
A few more events I consider as a gift this year.
- My friend Deborah Melkin (b|t) winning the Speaker Idol at Pass Summit 2019
- Getting to know David Klee (b|t) little better during Pass Summit 2019
- Best volunteer team I have to organize SQL Saturday Boston
- Beth Wolfset
- Deborah Melkin
- Leona Li
- Geroge Walter
- John W. Moore
- Paresh Motiwala
- Robert Padilla
- Varsham Papikian
- Vladimir Ivanovich
