It all started more than 10 years ago, on October 1st 2011. So much have happened since that day… I’m pretty sure a lot of these things were either direct or indirect result of that single event. E-mail from support@mvpaward.com not only made my day – it was a beginning of the crazy ride that ended this week. Ten years full of meeting interesting people, travelling the world, co-authoring, authoring, presenting. That day I became the first Polish PowerShell MVP and man – I was over the moon. Now that this part of my life is over (well, technically I can return next year, so lets say over for now), I though I would like to reflect on these 10 years and try to look a bit into the future.
Shortly after I became MVP I took a part in PowerShell Deep Dives in Frankfurt. I remember meeting in person for the first time many people I previously knew from forums, blog posts and other online content. Imposter syndrome was at its all time high. Still, it was great to speak with all these PowerShell experts as “equal”.
Next big thing was my first MVP Summit. Meeting so many people from around the world. Ability to talk face to face with my PowerShell heroes, authors of the books that shaped my PowerShell knowledge, including team members like Lee Holmes and Bruce Payette. Plus all the activity outside of the meeting room… Future summits were great too, but I will never forget that first one…
Next years were full of memorable moments. My first article published in the “real” magazine. My first session at the biggest Microsoft event in Poland, MTS. Changing jobs and moving to Netherlands. Sessions at the PowerShell Summit Europe and PS Konferenz – event that later became PowerShell Conference Europe that we all know and love. And finally – fulfilling my dream of writing first Polish PowerShell book.
A lot have changed during these years. PowerShell became open source and cross-platform. PowerShell category got merged into Cloud and Datacenter Management, the one that I have never fully identified with. MVP Summit became an online event without human interactions and social events outside of the meeting rooms. Finally just few days ago, Jeffrey Snover, the man responsible for this whole “mess”, left Microsoft.
The only surprising thing is that for last few years I was sure that being MVP is a huge part of my identity. I’m not so sure now, when I tried to do some clean-up after my status switched from “current” to “former”. Most of my BIOs mention my love for PowerShell and automation, not the title. Both my blogs don’t mention it either. You can’t find MVP logo on them. Almost as if I was hiding it. 
My actions won’t change either. I will continue to write articles for Polish IT Professional magazine. I will continue to blog on my Polish blog. I will try to get my session accepted for PowerShell Conference Europe next year, as usual. I will probably try to speak at some user group meetings, now that world is opening up again. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still sad and disappointed (however not at all surprised – I’ve expressed my concerns about this years title few times before I got the bad news). I’m just not sure if what I considered “the end” just few days ago, will really be such a huge game changer as I thought. I guess only time will tell. For now I will just say – so long, and thanks for all the fish! Being PowerShell MVP was a blast!
IT Pro PowerShell experience 