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The Sitecore MVP program is mentioned everywhere. What factors do Sitecore consider for MVPs, and how would I go about working to become one myself? And what is the process?

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    As a first-time MVP I wish I had read this before. My first failed application had me reach out to my MVP peers and they guided me on the path. Community is very important. Great post Tamas! Ken
    – Ken Gray
    Oct 4, 2019 at 17:44

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First of all: No one should have a goal to become a Sitecore MVP, the goal should contribute to the Sitecore community with passion as much as possible and the MVP award will be a consequence.

What is the Sitecore MVP Award

  • The Sitecore MVP Award celebrates the most active Sitecore community members from around the world who provide valuable online and offline expertise that enriches the community experience and makes a difference.

  • Each year, the Sitecore Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Awards recognize individuals with a passion for sharing their knowledge and expertise through active participation in online and offline Sitecore communities.

  • Type of MVPs are: Technology, Strategy, Commerce and Ambassador

General Recommendations

  • One of the key things to remember with the MVP piece is around individual community involvement on a specific topic and that people can nominate for multiple categories. A big part of it comes down to the information they submit in their dossier as part of the review process.

  • The roll up of this was probably 5-10 hours per week of your personal time beyond day job, as well as hours for self-learning on top of this, but there can be an overlap as a large portion of the learnings became posts.

Ideas

As an idea of what some of the MVPs do:

  • 6 hours most Saturdays writing blog posts/tutorials
  • Contributed to 2 or 3 open source projects a year
  • Answered questions for people outside of their own org on Stack Exchange and Twitter, probably averaging 1 or 2 a month
  • Participated in conversations on Twitter – would probably move this to the Sitecore community slack channels now
  • Organised user groups
  • Presented at conferences

General Suggestions

  • Keep up the good work month-by-month, not just around the MVP nomination period.
  • When you blog it is not only the quantity, but mainly the quality that matters. Before blogging about something please check if someone else has already written about that topic and reference it while adding something new to it.
  • Community.sitecore.net is our base where Sitecore enthusiasts are connected. We are upgrading it this year to deliver a better experience for everyone. Sitecore Slack channels have been there for you for more than a year, please be present in there also.
  • Sitecore Stack Exchange is the new opportunity for everyone to ask questions and to share your knowledge and experience.
  • If you can, consider contributing to an open source modules or start a new project yourself.
  • Being at User Groups or conferences are always great, but speaking is the real opportunity to share your expertise.

For more suggestions you can listen the Get to know an MVP podcast.

The Sitecore Community / Relevant Resources

Best reference to get involved with the community: How can I connect with the Sitecore Community?

See also: How to be Recommended to be a Sitecore MVP?

Process

The nomination is open in November. Once you have received at least one recommendation from existing MVPs and Sitecore employees you will receive an email with a link to apply. You can then create an account and submit your application for review.

From the 1st December multiple Sitecore teams and selected MVPs are reviewing the nominations. For new nomination existing MVPs review them first. Also Sitecore regional representatives are reviewing the applications. Then Sitecore product teams are reviewing them. At the end the MVP team is summarizing the results.

The MVP Award is usually announced at the end of January.

You can read more details in the What should I expect in the MVP nomination or first-time application process?

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    As Ashish mentions, the most important thing is Passion. Do not "do what it takes" to become an MVP. Find your passion and then do/share that. I look at the MVP process as being somewhat similar to "call for papers". You never know the exact selection criteria and weight each activity will be valued at, nor what everyone else has done/submitted. For example, I submitted 8 talks to SYM17 and had 0 selected. Initially, I felt discouraged, until they started releasing the agenda where I saw a very high percentage of Sitecore employees presenting on Sitecore 9. Then I didn't feel so bad. :) Oct 20, 2017 at 14:40
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The flow diagram of becoming Sitecore MVP process: This article will also help you to answer : https://sitecorebasics.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/basics-of-sitecore-mvp-award/

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My Personal Experience and Suggestion as below:

First, it takes passion

Blog about your passion,If you don't have one already, create your own blog-there are plenty of sites, such as Wordpress, that will host your blog for free.

Contribute to it regularly with relevant information and talk about your own experience including the lessons that you've learned in your area of expertise.

Contribute samples and walkthroughs in Gitub and Sitecore Marketplace. This could mean code samples or steps to setting up an environment that folks can both use and learn from

Speak to others MVPs about your passions. Ask them what user groups or local conferences are located near you and start small. Or take it one step further and organize a local event on your own

Maintain a constant, but not overly aggressive, professional-only Twitter account

Be active in any online/offline Sitecore communities, forums, newsgroups, User Groups

Report bugs to Sitecore on Support portal.

Help other people on https://sitecore.stackexchange.com and community.

Upload Sitecore technical videos on Youtube.

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