That was a surprising email message I received first thing in the morning yesterday. I was awarded MVP for Visual Developer - Visual C#! Pardon the cliche but I really thought it wouldn't happen -- mainly because of my pro-open source stance . Anyway, thanks Microsoft!

The only thing I take issue about is the title. Frankly, I don't want to be known as a visual developer. There's something about it that makes me cringe. And it's precisely the reason why I blog on .NET topics. I'd like to play a part in weaning the typical Microsoft developer away from the emphasis on visual, RAD (Rapid Application Development) stuff. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing bad about desiring to come up with software fast. But it's not right if it means promoting bad programming habits.

Being "MVP" is kind of bittersweet for me though. On one hand it's sort of recognition for the little I have contributed to the Filipino developer community the past year or so, but on the other it comes with a realization that I am no longer there. I've been here in Singapore for almost two months and this section has been quiet lately. I haven't even delivered on my promise to continue the step-by-step TDD demo I started a few months back.

I'm pretty sure I will no longer be MVP by next year (sana ikaw na Jokiz, he he) but I'm here not for the award but for the privilege (and the thrill!) of sharing and learning with you folks in the Pinoy developer community. I hope to find time pretty soon to resume posting stuff here and even sharing the things I'm learning lately at work. Influenced by the genius in the office I'd like to try and learn new stuff -- new programming languages and concepts. Hmm...maybe I should do this at least every year!

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Posted 07-03-2007 5:19 PM by cruizer