Becoming an Evangelist – Get the inside scoop from not one but two U.S. Developer Evangelists! | WM_IN

Chadk
excuse me - do you has a flavor?

asli wrote:
So to answer your question - do you have to be technical in order to be an evangelist? I would venture to say yes.

Poor blowdart. Now he cant be an evangelist Sad

anirbanc

Thanks Lynn. Being able to adapt to change quickly, and the passion for technology are indeed key assets for an evangelist.

I get to deliver workshops and technical events to ISVs on upcoming technologies like WCF, WF, Orcas etc. but these are mostly online. I have worked with WPF since the WinFX days. I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks for the reaffirmation Smiley

TechFad

Excellent session!! Sounds like fun

TechFad

Chadk wrote:

asli wrote: So to answer your question - do you have to be technical in order to be an evangelist? I would venture to say yes.

Poor blowdart. Now he cant be an evangelist

Choosing the right growth path is a crutial decision and often requires a great deal of introspection. Although, sometimes feedbacks may be just as helpful:

"Do you have to be technical to be an evangelist?"
.. real bright "butter knife", ha ha ha Big Smile

raymond

Chadk wrote:

asli wrote: So to answer your question - do you have to be technical in order to be an evangelist? I would venture to say yes.

Poor blowdart. Now he cant be an evangelist

Poor Blowdart.

Big Hug. Wink

Fun Video.

A 98 to 1 ratio seems about right.

Now what industry must I switch to?

Cool

Capecoder

We had the pleasure of welcoming Asli to our local user group before she joined Microsoft, and were tremendously impressed with her knowledge and enthusiasm. I'm sure that Lynn is also an excellent speaker and developer.

So, it's not these women's professional qualifications that trouble me about this video, it's the implication that by hiring them, Microsoft has proven its commitment to an "inclusion" policy.

On the contrary: offering high-visibility, well-paying employment opportunities to petite, attractive, athletic young women seems more a reflection of show biz values than a real desire on Microsoft's part to achieve gender parity.

In my region (New England), the Developer Evangelists we've seen through the years have all been bright and hard-working, but few could have passed for GQ models. Rather, they were hired for their energy, technical expertise and commitment.

I only wish that Microsoft would apply the same criteria to female and physically disabled candidates for DE positions. Should that happen, Microsoft could legitimately make the case that their hiring policies are, in fact, inclusive. This would certainly be a powerful example to the rest of the industry.

asli

Capecoder - Thanks for the kind words (especially with that athleticism assumption as my typing fingers are the only bit of me that receive regular exercise). I do remember making the trek out to your user group when I was part of INETA, before I came to Microsoft, and appreciate the fact that you remember the event as well.

More importantly, I'd like to address a serious implication in your comment - that technical expertise is not a criteria when hiring minority groups with the evangelism community at Microsoft.

In the last 5 years at Microsoft, I have had the pleasure to meet a lot of female technologists - from entry level to extremely senior. I have consistently been impressed with their acumen and expertise, Especially, considering that minorities often have to swim upstream against generalizations, such as the ones you accurately point out in your comment.

I have always said that it doesn't matter what the "shell" looks like (pun intended), it's the compiler inside that matters.

Upon closer look at the technologists that represent minority groups at Microsoft, I do feel that you will be pleasantly impressed by their abilities, enthusiasm, and acumen.   In fact, the entire US evangelism platform group is run by a woman who is a perfect case study for combining strong charisma with intellectual savviness.

Disclaimer: I can only speak on my own behalf, not for the organization as a whole or other minority groups within this organization, so please do take my comments with a grain of salt.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts, and kind words. -- Asli

llangit

RE:<I only wish that Microsoft would apply the same criteria to female and physically disabled candidates for DE positions.>

What, are you kidding?

OK, you asked, so here you go. My professional qualifications are as follows:
1) I ran my own .NET dev shop for 4 years, where I was lead architect and dev for projects from ASP.NET, SOA, BizTalk, SharePoint, etc...
2) I am a MCT for 8 years and taught over 40 different MSL courses
3) I recently authored a book and a course on BI for developers
4) I worked with MSL on curriculum and exams for SQL, SharePoint and more
5) I hold all premier MS certifications - MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD, etc...
6) Prior to entering tech, I was a 'C' level executive for more than 7 years
7) I have a degree in linguistics and speak multiple languages

Hm...I think I said all of this in the (video) interview as well.

Are you actually saying that I was hired because I am athletic, rather than the above qualifications? Ok, well it is true that I run 5k races, but I can't say that I do that with any particular distinction. Also, at 5'8" without shoes, no one has ever called me petite.

You must be kidding:)

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