It’s with some sadness that I have to announce that as of the start of October, I’m no longer a Microsoft MVP.
As renewal time came round again, I asked my employer whether it was okay for me to renew, and was advised not to do so. As a result, while I enjoyed being awarded as an MVP, I’ve asked not to be considered for renewal this year.
This doesn’t mean I’m turning my back on that side of software development, of course. I’m still going to be an active member of the C# community. I’m still writing the second edition of C# in Depth. I’m still going to post on Stack Overflow. I’m still going to blog here about whatever interesting and wacky topics crop up.
I just won’t be doing so as an MVP.
Thanks to all the friends I’ve made in the MVP community and Microsoft over the last 6 years, and I wish you all the best.
Keep in touch.
Jon Skeet's coding blog 
Jon, I think all the comments sum it up…the community still has their expert and title or no title the community will always respect and benefit from your contributions.
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Jon, I’m sure you don’t really need the title anyways. Just keep up the good work. The community recognizes you as an expert MVP or not.
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I really don’t see how being awarded as an MVP shows google in bad light. Well it seems like its just another company from the lot.
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Did your company need to pay for you to maintain your MVP status or something? With things picking up, it might be time for a new job!
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This makes me sad. What happened to “don’t be evil?”
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Hi John,
I am just wondering, why you need permission from employer for renewing the MVP award? It’s all personal things right?
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Jon,
You don’t need to be an MVP in order to BE an MVP.
(Wow, that sounds like one of those ‘Chuck Norris Facts’ xDD)
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oOo you’re top story in El Reg today!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/02/google_microsoft_mvp/
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As as Google supporter and someone who has seen the ways of Microsoft, I would just remind everybody that supporting Microsoft is evil. So Google, far from being evil, is obviously doing this to *avoid* being evil.
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Fuck google!
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ouch!
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Go work with Bing ;)
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@Niels Hansen – I do work for Microsoft, and a friend down the hall has been recognized by Google for helping find security issues. No one even blinked.
While I do understand that one has to be careful with associations, etc, IMHO, this is pushing it too far. I’d be really peeved if my employer did something like that.
I remember being at a very small conference some years ago, and was talking with one of Sun’s security devs. I was showing her a web page on my laptop, and she commented “So that’s Windows XP?” (yes, this was about 6 years ago). I was astonished, and asked why she hadn’t even seen it – turns out they’re not allowed to use anything from MSFT. I told her that I could use anything I needed to do my work, and we had Sun and Linux boxes here and there. Her response – “That’s why you’ll win.” As things have turned out (sadly, IMHO), she was prescient.
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You’re a Most Value Professional, with or without award, who cares ;)
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La escencia es lo que importa. Siempre seras MVP, un experto de C#
Victoria, Mexico
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Is this the “Let’s be Evil” company?
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Jon Skeet will soon be a brand, so Google might regret that decision in the end ;)
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Don’t be so stupid …
do you have a contact for the rest of your life time period? does it include a clause which mentions that they will refund you with certain amount of money in the case they fire you?
come on, you are a temporal employee, renew your MVP and don’t tell them you did.
Wake up … they are just a company, and as they go up … they can go down anytime.
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Jon,
I have an incredible amount of respect for you technically. You should be rewarded a life time MVP achievement for all the good you have done to help the community.
I find it disgusting that your employer would want to deny you the recognition for your efforts. It sounds more like political maneuvering then anything else.
Perhaps next year your Manager will wisen up.
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Jon, I’m sure it’s too late but you should reconsider. How does Google have a say in what is a recognition award for personal contributions to the development community? The amount of expertise you have in C# and the amount of contributions back to the C# development community are the qualifications for the MVP award, of which you have both in spades.
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My respect for Google has dropped a notch…
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so sad news Jon! but you’re an MVP with or without your boss permission, my friend. Your contribution to the community is truly valuable and nobody can ignore that!
Thanks for keep your rythm and success!!!
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congrats jon. though i must say your original posting is sort of incendiary given that it doesnt discuss google’s primary objection which seems to be some nda related thingie…can you clarify the situation?
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