About This Session
No person survives as an island, and no career grows spontaneously. In this session, we will discuss how to strategically grow your professional opportunities by participating in technical communities. Whether an open source, cross-platform, .NET, iOS, Android or Linux developer (or all of the above), this panel will let you tap into the real-world experiences of Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). You will also learn about what it takes to receive and benefit from the MVP Award, and how to get started with the MVP Mentor program. Raucous (or at least mildly amusing) stories guaranteed.
The Speaker(s)

Community Program Manager, Microsoft
Esther is a Community Program Manager for the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award Program where she focuses on the developer community. Her passion for growing the technical capabilities of communities has led her to work in west Africa, SE and NE Asia, and the US. When not building community or watching out for MVPs, she can be found chasing her two young kids. Esther holds a MCP from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a BA from Dartmouth College.

Community Program Manager, MVP Award Program, Microsoft
Kari is a Community Program Manager for the Microsoft Most Valuable professional (MVP) Award Program where she manages the relationship of consumer focused MVPs in the US. She is also the program lead for the MVP Mentor Program, whose mission it is to foster the next generation of technologists to be leaders in their fields and communities.

73rd Street Associates
Peter Kellner, an open source developer, Pluralsight Author and part time conference organizer

Consultant, dotNetTips.com
David McCarter is a Microsoft MVP and a consultant in San Diego.

Consultant, InStep Technologies, Inc
Deborah Kurata is a developer, speaker, author, Microsoft MVP and Google Developer Expert (GDE).

Developer Betterer, JeremyBytes.com
Jeremy Clark makes developers better

Engineer, Tachyus Corp
Husband, father, F# MVP, Engineer @TachyusCorp out of Houston, TX, and OWIN Instigator.

I write code, Clear Lines Consulting
Figuring out things, one model at a time. F# globe-trotter.

Obindo
Joe Kleinschmidt is the Chief Technology Officer for Leverage Software