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First of all Happy New Year to you all! I truly hope your 2012 is better than your 2011. I for one am looking forward to another great year of SharePoint with another SharePoint Conference in Vegas and rumors of vNext.
Mr. January – Eric Shupps
@eshupps – http://www.sharepointcowboy.comThe SharePoint Cowboy. Eric was the first guy I met who actually had a clue about SharePoint and SharePoint development. We met at Tulsa Techfest in 2008 when I was at the end of my rope and ready to find some other career path. Eric showed me that you really could make SharePoint do what you wanted and helped encourage me to join the community (so yeah, you guys can partially blame him for all this). Along my SharePoint journey he has been a mentor, friend, and even a critic. When it comes to SharePoint development, I’m not sure there’s a more competent guy out there and when he speaks you better listen. #YAHBN |
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Mr’s February – JD Wade and Dux Raymond Sy
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JD Wade – @jdwade – http://wadingthrough.com/Dux Raymond Sy – @meetdux – http://meetdux.com/Aside from being one of the most humble, friendly, and helpful people I’ve ever met, JD encouraged me to get started speaking and accepted an unknown guy to speak at St. Louis MOSSCamp in early 2009. In addition, he made the trek down to speak at both SharePoint Saturday Ozarks events. Likewise, Dux has been a friend and encourager and gave me the opportunity to speak at SharePoint Saturday DC when I was relative unknown and has been a source of encouragement over the years. |
Mr. March – Isaac Stith
@mrisaac – http://www.sharepointevolved.comIsaac Stith is the poster child for the SharePoint Community and someone I mention often in my sessions. Early on when I was fairly new to twitter I articulated my deep seeded loathing for all things SharePoint and may have insinuated that someone should do something off color with it. I was not happy. Not knowing me from Adam, Isaac told me to get on MSN Messenger and download a piece of software (did I mention he was living in Denmark at the time). In the matter of 15 minutes he had my problem solved and to this day I don’t know what magical combination of search terms would have resulted in an answer on Google. Since then Isaac and I have hung out and become good friends. He’s one of the good the ones and I’m lucky to call him a friend. All thanks to SharePoint, my ranting, and Twitter… go figure. |
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Mr’s April – John Ferringer and Sean McDonough
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Johm Ferringer – @ferringer – http://mycentraladmin.wordpress.com/Sean McDonough – @SPMcDonough –http://sharepointinterface.comIn addition to being world famous authors, when it comes to genuine, helpful, world class friends it is really hard to beat John Ferringer and Sean McDonough. I met both of these guys through Twitter and they both made the journey down to the middle of nowhere Arkansas for SharePoint Saturday Ozarks. I always look forward to seeing these guys at conferences and hanging out. I’ve even had the pleasure of co-presenting with John. The world is definitely a better place with these guys in it. |
Mr. May – Andrew Connell
@andrewconnell – http://www.andrewconnell.comAnother brilliant guy I consider a mentor and am honored to call a friend is Andrew Connell. This pillar of the SharePoint development community is one of the rare few who can TEACH and DO. I took his online WCM course a few years ago and still think it’s worth the cost for the lab manual alone. He knows his stuff and explains it brilliantly. Consider this a free plug for Critical Path Training. AC’s only major character flaws are his love of the Florida Gators and inability to take last minute road trips to Vegas… but no one is perfect. |
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Mr. June – Todd Klindt
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@toddklindt – http://www.toddklindt.comYes, I know Todd Klindt is squarely on the administrator side of the house, but secretly he’s a developer. He can do more with PowerShell than a lot of developers can do in Visual Studio. So, don’t let him fool you for a second. Over the years Todd has been one of the most helpful and backhandedly friendly people I have met in the SharePoint community. Todd was also one of the first people I interacted with in the community and is an example of why the community is great. Plus, it’s always fun to see if you can make him lose concentration during his netcast. 🙂 |
Mr’s July – Rob Windsor and Ruven Gotz
Rob Windsor – @robwindsor – http://msmvps.com/blogs/windsor/Ruven Gotz – @ruveng – http://spinsiders.com/ruveng/Yes… Canadians… I know what you are thinking, I had to throw in some token Canadians, but I assure you these guys are anything but. They may talk funny and can never be president of the USA, but these guys are a couple of my favorite SharePoint people. Rob is another uber developer who has been kind enough to steer me in the right direction and answer some questions for me. He was even kind enough to step in for me when I had to bail on a conference. You can be my wingman any day Rob. 🙂 Ruven, well, he’s not quite as useful as Rob, but he’s been an integral part of my SharePoint experience, and I wouldn’t change it. 😉 |
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Mr’s August – Geoff Varosky and Dan Usher
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Dan Usher – @usher – http://www.sharepointdan.comGeoff Varosky – @gvaro – http://www.sharepointyankee.comMy brothers-from-another-mother. Geoff and Dan have been great friends for a while now (Dan and I even share the same birthday.. which is coming up… February 1st.. hint.. hint…).
Geoff (awesome SharePoint Developer) and Dan (future MCM) are always ready to lend a hand, give advice, and even have been known to pick me up from the airport or find a spare bed for me. It’s not uncommon to see Geoff and I sharing the stage at a conference taking potshots at each other as necessary.
Every now and then you are lucky enough to make friends that you know will be friends through thick and thin. Then there are these guys… 😉 Just Kidding…
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Mr. September – Robert Bogue
@RobBogue – http://www.thorprojects.comSo, if anyone on this list is surprised to be included, it would probably be Robert Bogue. I’m not even sure if Mr. Bogue would consider us more than acquaintances. He has been a pretty harsh critic in the past, but that’s why I had to include him. Iron sharpens iron, and I’m a better developer and a more humble person thanks to Rob’s sessions, books, and critiques. Plus, I really needed an excuse to PhotoShop Rob. 🙂 |
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Mr’s October – Joel Oleson, Michael Noel, and Paul Swider
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Joel Oleson – @joeloleson – http://www.sharepointjoel.comMichael Noel – @michaeltnoel – http://www.cco.com/Paul Swider – @pswider – http://www.paulswider.comThe world travelers and international poster children for SharePoint. If you are ever lucky enough to be befriended by these guys, be sure to stick with them at conferences. Some of my greatest conference adventures have been with these friends of mine. Thanks for including me and giving me some great memories. Can’t wait to see what’s in store next time! Now, if I could only figure out what they actually DO… 🙂 |
Mr’s November – Wes Preston and Raymond Mitchell
Wes Preston – @idubbs – http://www.idubbs.comRaymond Mitchell – @iwkid – http://www.iwkid.comSpeaking of genuine, helpful, and all around great guys, Wes and Raymond are two of the good ones. Aside from their mad Halo skillz, they are always ready to lend a hand or give some useful advice. Highly recommend taking the time to get to know these guys if you don’t know them already. |
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Mr’s December – Matt Bremer & Eric Harlan
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Matt Bremer – @mattbremer http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mattbremer/Eric Harlan – @ericharlan – http://www.ericharlan.comLet’s end the year with my favorite Microsoftees Eric Harlan and Matt Bremer. I’ve known Matt since my early days in the community and in addition to coming down to speak at the first SharePoint Saturday Ozarks, he was one of the people who also helped me speak at St. Louis MOSSCamp. I couldn’t even tell you the first time Eric and I met, but we quickly determined that we had the same distaste for idiots, and our friendship grew from there. I had the distinct honor of speaking with Eric in Anaheim and hope we get the chance to speak together again. Both of these guys have been encouragers, instigators, and above all friends. If SharePoint went away tomorrow I know we’d remain friends and find some other way to hang out. If I ever have a blue badge someday, it would most likely be because of one of these two. |
The Rest
This is by no means a popularity contest (keep in mind I never said I LIKED all the people that have influenced me 🙂 ) and I knew as soon as I finished this blog post a slew of other names would pop into my mind, and they have… it’s one of those blog posts where you have to hope you don’t forget someone you should have mentioned and I know I have.. Please know that just because you weren’t mentioned in this post doesn’t mean you aren’t valued or an integral part of my success… Another few that immediately come to mind are Chris Geier, Dave Coleman, Marc Anderson, and Stacy Draper…