Want to be a ServiceNow Dev MVP?

[Nia McCash]

Since the 2022 Dev MVP list and the Community MVP list were announced not too long ago, someone on LinkedIn reached out to me recently, wanting to know how to become a Developer MVP.

My tl;dr advice: If you want to be a 2023 Dev MVP, start working towards it now.

For the last 2 years, to be a Dev MVP, you have to apply. If you wait to put in the work until the applications are open, then it may be too late. The Dev advocates want to see how you have contributed to the ServiceNow dev community at large over the past year. This has been how they evaluate the Dev MVP applications in the past.

How do Developer MVPs get selected? What do I have to do to be an MVP?

The general criteria are listed on the call for candidates post, like this one from 2021.

I am not an expert on anything, by any means, so I can only assume that you do not have to be an expert to be a Developer MVP.

What has helped me was a willingness to ‘learn in public’ by writing community articles, engaging in social media on the #ServiceNowDev topic, and giving a presentation at a ServiceNow User Group (SNUG) meeting.

Unlike the Community MVP criteria, the Developer MVP criteria go beyond participation in this forum. Throughout the year, I have seen other Dev MVPs do other outreach activities including 

• providing a hosted blog for all female identifying ServiceNow developers
• producing podcasts
• streaming live coding sessions
• posting YouTube content
• leading and speaking at SNUGs and/or developer meetups
• encouraging and mentoring other ServiceNow developers

That’s not to say you have to do all of those things. If you do some of the above, you’re already contributing to the ServiceNow developer community. Aiming to be an MVP can be a good way to push yourself to do more this year.

Why the heck would I want to be a ServiceNow Developer MVP?

For the fame and fortune, of course!

I’m only half joking because…

Fame

There’s definitely some fame involved. When the 2021 MVP cohort was officially announced, my LinkedIn blew up. I got more connection requests than ever.

My LinkedIn profile views sky rocketed:

And notifications flooded my inbox (though, in all honesty, this was because the more famous Dev MVPs in the group had graciously tagged me in their posts 🤣):

Fortune

As for the fortune, there are non-monetary benefits to being a developer MVP, including swag, secret 🤫 benefits that I can’t tell you about (you’ll just have to apply and become an MVP to find out), and “a dedicated slack channel where you can bug your fellow MVPs and developer advocates at all hours.”

Not only is the slack a great resource for bugging your fellow MVPs and the developer advocates for questions you might have, it is also a great resource to listen in on.

There is sometimes too much information in the ServiceNow developer community that it’s hard to keep up with everything that’s posted in Slack, at community.servicenow.com, on social media, and through other channels. But, when a fellow ServiceNow Dev MVP asks about some new technology or mentions a feature, I tend to pay attention.

 

I have learned so very much over the year just by listening in to the conversations that the other developer MVPs have had, the questions that they have asked, the tips that they have shared.

It is also occasionally humbling to know that even they don’t know everything, and that I could sometimes, just sometimes, be of help to a fellow MVP.

In the end, it’s about showing your passion for the platform and helping other developers in the community. Do your thing, developers!

[Martin Ivanov]

Thanks. Very helful. We (MVP wanna be people like me)need more content like this.