Siddharth Mehta - Microsoft SQL Server MVP 2011 !!

I started my blog way back in 2006, just to book a domain name on blogspot. I could not find the domain on my name "Siddharth Mehta", as it was already booked, so I used my nick name "siddhu" and choose the domain name "siddhumehta". I was not mature enough or serious at that point in time about blogging and technology. In 2009 I thought of starting my blogging again. I never felt like a super intelligent personality who is going to start blogging to enlighten the world with his knowledge, and help others. My motto was help others to help yourself, i.e. I wanted to put my knowledge to test on how I could solve problems that professionals face in real time, as sitting on my office computer, I cannot face all the kind of issues that professionals face across the globe. I was having the idea that by blogging, I would learn a lot as well as create a name in the field of MS BI.

When I started blogging, the only audience I had was a couple of my friends, and the was the result of blog marketing that I used to do in my professional network. I was never interested in re-blogging content that MSDN already provides. My vision was to share what I face in my day to day work, my viewpoints, my findings, my learning and issues that professionals generally struggle. I thought I would share about topics that I struggled to deal with, topics where I derived solution after a lot of struggle due to lack of reference material / guidance from technical experts / lack of hardware-software resources / other reasons. I come from a very modest background where having a personal laptop is considered a luxury, and I thought this blog would help those who share the same story.

I found my bandwidth is utilized too less on my blog, and there are other popular mediums where I can contribute. After my blog started getting little more recognition, I started authoring for different online publications. It was not easy, and I remember that publications were not ready to consider my work as I had no proven track record of authoring. I didn't lose heart and I kept on blogging about genuine technical topics, and my experience as well as insight in the field grew even deeper. Finally my authored work started getting acceptance. I started taking my baby steps in the field of authoring, and by this time I had already completed more than a year in blogging.

Gradually the popularity of my blog grew more day by day, more and more professionals started interacting with me through email. My articles started getting recognition on different popular websites and portals. I got an opportunity to author a whitepaper for MSDN Library. I got opportunity to review a book on SQL Azure title "Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development". People used to ask me why I don't put GoogleAds on my blog, and my answer was/is that I consider my blog as a showcase of my journey, technical abilities, my technical face to the outer world.

In my definition, "Expert" is one who has not only thorough knowledge about the subject, but has applied the same to address a huge number of problems. It is about applying your knowledge to derive solutions to address known / unknown problems with a vision that gets developed only through experience. Today Microsoft has certified me as a MVP in the field of SQL Server, and I feel speechless. Two years of genuine blogging, affiliation with technical community / professionals / blog readers, authoring, technical reviews, and thought leadership.

It has been a very huge journey, and I would like to thank Microsoft for this grand recognition and motivation as a SQL Server MVP. This is an encouragement that I cannot explain in words. I would like to thank everyone who had helped me to reach the level that I have attained today. This post would be incomplete without expressing my special gratitude to certain people and organizations, and they are: MSSQLTips.com, MSSharepointTips.com, SQLServerCentral.com, SQL-Server-Performance.com, Microsoft documentation team - Doug & Carla. All of you have helped me directly / indirectly and I thank you for the same.