This post shows you the difference between .NET Foundation and Microsoft MVP program. And which one you should join if you are a .NET developer.
What’s .NET Foundation
This foundation is created by Microsoft. Most of you may think this is a branch of Microsoft. But it’s not true. This organizaiton is a NGO. And it’s not owned by Microsoft now. It’s standalone.
We usually call this foundation DNF — DotNet Foundation.
The executive directors of DNF are from Microsoft .NET team. Usually, they are .NET team PM or Tech Fellow on .NET. But the board members are from the community instead of Microsoft.
In the past years, DNF has put great efforts to show that they are NOT Microsoft or a branch of Microsoft. They wanna show the community that they have confidence in promoting open source for .NET instead of totally controlled by Microsoft itself.
What’s Microsoft MVP program
MVP means Most Valuable Professional. This program has been promoted for many years. It used to be initialized by Bill Gates. If it’s not because of Bill Gates, this program may have been shut down.
Usually, there are about 4000 MVP all over world. But this program is not just for programming, it’s for many different areas such as Office, AI, Azure and so on. In this case, you can also get Microsoft MVP even if you don’t know how to do programming.
For programming language MVP, it used to be only Microsoft-dedicated languages such as C++ , VB and .NET. These programming langauges are welcomed by MVP program. However, the rule changed 3 years ago. If you are good at Java, Python, R, you can also get Microsoft MVP.
General Comparison between DNF and MVP program
DNF is a very dedicated organization and it’s created for promoting .NET. It’s the organization any .NET developer should join as long as you have a open source .NET project. Joining DNF doesn’t mean you have to donate your project to DNF. It’s totally your choice.
MVP program is for every products from Microsoft. However, the MVP program is not maintained very well in the past 5 years for many reasons. As I heared, the position of Canada MVP community manager has been cancelled 2 years ago and Canada MVP program was merged to US MVP program. Similar cases happens in Asia as I know. The org structure of MVP program is changing every year. Last year, the top leader of MVP program left Microsoft.
And recently (May, 2023), MVP Reconnect program is cancelled by Microsoft. This program used to keep connection with ex-MVPs and it lasts for about 5-6 years. They provide a very well-designed badge for this.
Benefits Comparison between DNF and Microsoft MVP
.NET Foundation
- DNF Youtube channel Promotion
- Free Meetup.com account
- AWS Open Source credits program
Microsoft MVP
- Azure $12000 credits (yearly)
- 1 year MSDN subscription
- MVP Summit (your own travel fee including air ticket is still on your own)
Some concerns from ex-MVPs
Also there are a few different voices from former MVPs
