What's a Developer Evangelist?

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Just in case some of my readers were wondering, I thought I'd post a quick overview of what I do here at Microsoft.

My official title is .net Developer Evangelist for the Mid-Atlantic district, which includes Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC, and West Virginia, and I am responsible for all of the developers in that territory, from community, to small business, to enterprise.

There are a variety of ways that I engage with developers. For our customers with professional developers, we offer onsite lunch & learn sessions that can help groups of developers get up to speed on various .net technologies. We also offer public events, such as the recent .net to go Mobility Roadshow, and 1- and 2-day classes. Last, but certainly not least, I engage with the community through a wide variety of user groups in the Mid-Atlantic region, including providing user group support, sponsorship of meetings, and speaking at meetings.

So what does this mean for you, my readers? Well, if you're in the Mid-Atlantic, and you're a developer, you should consider me your Microsoft contact. If you work for one of our customers and can line up 10-20 or more professional developers for 1-2 hours, we may be able to set up a lunch & learn session for your company. If you're an experienced developer with a desire to share your knowledge with your peers, I can help you connect with user groups looking for speakers. If you work in a large enterprise and have considered setting up a user group or study group at your company, I can help you with content and support in that effort.

And I'm not just here for Microsoft developers only...if you're a Java developer, or ColdFusion, or other competing technology, and you're interested in finding out more about .NET, please feel free to contact me, and I'll be happy to get you information, answer questions you might have, etc.

Finally, if you're not in Mid-Atlantic, but need help connecting with Microsoft in your area, let me know, and I can put you in touch with the Developer Evangelist in your area.