Being an evangelist...
I recently got a question fromn a reader who wanted to know what an evangelist does and how to become one. Here's my reply. I guess it's by no means complete but it's how I view my job...
A technology evangelist is someone who engages with customers, partners and
influential people in the IT community to share with them the message on
products, platform, vision, strategy.
So what do I do? I...
- speak at conferences about newest technologies.
- visit customers and partners on-site to showcase new technologies and to
identify how they fit in their solutions
- run programs like the Beta Experience (gather content from multiple
locations like product teams at Corp)
- take responsibility for content of events like Tech Ed (own part of the
agenda there)
- make sure that Microsoft employees understand the value of the to be
released products
- ...
At Microsoft, we have evangelists for all types of audiences: Developer
evangelists, Architect evangelists, IT Pro evangelists, Designer
Evangelists.
Which characteristics/skills are important for an evangelist?
- Passionate about software
- Good at conversations (speaking AND listening)
- Able to drive a program (plan AND execute)
So how does one become an evangelist?
1. get real life experience in a field (dev, architecture, system
administration)
2. engage in the community, get visible (user groups, news groups, events,
blogs)
3. apply for a job :-)