I received a package from ServiceNow on Friday! It contained these nifty items:

These are the fabled 2020 Developer MVP swag items that were lost amongst the boxes (not unlike the ark in Indiana Jones) when all the ServiceNow offices shut down due to the start of the pandemic. I most definitely will be sporting this jacket (and the eventual 2021 Developer MVP swag) the next time I’m at a ServiceNow function.

As for the award (trophy?), when I add it to my other valued awards, it really becomes a nice summary of my four (yes, only four) years so far in IT and ServiceNow:

1. My first hackathon participation pin. Valued as a full award because it reminds me to trust in creativity in all things that I do, in and outside of work. Valued because this pin was the hackathon where I made something so off-the-wall that I was basically forced to be part of the amazing ServiceNow developer community. This was where Dave Slusher belly laughed while judging my entry and later found me just to give me a t-shirt, where Chuck Tomasi laughed in the front row when I gave my finalist pitch, and where I immediately got pinged several times in the sndevs slack community. Take-aways (I find it helps that I explicitly name these, it helps me remember them as time passes): Exercise your creativity, be in community.
2. This tongue-in-cheek gift from one of my past student developers. Valued as a full award because it reminds me that I was successfully able to train and mentor brand new ServiceNow developers while still maintaining a good relationship with them. I made it a goal that any person I trained, if they wanted it, would also receive mentorship not just for development, but what it takes to be excellent at whatever they do (anything from “how to present yourself during meetings” to financial readiness talks). My reward was seeing them grow, building friendships that last, and seeing them move on to become ServiceNow Developers all over the country! Take-aways: Building interpersonal relationships is profoundly satisfying. Start with yourself; are you happy with who you are when no one is looking?
3. And now this, recognition as a Developer MVP for both years that the program has existed. An actual award! Four years ago I was working within university housing, then I left it all to follow my fiancée 400 miles away, taking the first job that was offered to me. That first job? I was on a facilities team at a radio station! From there, I got in the ear of the IT Help Desk that I had some database experience and had ideas for what would help the Facilities team with service requests. How lucky for me, they told me about this platform we could use called ServiceNow.

It’s only been four years and I have so much to be grateful for, here’s to the next four years and whatever it might bring!