Microsoft Student Partner

This is my first post in this blog and I chose the perfect day to start with it... 12/12/12... Well, one would have to wait for another millennium to get such a wonderful date and how could I miss it! :)

There is also one special reason for me to start blogging. It is that I got selected as the Microsoft Student Partner. It is one of the greatest achievements and recognition that I've received till now.

Now I would give a brief description of what Microsoft Student Partner (MSP)s are to those who do not already know it. MSPs are social, friendly and approachable students who like to meet new people. MSPs are the game changers of the future. Many go forth to create innovative solutions that address the world's toughest challenges. They think and act boldly.

Now what do you become as an MSP? As an MSP, you will be informed about the latest Microsoft technologies. You will acquire the tools and training to lead technology discussions on your campus. You will demonstrate the latest technologies, host tech events, and connect with like-minded students and faculty. You will be the one everyone turns to for answers and insights. Finally, you become a Microsoft technology leader in your campus.

Now the next question everyone would have is how to become an MSP! The MSP selection procedure starts by around August-September time each year. The procedure starts with the registration followed by three rounds.

The first round is a video submission in which we have to capture a video (2-3 mins) of us, telling the following: What is MSP? How would you benefit as an MSP? A brief description of any one of the given Microsoft technologies. This video will then have to be uploaded in YouTube and the URL of the video is to be submitted. That is all with round 1! My small brother helped me in capturing my video and was very helpful in giving suggestions while editing it! Though they have mentioned that the views for the video does count, I personally do not feel so as there has been many people who got selected without a very high view count. So what matters is the content of the video. You can check out my video as a reference here.

The next round was an app submission. It was a bit troublesome round for me as I was no great programmer and did not have any previous app development experience. At first the round was to submit either a Windows Phone app or a Windows 8 app and 50 and 100 point would be awarded respectively for each app that gets certified. But after a while, they extended the last date and made it mandatory to submit Windows 8 app. This put me in more trouble. I went around asking many of my friends on how to start the app development. From the bits of information they gave me, one fine night I decided to start developing an app by myself. I had an impression that it is going to be a very difficult task. But once I got the hang of it, I found it to be simple and interesting and wanted to give more perfection to my app once I was done with a rough 1. In that way within 2-3 days, I got my first app completed and then a week later, got a second one completed too. Wonderfully, both of them got certified. :)

The next round was to attempt the Imagine Cup quiz. They had many categories of quiz and we were to attempt at least one of them. I attempted all the three that was relevant to the MSP selection and passed them.

Finally, the three rounds were over and now it was the wait for the results. At first, we were told that the results would be published by the 7th of December. But they postponed it to the 10th of December. We were made to wait till the night for the result to be let out and then, the list of selected candidates was published. To my delight, my name was there in the list. :)

Now I am on the wait for the official mail from Microsoft which will take about a week regarding the details of my tasks as an MSP and about the probation period which I have to complete successfully to be a permanent MSP.

I am ending this post by recalling the tagline of MSP : " Now's your time to shine " !! and urging all of you to try to achieve this awesome opportunity which you would never want to miss. :)