An Introduction to IT Pro Community
- by Jeff Middleton, Founder of SBSmigration.com
Do you know about the amazing Worldwide SBS Community? You may not realize that in many cases, you can get the fastest possible answer to a technical question or a business dilemma by turning to one of the peer groups for advice.
I decided to make a small incentive offer to pursuade you to look into this. The Sponsored Groups program at SBSmigration.com helps draw attention to local groups around the world by offering you a discount on our product if you simply contact a local group and meet their requirements for obtaining the discount code. It's a pretty simple idea, but it's not the entire point of why I started this program.
This Community section of SBSmigration.com hopes to introduce you to some exceptionally valuable local and online resources you should look into. If you are not already aware of the Small Business Server "community", you are really missing a huge opportunity. You should know about the Microsoft MVP Program, or the SBS Group Leaders around the world, and the many SBS and related interest group which maintain online discussion forums for peer-discussion and idea exchange.
My introduction to the SBS community began in 1999 when I began trying to locate information in the MSNEWS forums related to SBS and came to realize I could help a lot of people by answer questions posted as a contribution to the knowledge of other, and as a sort of bartering exchange to get help back. I discovered the Microsoft MVP program when I was immediately assisted in locating information by several SBS MVPs. I was so impressed with their commitment, I hung around for the next few months emulating their effort and helping out to answer questions while absorbing all the information I could read from every post. I was awarded by Microsoft as an SBS MVP that same year and it's been one of the most remarkable and enriching experience in my life. It opened the world to me in ways I can't begin to explain in brief here. What I can tell you is that I have a tremendous respect for the time and effort put forth by the MVPs and Community Leaders you will find worldwide who give their time in such selfless ways to build community involvement as well as to represent the IT Professional perspective in communicating back to Microsoft and other industry leaders.
The concept of IT Professionals establishing local chapter groups as well as loosely organized national and international affiliations is sometimes a little hard to introduce, but that's the intention here. Rather than seeing this as a competition, you really should open your eyes to the opportunity to learn from sharing experiences that help you recognize what you do well, and what you can improve on with just a little bit of investigation and investment. Hopefully you will find this introduction either gets you started or reminds you to renew your investment in the SBS Community!