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 :-)

Comments

• Anonymous
  May 16, 2006
  Great!  Apply to where?
• Anonymous
  May 17, 2006
  This is a good start for jobs outside of the US: http://members.microsoft.com/careers/international.htm
  
  Also check out for the Europe/Middle East and Africa Headquarters. For jobs in EMEA HQ, you can typically live in any of the approved locations (Brussels, Londen, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Zurich,Copenhagen, Milan, Munich...and I might miss one or two).