2021 DevCentral MVP Announcement
Congratulations to the 2021 DevCentral MVPs! The DevCentral MVP Award is given annually to an exclusive group of expert users in the technical community who go out of their way to engage with the community by sharing their experience and knowledge with others. This is our way of recognizing their significant contributions, because while all of our users collectively make DevCentral one of the top community sites around and a valuable resource for everyone, MVPs regularly go above and beyond in assisting fellow F5 users both on- and offline.We understand that 2020 was difficult for everyone, and we are extra-grateful to this year's MVPs for going out of their ways to help others. MVPs get badges in their DevCentral profiles so everyone can see that they are recognized experts (you'll also see this if you hover over their name in a thread). This year’s MVPs will receive a glass award, certificate, exclusive thank-you gifts, and invitations to exclusive webinars and behind-the-scenes looks at things like roadmaps and new product sneak-previews. The 2021 DevCentral MVPs (by username) are: ·Andy McGrath ·Austin Geraci ·Amine Kadimi ·Boneyard ·Dario Garrido ·EAA ·FrancisD ·Hamish Marson ·Iaine ·Jad Tabbara (JTI) ·jaikumar_f5 ·JG ·JuniorC · Kai Wilke ·Kees van den Bos ·Kevin Davies ·Leonardo Souza ·lidev ·Manthey ·Mayur Sutare ·Nathan Britton ·Niels van Sluis ·Patrik Jonsson ·Philip Jönsson ·Piotr Lewandowski ·Rob_carr ·Samir Jha ·Sebastian Maniak ·TimRiker ·Vijay ·What Lies Beneath ·Yann Desmaret ·YoussefWho's Who In The Zoo
Reading this article means you are likely a regular DevCentralite. Regulars may see some of the DevCentral team-member avatars on articles, get emails directly from us on various updates, perhaps chat with us in private messages around the inter-webs, or <gasp> meet us in person (we are people). There have been lots of changes at DevCentral over the years (DevCentral is older than my 8th grader) but even if you have met some of us in person there is a fair chance you do not know how we contribute to the community or how we, The DevCentral Team, fit into F5. TL;DR - There are seven of us, from around the world, dedicated and passionate about the DevCentral community. We are simultaneously magnificent and humble. Beginning at the head, with our leader, Tony. Tony has been a groundbreaking presence in community management for over 20 years. He is native to the Seattle area and better than any of us at Rock Band (instruments!). He leveled-up at Microsoft (MVP Program) and PopCap (think Zombies) and brought thatto bear at F5 for DevCentral in 2014. He works every day with executive leadership at F5 to realize the true potential of ‘community’ as a force for good for the community. He reminds us at every opportunity that we are all community members and that we get out what we put in. On to the heart of DevCentral, our Content-Meisters: Jason, Chase, John, and Rodrigo. Jason and John live inthe greater St Louis area (home of the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions!!) and interestingly, about 200 miles ENE ofthe mean-center of population in the US. (TIL?!) Jason was the winner of the first-ever iRules contest, as a customer, way back in 2005 and is the resident old guy, having served the DevCentral community the longest. He crossed over from invested customer to passionate customer advocate almost 11 years ago. John agreed to interview for the team back in 2013 when someone mentioned free lodging and skiing wasinvolved. If you are holding Crème Brûlée you will have John’s undivided attention. Both of them absolutely crush one of the more popular segments, Lightboard Lessons, and otherwise research and write about everything from Security and iRules to TMOS and SDKs. Chase, joined F5 the same month as Jason in 2009, and joined DevCentral out of IT in 2014. Seattle hatched (raised, but not born) he recently lived full-time on a boat and says GESUNDHEIT! louder than most people sneeze. Chase has 22 years inIT/technologyand is among the more forceful and passionate agents of change in the company. Now with some growth on the team, you can expect to see more articles, Q&A, cats, and Disney references on the DevCentral site. Based out of our Chertsey office, and a native of Brazil, Rodrigo is our newest Content-Meister. Rodrigo was recruited out ofEngineering Servicesin F5 last winter to level-up DevCentral for DevOps. We only get to meet Rodrigo (personally) a couple times a year but since he is on Greenwich Mean Time he bravely mans the wheel while the rest of us partysleep. If you ever get the chance to hear him sing karaoke it will almost certainly be a 90's British pop hit - and it will be fabulous. And finally, the legs of the operation: Leslie and Lief, DevCentral Program Managers. Leslie manages Offline and Lief was recently hired to manage Online. Sounds like a simple split butcommunity demarcations are not always simple. The idea here is that the community has many ways to engage and F5 wants to make sure and support that engagement, both on the inter-webs and in the field; Leslie and Lief will work together going forward to help align offline and online resources. Leslie is an expert cat herder, has been responsible for Community presence and technical breakouts at the past few F5 Agility conferences, manages the DC MVP program, and has handled other duties as assigned at F5 since 2014. She has livedin Geneva, The Hague, and London, spent the night on topof Kilimanjaro, trained as an opera singer, and dealt poker professionally. Is it any wonder that she manages a TON of intricate, real-world, details with a high-functioning passion for 'the experience' of it all? More than once you will hear ‘We need more Leslies.’ Lief recently came to F5 and the DevCentral team with over 20 years in technology as an analyst, program manager, and people manager responsible for multi-tenant, enterprise, software applications. Another Seattle native he was born within sight of the new F5 Tower. Heis focused on bringing process and technology standards to bear for the DevCentral website in support of the Content-Meisters, our Offline Programs, and (big C) Community at F5. He has a, recently mothballed, lifelong biking habit, a predisposition for run-on sentences, an ongoing affair with oxford commas (and parenthetical remarks), uses a Dvorak keyboard, and is not accustomed to speaking of himself in the third person. Oh, and, we need more Leslies.Agility 2020 - you're invited!
In-person event for Agility 2020 has been cancelled. Please see the Agility Event Page for more details. (Update 2/28/2020) In an abundance of caution for our customers, partners and employees, we have made the tough decision to cancel our in-person event for Agility 2020 due to the escalating travel and safety concerns related to the global COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. While we are disappointed to miss sharing ideas and solving problems with customers and partners from around the globe in person, we believe this is the best decision for everyone's welfare. We are rapidly developing an alternative to Agility as a virtual experience in the near term to deliver valuable Lab, Break-out Session, Certification and Keynote content to our customers and partners. Check back regularly for more details on the virtual event or email F5Agility@F5.com for additional information. <Professor Farnsworth imitation>Good news, everybody!</Professor Farnsworth imitation> As you know, there was no Agility 2019. This was in part so that we could reset the time of year for the conference from August to March. Agility 2020will be held from March 16-19, 2020 at theSwan & Dolphinin Orlando, Florida. Orlando, and Disney, and putt-putt golfing... That's right, *puts on ears* we're going to Disneyworld - and you are all cordially invited to participate in labs and breakouts, meet fellow F5 users, talk with F5 and partner subject-matter experts, learn to develop and deploy applications in days instead of months, secure your apps at scale in a multi-cloud environment, and hear about our vision for the future of F5 and NGINX. Registration is now open! The DevCentral team will be busy as usual that week. We areallflying over, and will be: hosting our usual booth and giving out swag in the expo hall, hosting a walk-in Nerdery zone next to our booth, where folks can drop in to speak with one of our subject-matter experts, presenting breakout sessions, hanging out at Geekfest, connecting community, enjoying the exclusive community area at the final night party, and of course, spoiling the dev/central MVPs during the joint 2019-20 MVP Summit at Agility with special sessions and activities. If you'd like to do more than pick up all the knowledge being dropped, if you have some cool technical stories or lessons-learned to share, please stay tuned for the open call for proposals which should go live in early December - so please start getting those great breakout, lightening round, and open talk ideas ready. Hope to see you there!
