MSP Best practices: from Pune MSPs

On March 29th, 2015 I met a bunch of Pune MSPs at McDonald’s next to E-square. It was great to meet so many of them together and the only thing which was little disappointing was how little they ate and how only few of them ate! :P  Anyway, I got talking to some of the active MSPs after the meetup to understand if they have some best practices to share with the rest of us or something that they think they should start doing or do more. Here is a collection of it, hope you enjoy reading it. 

  1. Take sessions in college

    Whether you are asked to do it as a part of the given tasks or not, taking sessions on what’s-new in tech world like Microsoft Azure overview, Azure app service, Windows 10 technical preview, Windows 10 development, Microsoft band SDK, any tech that students can benefit from such as Xamarin, Cordova, project Siena, app studio, webmatrix, visual studio etc. or game development perhaps session on Unity, Construct 2, Game Salad, Game maker Studio etc. or if requirement be on Office 365, PowerPoint, excel (very under rated as college students and only when one gets in a job that they realize that excel is really important!) can really hone your skills – public speaking, presentation skills and your own technical skills for you will be preparing really well before you present a content in front of 50-100 folks!   

  2. Write Blogs

    As MSPs you will be learning and trying your hands on on lot of things. Most of the times these things will be very new to your fellow students and sometimes even to the MSP community. The only way you can share your knowledge is to write a journal about it! If you draft your learnings in a journal you are not only sharing it with wider community but also creating a go-to reference incase you need to get back to it yourself one day. Since the world is online this decade what better way to document it than an online blog!

  3. Connect with other MSPs in India

    Needless to say to accelerate technical know-how and to share motivation keeping in touch with the likeminded MSPs across India is a great boon. They not only share your enthusiasm for technology but also make a good ear to listen to any difficulty that you may be facing and offer solutions too in some case. There is a WhatsApp group which has MSPs from India, if you are not a part of it yet, you must join it if you are interested.

  4. Adapt to the latest technology

    I know everyone wants to try out Azure and requirement of Credit card had really made it difficult in the past, however, with the announcement of the new offer (https://www.dreamspark.com/Product/Product.aspx?productid=99) I am sure things have become easy now. Staying at the top of latest tech innovation is critical. Whether someone asks you or not you should be reading up on what’s new and try your hands-on if you find something interesting and deliver a session on it later. J

  5. Feel free to invite local Technical Evangelist for MSP meet-ups/sessions

    If you would like to hear from Microsofties and request for a session from them, feel free to reach out to any technical evangelist from your region and they might just drop by! The best way to reach out to them is via twitter. Every Microsoft Evangelist is active on twitter and it is mentioned in their twitter bio that they are MS Evangelist. Just create your twitter account and connect with us! We love you guys and would love to hear from you!

  6. Start tech-club in college

    I think many MSPs are already doing this. The best to stay connected and share your tech knowledge with other students in your college is to lead a tech club and if you do not have a tech club then start one! Conduct periodic meetings and empower the members to share what new they have learnt, conduct discussion and debate such as “is wearable the next big thing” etc. You can conduct hand-on-labs on any topic, you can find so many HOLs on GitHub.

  7. Use college’s mailing list to send tech updates

    Every college has a mailing list and using it creatively and occasionally may help you reach out wider audience. You can take help from someone who has good design sense or products such as ”sway” (https://sway.com/ ) to create newsletter where you can talk about your tech club, MSP meetups and everything that you can think about!

  8. Attend local tech events, seminars, user group meetups

    If you have a local user group, joining it and attending it’s event is a very good practice. You will get a lot of exposure and meet a lot of new people who share your enthusiasm of technology and learning. They might even help you solve your queries (if you have any)!

  9. Organize local MSP meet ups

    Organizing local MSP meetups is more rewarding than you can think. Just meeting fellow MSPs over coffee or a meal can give you insights about what other colleges are doing, what other MSPs are working on and give opportunities for collaboration.

  10. Encourage a feeling of community and support each other

    At the end of the day what will truly sick to you are the friends that you will make in each other. Helping each other, supporting each other, doing the same tasks. When I was a MSP I made some friends who are there for many years to come. Hope you meet interesting people and make such binds.

     

    Comment below to share your best practice! :)