Category Informational

Were you aware, that a number of options have been made available to MCP’s?
And these features have been available for several months now!
I missed the window as they introduced this in October, as I was very busy during October!
But that doesn’t change them being viable now!

One specific and most applicable to others:
Partner-Level Knowledge Base available to any MCP!

!If that’s not a OMFG moment!

Partner-Level Knowledge Base (MCP only)
Search a more comprehensive version of the Microsoft Product Support Knowledge Base than what is available to the general public.

Books from Microsoft Press (MCP only)
Read before you buy. Each month you will find sample chapters from the previous month’s book releases.

Career Center (MCP only)
Powered by CareerBuilder.com, the MCP Career Center gives employers an ideal place to find top technical talent by browsing resumés and posting job openings.

Interviewing and Hiring Microsoft Certified Candidates (MCP only)
This page provides information you need to know when you interview candidates who have Microsoft Certified Professional credentials. Find out how to gain valuable insight into a candidate’s skill set by asking targeted questions about certification.

MCP Resource Center (MCP only)
This library of resources offers links to information on featured Microsoft products and technologies.

Resources:
https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp/resources/resources.mspx

Partner Level Knowledge Base:
https://mcp.support.microsoft.com/kbresources

I get a lot of emails, asking me if I am now based out of North Carolina.

So, to set the record straight. No, I’m back home in Chicago (though at home sick today).
I was merely in North Carolina for work for a bit, and had some time to update.

So, I am alive, home, well (and well, sick)
Oh, and today is my birthday, so Happy Birthday to me! :)

I have some additional posts queued up, but those will wait until I’m not as sick.

Christopher Kusek

Recently, I took it upon myself to write KB articles!
That can be a hard thing to do, but anyone can do it.

Let me take you through the journey of a KB Article.

See, that isn’t all that difficult! And honestly, it really isn’t.
Knowledge is just brewing to be had, take the scenario where people will independently have the same problem, with the same resolution (Either supplied by you, or others).

When those kind of scenarios come up, chances are – if 3 people have that same issue, thousands more are having it.

I first started documenting things when I would have to resolve a problem encountered by many individuals within different businesses.
Ideally, those who would run into the same problem in the future could stumble across my resolution, and have success and ease, easier and faster!

If you’re wondering where I’ve been writing KB articles, I’ve primarily been writing, updating, or owning articles for our internal (and public) knowledgebase at NetApp. You can check out my articles fairly easliy here! NOW – NetApp on Web just by doing a search on “Kusek” :)

Well, hopefully I’ll find some time, and certainly something cool and valuable to share in the coming weeks.
Things have been busy at the new job, life, puppies and internets!

Christopher Kusek

Well, hello, hello.

I have a whole series of entries queued up, but a lot has happened in the month of July.
I’ve started my new Job at Network Appliance (NetApp). And this entire week, I’ve been away on training, with next week as well.

With that being the case, it has kept me a bit from actually sitting down and writing some of these wonderful blog entries!
I definitely have a good one to whip up about our good friends at Crossloop.
However, that sadly (as critical as it is) will have to wait, until things have settled down a bit here.

So, in other news…
Off to work!

Christopher Kusek signing off in the land of North Carolina!

Okay, so I’m not really going on Safari, unless a trip to the local bookstore to look at all of the O’reilly books is ahead of me.

But here is how I came to find out about the Safari Library, and how it has changed my life! (for the better!)

One day some many months ago, I was looking for a certain book! They did not have it available at my local Borders or B&N, so I went the route of Amazon.
Amazon said “We’ll have it to you in 2 days!” I even went with the super-fast delivery.
Alright, sounds good, I ordered it on a Friday. It said I’d have it on Monday.

Comes Tuesday, and my order is suddenly on “BackOrder” for 30 days… WTF? What is this, Baltimization in action by Amazon?

So I canceled my order, and began searching for alternatives.

Enter Safari Library! I went with the initial ‘trial subscription’ to try it out, and bam! I was reading a few dozen books in a few minutes, which for me, is quite good times. Within the same day, I subscribed and have happily been a subscriber since.

The O’Reilly Safari Library totally rocks, and isn’t limited exclusively to O’Reilly press books. Includes MS Press Books, and a whole slew of other publishers, including a lot of the “Distilled” lines. Some books are even released to Safari before they’re released to Print, which itself does rock.
But it doesn’t end there. The bookmarking is nice, the ability to enter comments nice, the ability to download chapters is also a nice gesture, and the wide diversity of books is also good.

Great points:

But beyond these great points, there are still a whole slew of other features which I absolutely love to take advantage of, like the ability to have “Favorites” and whatnot.

Never the less, I’ve found it to be greatly useful and they’ve got my vote, as I pay out of pocket month after month. :)

Tell me about your Safari or similar publisher agreements!

Christopher Kusek