Category Microsoft

This is my cross-posted official Red Team Blog post! The original can be found here: Join our race for Charity and be a Champion for Change in Haiti!

Hello! I’m Christopher Kusek! – You may know me in the twitter world as @cxi (Why yes, I do have people come up to me and call me cxi… it’s okay, I don’t find it too weird!)

But there are some lessons to be learned here, both from this blog post, and from the whole of this event.

1. The first lesson is… Try not to run yourself too thin when you’re at a company conference the week of an event kick off, it will definitely show in your team’s presence :)
2. The second lesson is, don’t be on an opposing team when you have someone get behind their cause, like ours of NetHope!
3. And the last lesson is.  Have fun :)

So, what am I saying here? It is definitely time to have a GREAT Time!    For those of you who have first met me through my various blog posts around education, learning, certification, technology centric things… or various Zynga Facebook games – Welcome :)

And for those who do not know me, let me tell you a little about myself :)

I am in few if any ways orthodox, it is not exactly part of my DNA, though it is part of the foundation of my success!    A success I like to transfer and convey on to others.

In my professional life (re: the part that pays the bills so I can enjoy the rest of my life) I’m a Technology Evangelist for the semi-large technology company EMC.     I love my job, and I equally love bringing people over to our company (If you are a rock star, LET ME KNOW and I can get you in front of the right people to bring you on board, I’m ALWAYS looking for professional, passionate, OMG AMAZING people! and frankly, it’s getting hard to find those from within my network (the last few I know just started 2 weeks ago… but we still have thousands of positions open world wide!)… Whoa this is starting to look like a commercial, but in reality… for those of you on the fence, I’d like to help improve and change your life and your future… which brings on to the second point of who I am..

I absolutely LOVE helping people! I dedicate a large portion of my life around that; whether it be directly through career counseling and doing deeply technical and strategic things, or indirectly by contributing to a charity and helping out in my (tech) community.   The end result (I hope) is that these others who have grown as a result will be able to continue to go out and help others, allowing this chain of benefit to continue through and through!   I’m not saying that will always be the case, but I’m fortunate to have thousands of stories of others who have gone on and done just that and I am proud of every one of them!

So, why am I doing this? Why am I participating in this event to raise not only money for charity, but at the same time raise the bar for the community as a whole?  Because I get a 20% cut of everything we raise! err.. wait, no that’s not it! (no, it isn’t :))

It’s because I more than care about doing something to help improve the lives of others.. I am actually DOING something about it! And you can do something about it to!

There has been no better time than the present to join the RED Team! Seriously, think about it, the red team has Chief, and Simmons… sure.. we don’t have Church, but cmon.. he’s an AI… (if this doesn’t make sense, please visit redvsblue.com)

But seriously.   The time is here, the time is now, and the time to join our team, well, we can very clearly make it worth it to you!

I DO want to hear from you, as a part of this contest, and outside of this contest as well – Please do stay in touch and if you are looking for a job anywhere in industry.. well, I talk to hundreds of recruiters on a regular basis (industry wide) also, if you play Facebook games.. you can join my Mafia of 3000 people! ;)

Here is how to contact me, and please do sign up and be a champion!

Twitter: @cxi

Facebook: Christopher Kusek

LinkedIn: Christopher Kusek

Blog: PKGuild

FriendFeed: CXI

Email Personal: christopher.kusek@pkguild.com

Email Professional: christopher.kusek@emc.com

Youtube: christopherkusek

And for further social media context (Who doesn’t do this?! ) And so you can follow along the journey..

Foursquare: CXI

GoWalla: CXI

But above all, I implore you to go here to sign up for the red team! Register and join us! – Please comment on this post if you do as well! :)

And if there is something I can do to help you in particular in some various area.. let me know, and be SURE to let me know if you’re (also) attending TechEd!

I hope to hear from and see you all soon!

Christopher Kusek, CISSP, MCT

Technology Evangelist, Ninja [or] Pirate?!

Join the Red Team and help us save lives! – No seriously, we’re doing this.. and we want you to be a part of it! The details below break it out!

I hope you can help us out I am a virtual pit crew member of the Red Team in the IT Grand Prix.  This is a competition being put on to raise awareness of Microsoft Learning, training, and Certification. Starting on May 31^st a ground team will be racing throughout the US to help local Charities solve their IT problems. The winning team gets to donate 10 000$ US to the charity of their choice.

Our team is racing for the charity NetHope. They work all over the world to help aid groups leverage technology on the ground better. This could include bringing in technical people to build network infrastructure, or providing training to locals so that they can continue to build and support technology that solves all sorts of problems.

This race has 2 components. We will be racing on the ground in each city. There are also online challenges. That’s where you come in. If you could register as a member of the Red Team’s virtual Pit crew on the website www.itgrandprix.com and help us out with some of the online challenges our team would really appreciate it!

You can help him by joining the “Team Red” pit crew at www.itgrandprix.com and selecting “Join The Race” to sign in and associate your Live ID with the team. It’s simple to do, fun to follow the exploits of the team and also do something good for yourself (flex some of that certified learning / exams / helping others muscle) as well as others. Make sure you associate the live id that is also associated with your Microsoft Certification!

Once you’re registered here’s how you can help right away!

Let your followers know all about the IT Grand Prix, ask them to sign up for the RED team! Next, complete online challenges!! You can start right now:

Challenge: Take a certification exam

Criteria: The team with the most MCP exams taken by their pit crew between May 1 and June 4, 2010 wins the challenge.

Action: Register with Prometric and take your exam by June 4, 2010. No other action required.

Challenge: Recruit friends and colleagues to join your pit crew

Criteria: Each certification held by each new pit crew member (though May 21, 2010) is worth points to your team.

Action: Recruit your friends and colleagues to join your pit crew by May 21, 2010

Challenge: Participate in Born to Learn Discussion Forums

Criteria: In the IT Grand Prix forum, your ground team will moderate discussion threads. Participate in those discussions and the team with the most relevant posts wins the challenge.

Action: Visit the ITGP forum, find your team’s threads ( your team color will be in the title), and participate in the discussion.

Challenge: Did you know you can track the number of times your VBC is viewed? Create and promote your Virtual Business Card to win this challenge.

Criteria: The team with the most cumulative views of their pit crew’s Virtual Business Cards wins.

Action: Create your VBC and share it. Make sure you have the VBC linked from our servers (image versions do not count)!

Challenge: Take the Are You Certifiable Challenge

Criteria: Play the Windows 7 track and the team with the highest cumulative score will win.

Action: Play Are You Certifiable, (make sure you login with the same Live ID you used to register for IT Grand Prix), and select the Windows 7 track.

Challenge: Update your newsletter subscription preferences

Criteria: We recently added the ability for you to choose how you want to receive your MCP or MCT newsletter: monthly, weekly, or even daily. The team with the most people who have updated or confirmed their subscription preferences wins. That’s it!

Action: Update or confirm your subscription preferences.

Update your MCP Flash newsletter preferences

Update your MCT Flash newsletter preferences

We also have a Facebook fan page where we will update you as we move throughout the challenge you can find here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/IT-Grand-Prix-Red-Team/118301818209916

If you want to find out more about NetHope check out www.nethope.org

Thanks so much for helping out! If you have any questions about this don’t hesitate to reach out!

There’s only two months left until June 30th! Yea I know you have a lot on your plate between now and then.. but for those of you who are certifying.. and happen to be taking any of the following exams – You get not only a Second Shot at taking the exam… but you also get 50% off?! Whoa! Half off?!?!

So, for those of you who are not so sure what all of the obscure numbers listed really seem to reflect to in form of exams.. here is the breakdown of what gives you a SECOND SHOT and 50% off! (Remember – Second Shot is available for all exams and all countries… but this 50% off deal is limited to these exams listed!)

70-432 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance
70-448 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance
70-450 PRO: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Administrative Solution Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
70-452 PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
70-562 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development
70-564 Pro: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
70-693 Pro: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator
70-669 TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization
70-680 TS: Windows 7, Configuring
70-682 Pro: Upgrading to Windows 7 MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician
70-659 TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
70-652 TS: Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring
83-640 TS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

So, just like all of my other announcements around vouchers and such… let me know if you need vouchers and I’ll give you what I can! Second Shots! 50% off! 20% off,10% off vouchers!

Hit me up via email, comments, twitter, facebook! etc :)

That’s right! I have a few vouchers available.. and at this time, I’m giving up one of these free vouchers to one of you fortunate souls!

What do you need to win? Comment on this blog post – that’s it! That doesn’t take much! Oh, preferably.. comment on how you’d go about using it – As far as I’m aware.. this voucher is good for ANY country, so I’d love to hear whatever your story is, of how this voucher will benefit you, your life and your career! or.. whatever!

So, simply comment away, and WIN! – It’s literally THAT easy – do your best to share this among the community and with others, because this won’t be the first voucher I give away and I love champions of the cause!   I’ll give out the free voucher.. lets say…the week or April 19th.   

And, not that this will help your cause (Although, it won’t hurt it ;))

I’m still looking for donations to help me in supporting children with disabilities – as I run the Boston Marathon on their behalf 2 weeks from today! So, please support me if you can

As seen in this blog post: Putting my life on the line to improve another’s – Please RT and donate

Thanks, and good luck on the vouchers! If I’m able to meet my goal of $2500, I’ll immediately offer up one more FREE voucher for give away!   Thanks!

I get a lot of emails, tweets, IM’s, comments and more about getting 20% off your certification exam!  And I know I’ve discussed this in the past Increasing your Microsoft Certification Discount from 10% to 20%, Certification and MeasureUp Discounts 20% off Certs! and You deserve a Second Shot at Microsoft Exam’s, until June 30th, 2010! – and even more than that, but I won’t bore you with the other redundant links!

What this really means is… I’ve said this a damn lot! So why am I saying it again?!!$!?   Because June 30th is coming up, and that is when all of the vouchers will expire – Second shot AND the 20% off vouchers! So what this means to you is… Let’s get rid of all of my vouchers!

I currently have vouchers for EVERY country which give you a “Second shot” on your exams – so if you want insurance if you fail, let me know and I’ll hook you up!

If you want 20% off on your Certification Exams though, I’m limited to the following countries:

It bears repeating – I only have vouchers with 20% off in the above mentioned countries.   It’s either 20% off or Second Shot – Only!

As far as how many of these vouchers I have available.. most of the countries I have 10 or 20 total.. except for the US, where I have ~150 vouchers left.  So don’t be afraid to ask for as many vouchers as you need!

Now get out there and get certifying before this opportunity passes us all!