Category Certification

Here’s a consolidated list of a number of the resources I regularly put up here, so you can find them easier!

Free Training

5 Free Virtualization Training Courses for the Holidays! (HyperV)

I’m not sure how long this is going to last, so I highly encourage you to sign up, get your class registered in and taken!

This course is highly recommended and valuable!

How much does Free Microsoft Learning Cost? (Hint: Free!)

A whole series of Free E-Learning which used to cost a substantial amount of monies, but is Freeeee! Thanks Microsoft! :)

Free Books!

Sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter now

Just go there, sign up and monthly you’ll receive an email which has the latest free E-books from the MS Press Team! Caveat: the books are typically only available for 5-7 days at a time – so you should act as soon as you get the emails!

More Free Training?!

Microsoft Elevates America with Social Responsibility

More Free Training at the High and Low level, in addition to some kinds of assistance for furthering education!

Microsoft Virtual Labs

Every wanted to try out a product you’ve never installed, or even downloaded.  Or you want to learn a new application, or even Programming language.  The Microsoft Virtual Labs are the perfect solution there.   They include not only immediately available applications for you to test in a real lab environment, but they also have ‘training labs’ so you can go through an educational process in order to learn the material.   The best part is, you’re not bound by the material either – So if you want to think outside the box of training you can, but if you’re not sure what to learn they provide guidance there!

We’re still waiting for the launch of more Beta Certification exams and other/more free stuff, but definitely take advantage of the resources above as they’re infinitely useful!

Psst, did you know we’re in a recession?  Yea, can you imagine that? Now is the time to take every dollar we can from every person just to snake on by, right? Err, no.

No, this is a time to band together, and raise the bar together not only as individuals but more importantly as a community.   The Technology community is a particularly strong one, where we reach out and help each other, even in cut-throat situations where we’re against each other, we want to help.

Enter the newest innovation in this from Microsoft.

This is just one in a series of Community Investment opportunities which will be announced in the market (and by announced, I mean I will search and track them down and tell you about them :))

This is particularly cool as in the “Basics” section, it has just that – the basics to get someone to be digitally literate.  Perfect for those with no current knowledge or minimal knowledge and skill-set in the digital age.  An excellent starting point.

I also particularly like this offer, for those trying to be employed or want to remain more relevant in their current positions:

I encourage you to check out all of the resources, whether you’re looking for work, currently employed or interested in pursuing a career in technology.

Truly, do yourself a favor and elevate yourself, the free parts certainly hit the right price point!:)

Firstly, a hearty congratulations to the 8 Year old (and 1 day) Lavina Shree who recently completed her MCP Exam in C#.

[NDTV via NewLaunches]

She has made quite an accomplishment for defeating the previous title holder Arfa Karim from Pakistan who was 10 Years old at the time she completed her MCP exam in 2005.

Apparently, she is 8 years old, and not 9 years old as some of the stories report (Her own website reports this)

Okay, time for the Therapy Faq on this.

Q: Should I feel bad about myself and my own certifications?

A:  No, why should you feel bad?   If you had a photographic memory and were 8 years old, wouldn’t you be able to find the time to study just a bit? I mean, outside of your regular 80 hour workweek fixing networks or dealing with your significant other, I’m sure you’d be able to find a few minutes to study for an exam, right?

Q:  What? But seriously, she’s 8 years old! Not even 9 years old like the other reports are saying!

A:  Wait, you’re right.    I forgot these exams aren’t based upon sole memorization and require you to have to think about extremely bound concepts the likes of which cannot exist in books.   I mean when I go into the Oracle to take the exam, it analyzes what I have in my brain and then starts providing dynamic questions the likes of which noone could ever hold challenge to.

Q: Does this happening make the Certification process at all less valuable?

A: Absolutely not.   That same analysis could be said of the Bar Exam, SAT’s or GRE’s.    Some people are extremely good at certain things (say, memorization) but that is not to say that they know everything there is, only what they’ve read.   So, while you can know the ‘answer’ to a defined question, if provided with a question outside the context of original discussion that shows your true ability to innovate and provide a solution.   If I want someone to be able to recite back to me verbatim a fixed question/answer, I’d get Wikipedia or something.

Q: So you’re saying I should feel good for this girl, and not feel bad about myself?

A: Exactly.  I think it is great, prior to this a lot of people didn’t even realize there was such a thing as the MCP.  Now perhaps some may feel this is bad PR, but any PR is better than none, and this will pass.    Especially when a girl who is cited as having performed feats of memorization at age 3? No, this will definitely do wonders for the Certification community and help to improve the process as a whole for years to come.   We’ve been watching it come for the past several years as tests have improved to be more relevant, and this will be no different.

Good luck out there, get ready for a whole new Certification year! And I look forward to the new innovative Betas as you should!

As always, thank you ever so much Joanne Lin (MS) !

For those of you who saw the last Free E-book deal from Microsoft Press, it is back again with another stringent timeline to get it!

You have until December 24th to download these beauties!

With a simple ‘click’ and ‘register’ you can have these two Beautiful E-Books downloaded and in your possession for reading and excitement!

Understanding IPv6, by Joseph Davies

Writing Secure Code for Vista, by Michael Howard and David LeBlanc

If you’re even remotely interested in these technologies, free stuff, books, reading, future certification and anything else – this is the deal for you!

To keep up to date of deals like this, you can subscribe to the Microsoft Press Connection Newsletter.

Happy Holidays, and this gift is wrapped and ready for Christmas and Hanukkah!

Every so often I get asked by people for help improving their skills, making them more marketable as well as ways to get access to training and resources.

And more often than not, I lead them in directions with the huge cost of $0.00 associated with it.    Whether you’re looking for Certification, access to Labs, E-Books, or Training information.

I’m a BIG fan of Free!

So, can you afford freE-Learning?

Thanks to our friends at Microsoft, here is another resource available to you!

By visiting this lovely site, it will display all of the available courses being offered by Microsoft Learning for Free!

What relevant topics are available on there at the moment:

1. SQL 2008
2. Application Virtualization
3. Terminal Services in Server 2008
4. Virtual Machine Manager for 2008
5. Hyper-V
6. ASP.NET
7. .NET Framework
8. Windows Security
9. Microsoft Security Guidance I-IV

…And more!

Seriously, there is a motherload of information here, so much training to wrap your teeth into!

If you saw my previous post about the voucher to get the Hyper-V training for free, this training is very complimentary to that and more! (Especially since that voucher seems to be faulty at the moment)

So get out there, get yourself something Free for this season.  It’s your education, do something about it!