Learn at your own speed with Online Training
Get familiar with new technology with Learning Snacks
What’s your favorite Microsoft training resource? We want to know which resources (current or past; online or in-person; special offer or always available) you find most useful for learning about Microsoft technology. Post your responses in the comments, and I’ll compile answers in a later post.
Past posts in this series: Look what we found!, New training and special offers for IT Pros, Free training resources for IT Pros and audience participation, New Training and Special Offers for Developers
Exam 70-669 is now available in Prometric testing centers. This is a Technical Specialist exam designed to assess candidates’ hands-on skills in Windows Server 2008 R2 desktop virtualization.
Candidates for this exam should have more than one and a half years of experience as virtualization administrators working with desktop virtualization technologies such as Windows Virtual PC, MED-V, Windows XP Mode for Windows 7, App-V, Remote Desktop Services, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Windows Server 2008 R2 environments, and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Additionally, candidates have experience with server virtualization products and technologies, including Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Windows PowerShell 2.0, and System Center Configuration Manager.
This exam covers the following topics:
For a more detailed list of the skills measured on this exam, check out the prep guide. To schedule your exam, visit Prometric’s Web site.
We are happy to announce the following Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 eLearning collections are now available:
joining
These courses are available to firms with a MS Dynamics service plan and are located in the Element K eLearning catalog (sign in required). There are more courses and learning snacks in the pipeline for brand new Dynamics GP 2010 so check back!
Tracey
We’re getting ready for the Springboard Roundtable. The panel will be discussing the Last Mile: Pilot and deploy Windows 7.
Don’t miss it, access the VRT live at: http://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard/, follow the VRT on Twitter @MSSpringboard
Behind the scenes video
If you missed our latest Live Meeting for Managers, or if you want to watch again, you can now view the recording.
"Exam Forensics and What Microsoft is Doing to Catch the Cheaters" Join this Live Meeting to hear what Microsoft and other organizations are doing to protect certification from "brain-dump" providers, proxy test-takers, and score-report fraud.
Find the schedule of upcoming events and links to past recordings on the IT Manager Portal
Tomorrow, April 29th, 9:00 am PST, don’t forget to join Mark Russinovich, customer IT pros, and Microsoft experts as they discuss the process of planning, testing, assessing and rolling out Windows 7 in an enterprise organization. Broadcast live on the web at 9am, the open and candid panel discussion will cover key insights, dispel myths and uncover the real story around technical adoption of Windows technologies.
Access the VRT live at:
http://ms.istreamplanet.com/springboard/
Follow the VRT on Twitter @MSSpringboard
Missed a previous Springboard Series Virtual Roundtable? Gain insight, tips, and tricks from Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich, industry experts, and IT professionals from around the world from these recordings: http://technet.microsoft.com/windows/dd421882.aspx
Based on some recent events, I find it necessary to post this as a notification to all those who take certification exams. This applies to certifications across different vendors, not just Microsoft.
During the opening screens of the exam, before you reach the actual question portion, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is presented. Like most exam candidates, myself included, the thought process is to get to the exam content so you can complete the exam, get your score, and get out the door and back to your busy work life. This is a normal and accepted behavior and I’m not advocating a change on that aspect.
What I am posting about is reading, understanding, and adherence to the NDA. If you are not sure what it is or what is contained in it, take the time on at least one exam to read it completely. Essentially, by clicking the Accept button on that screen, you are agreeing to a legally binding document. So, in a nutshell, what are you agreeing to?
In essence, you are agreeing that when you have completed taking the exam, you will NOT discuss with anyone, at anytime, in any forum, in any form whatsoever, what was covered on the exam. You are not permitted to discuss the content of the questions in any form. The only content you are permitted to discuss is what is publicly available in the form of exam preparation guides. The content on the exam is intellectual property and is owned by the exam provider such as Microsoft.
Exam developers like Cisco, CompTIA, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. spend considerable time, effort, and cost to create certification exams and the content that is required to adequately test candidates on the material necessary to achieve the certification. This effort helps to ensure that the certification you acquire when passing the exam(s) provides you with a valid measure of your skill and knowledge for that technology.
By talking openly on what the content of the exam is, you are in essence making it easier for those who come after you to pass the exam without really knowing the content. You also make it easier for the brain dump sites to get a head start on what the exam covers. By not discussing the content of the exam with anyone, you help to ensure the validity and value of the certification you just earned.
Certification providers include in the NDA the fact that if you are caught divulging this information, you can lose your credential and become banned from further certifications. They are within their rights to enforce this although I am not aware of Microsoft doing this in the time I have been here. If you value your certifications and want them to continue to hold value in the industry, you need to partner with your certification organization to help prevent piracy and ensure that those who achieve the certification, actually deserve it.
Comments and questions welcome.
Gerry
Wow, lots of new products now available! Office 2010, Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 and the list goes on, you’ve probably seen the announcements over the last few days.
On a different note, more social and more sharing coming to an Instant Messenger near you, soon! Check this link.
As you know, The Bus will ride again next month. Along the East Coast, on our way to TechEd, we will be talking about Windows 7, Office 2010 and MDOP. AND we are giving away 50 copies of Windows 7 Ultimate for the first 50 Get On the Bus event attendees through the door at EVERY STOP! Don’t miss your chance to win a copy of Microsoft’s newest software offering – register today at www.thebustour.com.
Disclaimers are just part of life, so here goes: *To receive your free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, be one of the first 50 people who are US residents (includes D of C) or Canada 18+ to arrive at a Microsoft Get On the Bus Tour afternoon event. 50 copies of the software title are available. Limit one gift per person. This offer is non-transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. This offer ends on June 4, 2010 while supplies last, and is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient. There is no shipment of your gift – all gifts will be distributed onsite.
If you get the MCP Flash, you should have received a little note about a survey we're doing on test center experience. Please take a look and respond to the survey as we really want to hear about your experiences. I've also included the text from the Flash below.
Take the Survey
--------------------------
We had a phenomenal response rate from our Wallet Card survey in the last MCP News Flash. We read every single verbatim and response (more than 2,000), and we’ll use them to determine next steps toward a solution. We hope to tell you more about those next steps in the May newsletter--so stay tuned.
Please understand that we serve a large audience that’s socially and economically diverse, so there is never one solution that works for everyone. However, when an overwhelming number of individuals indicate a problem with the program, we do listen and we do take action. We believe in direct customer feedback, and try to use it in every proposed program change to help validate our strategic direction. Therefore, your responses are critical to ensure that our program is meeting your needs.
Please help us continue the forward progress towards improving your experience with the Microsoft Certification Program. The following short survey will help us better understand your experience with various test providers to ensure we have the best experience for our community. This survey will take approximately three to seven minutes and is open from April 21 to May 7.
Updated 4/27/10 1:44pm PDT:
We've temporarily removed the Windows Server 2008 roadmaps and will re-publish them in the near future.
Looking for a handy reference guide to some of our popular certifications? Follow the links below for concise, direct learning and certification paths!
System Center > Certification Path (.pdf) System Center > Certification Path (.xps)
It’s snack time! This one’s for the DBAs and Dynamics users out there: check out Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services together with Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 for some yummy, geeky goodness.
Earlier this month, I travelled to Haiti to meet with IT staff from several NGO members of NetHope—and there was consensus among them that a short supply of both IT skills and skilled professionals is keeping their field organizations from being able to operate at full efficiency. My primary goal for this trip was to figure out if Microsoft could help offer flexible blended learning solutions for their network admins and desktop support professionals to help them reach their full potential.
The good news is that we think we can—but we’re probably going to need your help. We’ve got a lot of content that we can offer NetHope, but we may need expertise from some of you to deliver the training and provide advice and guidance in our forums. We’re also exploring the idea of a sponsor-an-intern program, in which we’d raise money together to help prepare Haitian university students for entry-level IT opportunities.
From a NetHope trip briefing:
We know firsthand that the IT sector did not have enough skilled IT professionals when the earthquake hit. With the influx of humanitarian staff, there is an even greater need for skilled IT professionals. Flying in IT talent is really only a “band aid” solution on a bleeding artery. Longer term skills development programs are needed.
As currently conceived, this training program would be conducted over a one year time period and benefit the entire IT sector in Haiti (NGOs, UN, private sector). Two target groups would be addressed:
· IT pros currently employed – make those that are already in the sector more talented in the areas
· Entry level candidates – turn them into proficient IT pros with a clear path towards future development
Over the next several weeks, we’ll be working with NetHope on an assessment strategy so we can figure out an effective and efficient training plan. Once we know what we’re looking at, I’ll let you guys know what opportunities there might be to help.
Putting a training program in place is a complicated endeavor—for one thing, we don’t have any CPLSes or MCTs, or active IT Academy members in Haiti. We are basically starting from scratch. Facilities of any sort are rare because of the widespread destruction. On the positive side, thanks to the work of Inveneo and NetHope, wireless internet connectivity has been restored for the NGOs—it was amazing to witness the network of rooftop dish antennas splitting and relaying bandwidth around the city.
Additional Challenges
Complicating any effort to contribute to Haiti’s redevelopment are a number of factors—and it’s important to understand them in order to truly grasp the urgency:
· Weather: Hurricane season begins June 1st. Right now there are hundreds of thousands of people living in tents, and it’s doubtful that the rubble will be cleared away by the start of hurricane season let alone new buildings constructed where old ones once stood. Relief workers are racing against time, hoping and praying that Haiti is spared a major hurricane this year (as it was last year… but in 2008, Haiti experienced four).
· Economy: Devastated, obviously. What’s not so obvious are the disguised long-term effects: much of Haiti’s economy was driven by a small subset of wealthy people, most of whom have now fled the country—and it’s unclear when or if they’ll return. Taking their place as spenders are the visiting aid workers—but their spending is temporary, and businesses fear the impact when they leave.
· Supplies: Anything construction-related is inflated to the point of unaffordability to most Haitians, ironically due to the competition of so many NGOs for so few available resources. While I was there, the country ran out of gasoline—for a day, it seemed as if we might not have enough to finish our trip, and new gas supplies weren’t expected until April 26th; but money talks and for $100 a gas station attendant managed to find some fuel. Obviously Haitians are not going to be able to afford that. Even water must be purchased now—the water in Haiti is undrinkable, and many no longer have the means to boil it.
· Staging: Most roads are passable if you have a truck or SUV, but few are in good condition, and many offer only the equivalent of one rocky lane, complicating and snarling traffic to the point where it took us an hour or more to get anywhere within the city. No part of the city that we saw was left untouched—which makes it very difficult to find a place to stage rebuilding. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami claimed more lives than the Haitian earthquake, but since the damage was limited to where the waters reached, there was adjacent land for staging, which aided recovery efforts; in contrast, the Haitian earthquake leveled structures throughout the population center of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas—there’s no place to work but from within ground zero.
Thankfully, Haiti does have a few things going for it right now, namely good and growing ICT connectivity, a tremendous influx of dedicated and tireless NGO relief workers, and the determination of those who remain in the country to rebuild.
How You Can Help
I know many of you want to know how you can help—and I’m sure there will be opportunities to do so over the coming months. Right now, our next step is a devising a formal assessment strategy for the NGO staff (although we know the job roles that need to be addressed, we expect to focus on specific topics based on where their IT Pros’ skills gaps are). We’ve invited MeasureUp, our Practice Test Provider partner, to help with that: MeasureUp graciously and immediately offered free licenses to their Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA assessment products once they heard of this project.
Once we’ve identified the most pressing skills shortages, we’ll know more about what the actual training engagement will look like—but we expect we’ll need at least a few instructors along with a community of advisors to support and guide the interns in particular in our community forums.
In the meantime, should you be so moved to contribute personally to NetHope, you can do so here.
There’s an urgent need for more IT skills and more IT Pros and Haiti, and we’re in a unique position to help.
Thanks for your interest and support. More to come, for sure.
Usually you'll receive your results from a beta exam in the mail 6 to 8 weeks after the beta period ends. We've been hearing from some people that they did not receive their beta reports for a loooong time after they took their exams--in some cases more than three months. In response, Prometric will be re-sending all the printed beta reports for the following exams: 659, 662, 663 and 685. (If you took a different beta, and it's been more than two months since the end of the beta period, and you still haven't received your printed beta report, send the details to [email protected] and we'll look into it.) I don't have an ETA yet on when the re-printed beta reports will go out, but I'll put a comment here when I get that information.
We've also received a few reports that after waiting a couple of months for results from a beta, the status in the candidate's transcript is changing from "tested" to "no show." If this has happened to you, please send an e-mail to [email protected] that includes the following information:
We will forward this information to Prometric to investigate and resolve.
Thanks in advance for your patience as we work through these issues.
Sorry it took me longer than I thought to pick a winner for our recent contest—I got sidetracked by my trip to Haiti (report coming shortly), and a related bout of… well, trust me—you don’t want the details but suffice it to say I was laid low for a while.
Anyway—our randomly selected winner is Luis DeBastos (hope I spelled that right). Luis, I’ve reached out to you privately, so as soon as you send me your mailing address, I’ll have your MCP action figure on its way!
The most popular guess was incorrect: Pirates of Silicon Valley (which I’ve never actually seen).
The actual answer: Tron!
As for why Tron makes for a great MCP drinking game—well, if you don’t know, you really should watch it. I promise you, you’ll be unintentionally entertained at every mention of “MCP.”
Hello, developers, and thanks for waiting so patiently! I’ve been posting a lot of information for IT professionals lately, but now I have plenty of links for you as well. This post features special offers and recently released online training, and in my next post I’ll point you to free training opportunities and highlight some of the newest Learning Snacks. All of these opportunities and more can be found in the Microsoft Training Catalog and on the Microsoft Learning website.
Check out new online training!
Below are some of the newest courses and clinics from the Microsoft Training Catalog. Our 25 percent discount on paid courses continues until May 31, 2010, so remember to take advantage of this offer when you make a purchase.
Some special offers for you…
Past posts in this series: Look what we found!, New training and special offers for IT Pros, Free training resources for IT Pros and audience participation
‘Cloud computing is here, it’s been here a while and it’s also going to stick around. It’s going to provide organizations with new solutions, and IT Pro’s with new opportunities to add value to their organizations.’
I read this on Alan’s World of IT today, it’s a great post that explains Cloud Computing and what it could mean to you and me. It’s the first of a series, in the next post Alan will cover the Windows Azure Platform in more detail and how it works.
Have a look here.
Tech∙Ed Europe returns to Berlin this November 8 – 12, for a full week of deep technical education, hands-on-learning and opportunities to connect with Microsoft and Community experts one-on-one. Be among the first to receive event announcements and notification when event registration opens by joining the Tech∙Ed Europe email list.
Event Pricing:
· Full price conference pass = €1,895
· Early discount conference pass (purchase by July 5) = €1,395
Tech∙Ed provides the most comprehensive technical education across Microsoft’s suite of released, or soon to be released, products, solutions and services. Tech∙Ed is for IT professionals and developers who are involved in implementing, deploying or building solutions using Microsoft technologies.
Do you consider yourself an expert with Word 2007 or Excel 2007? Microsoft Learning has an immediate need for subject matter experts (SMEs) on these Microsoft Office 2007 products to complete a simple blueprinting exercise by email. It should only take a few minutes of your time but does need to be completed by Monday. If you’re qualified, interested and have the time in the next few days, please send me an email at [email protected] and let me know which product you’re an expert at and we’ll send you the worksheet.
Going forward, Microsoft Learning is also looking for SMEs on Microsoft Office 2010 products to help develop new Microsoft Business Certification exams. Activities may include determining which tasks should be covered on each exam, rating the frequency and importance of each task (blueprinting), and taking a beta version of the exam. We’ve recently added Office products to our list of products so if you’re interested in participating for the 2010 exams, please create or update your SME profile by filling out the survey on the MSL Subject Matter Experts site. Microsoft Learning may contact you regarding exam development opportunities that match your areas of interest and your experience.
Thanks in advance for your help!
It has been a hectic morning for us... Deep apologies on the access issue on the Learning Rewards website. We planned for the server to be able to handle 1,000 queries per minute, but it seems that it's taking longer as the server validates MCP ID from the database. We are working to add more server capacity to ease the burden. Please check updates on this post.
Also, we know that many of you are disappointed that after receinving your invite, you didn't get an exclusive window to join, and we agree--we'll do that next time.
However, in essence, that's probably what's happening for the most part, since we believe that there is high overlap between the invited audience and born to learn readers. Nevertheless, we'll make sure we separate invite waves next time.
We would like to announce a special offer that benefits both you and your students.
Between now and June 30, 2010, MCT from the United States can request a unique discount code for a TechNet Plus Direct subscription (USD $349) to their students (up to 28% discount) through Learning Rewards program and get rewarded when the discount code is used.
This offer is limited to the first two hundred (200) US MCTs who request the unique discount codes. Each MCT is limited to one discount code (which can be used by multiple people).
To find out the details of this offer, please click here. Login is required to view the information (information only available for US MCTs).
As spots are limited, act today! Sign up for this offer at Learning Rewards.
Stephen Ibaraki continues his interview series with the Career Factor cast by interviewing Kevin Dicken, the Student, for the Canadian Information Processing Society.
Read and listen to the interview here: http://stephenibaraki.com/cips/v0411/kevin_dicken.html
10:42am April 22 Update:
The server is stable now from what we see. You should be able to register, log in and use the site without any issue. (no 404 anymore). If there are hundreds of people hitting "submit" for registration at the exact same second, you may see a longer wait (as it calls the server for validation).
Our deepest apologies for having this issue when you are enthusiastic to participate. We are only 1/3 filled up now, so I think we would be able to accomodate all of you.
PS: If you are an MCP but receive a message "You are not authorized", please email your MCP ID to [email protected].
We have been playing with this idea for a while... as there are many MCPs who are already talking with their friends and colleagues about certifications, answering questions in the community, etc, we want to create a program that allows the passionate MCPs (yes, you!) to earn rewards by encouraging others to earn Microsoft Certifications. And now, we are excited to announce that the MCP Learning Rewards program is open for registration at 8:00am PDT on April 21!
As an MCP, you can request Microsoft Certification exam vouchers (Second Shot vouchers till June 30) and distribute them to your friends, colleagues and contacts. When people redeem your vouchers, you receive points that you can accumulate and redeem for personal rewards, like a free certification exam voucher for your personal use, or a subscription to the E-Reference Library. In addition, you will find a variety of information to help you and your friends plan your career with Microsoft training and certification.
There is no cost to participate in the program, of course. We want to see how things go and what you think of it. So at this time the MCP Rewards program will be restricted to the first 10,000 MCPs who register. So... act fast when it opens for registration!
Here are some tips on how it works:
1. Register on the Learning Rewards program website using your MCP ID - you will see different choices from the drop down list when you click "Register", just select "MCP".
2. You will receive an email with your password - sometimes it may go to your junk folder - look out for that!
3. Explore the site - your Dashboard shows how many points you have, and contains your action items at one place
4. Request and send Second Shot vouchers! - your requested vouchers are stored in the "Voucher Bank"; you can also see instructions on request and send vouchers.
You can email the vouchers, or print and hand them to your friends. The vouchers are in PDF format. There are instruction on the voucher about how to register for the exam.
When a voucher is redeemed, you can see your points updated on your Dashboards (updated weekly).
5. And... customize a Certification Path with your name and email, so your friends know who to ask if they have questions since you are the expert!
It's pretty straightforward process. Just explore the website and play with it - let us know what you think! We have already put some thoughts on how to improve the experience, but if you have any ideas, shoot us an email at [email protected] (on or after April 21).