October, 2010

We're excited to announce availability of ILT course 80240A: Using Microsoft SharePoint Technologies with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010. This three-day course provides students with the knowledge and skills to set up and work with Microsoft SharePoint Technologies for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.

It's ready for you on the MCT Download Center.

Back in July we held a live training event called Windows Phone 7 Jump Start during which we had two lively presenters walk through building killer phone apps and games. We then released it as a series of videos and later followed it up with another live event in September that updated the content and covered even more advanced topics.

Now we're happy to announce that all this great training content is available online. There are 19 sessions/videos total (most are less than an hour long), and we've also posted all the course materials you'll need to follow along. Topics covered include Panorama & Pivots, Bing Maps, XNA, Planning & Optimizing for Performance, Design using Microsoft Blend, and many more. Plus, we recorded an "Ask the Experts" session, which was a live Q&A with lots of Windows Phone 7 Microsoft employees.

See below for a description of each session. As always, feedback is welcome. Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions.

*Update* The first link above points to the 19 videos hosted on Channel 9. Alternatively, you can get all 19 videos by subscribing via Zune Marketplace or iTunes, or by watching them all on Zune.net.

Updated Topics

1.      Updated! Intro to the Windows Phone – 30 minutes, 17 seconds

This introductory session covers the Windows Phone 7 Overview, the Developer and the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, options, how to become a developer, setting up your system, and an intro to creating Windows Phone applications. 

2.       Building a Silverlight  Application, Part 1 – 50 minutes, 4 seconds
This session is where the coding begins. Andy and Rob walk through building your first application with Microsoft Silverlight.  It includes responding to event controls, Windows themes and styles, and customizing text input.

3.       Building a Silverlight Application, Part 2 – 1 hour, 57 seconds
This video extends session two and begins with an introduction into Databinding with a dive into the Listbinding template. Rob and Andy follow by covering Page Navigation, handling the hardware Back key, and finally creating orientation-aware pages.

4.        Updated! The Application Bar – 17 minutes
This session covers how to instantiate the application bar, the Application Chrome, System Tray and the Application Bar in XAML.  It concludes with a demo using Expression Blend for enabling the application bar and including application icons and menu items. 

5.       Building XNA Games for the Windows Phone 7 Platform, Part 1 – 45 minutes, 20 seconds
This session goes deeper into XNA game programming for the phone.  Topics include display orientation, monitoring performance, using the Accelerometer, using touchscreen, advanced XNA sound playback, and controlling media playback with XNA.

6.        Building XNA Games for the Windows Phone 7 Platform, Part 2 – 50 minutes, 39 seconds
This session on building XNA for games covers managing voices and XNA sounds in Silverlight.  Rob and Andy then move on to Touch Input in XNA by covering the topics of getting inputs, iterating through inputs, and creating flicks.

7.       Updated! Isolated Storage – 23 minutes, 13 seconds
This session covers how to get your phone application to persist data so that you can avoid inappropriate tombstoning.  It covers topics such as loading and storing data, application settings and saving data in settings, serialization and threads all supported again with demos and scripts.

8.       Updated! The Application Lifecycle - 50 minutes, 50 seconds
This important session covers what you as a developer need to include in your application development process in order to get your application through the marketplace certification process.  It covers how applications work in the Windows Phone environment, the application lifecycle, lifecycle events and using Local Storage state object.  The goal is to help developers ensure that users have a good experience with the application.

9.       Updated! Launchers and Choosers – 33 minutes, 31 seconds
This sessions goes through the Windows Phone execution model in terms of Launchers and Choosers.  Learn how to effectively managing tombstoning with Launchers and Choosers.  We cover types of Launchers and Choosers as well as programming them.

10.   Updated! Push Notifications – 36 minutes, 52 seconds
This session covers server-initiated communications, enabling background scenarios, preserving battery life and the user experience, as well as learning how to prevent polling for updates.  Beginning with Start Tiles 101, you’ll work through types of notification, notification data flow, cloud service notifications, response messages and more. 

11.   Marketing Your Windows Phone Application – 53 minutes, 13 seconds
This session targets developers interested in marketing their games and applications.  Rob and Andy cover the Windows Phone 7 marketplace, registering as a developer, how you get paid for your applications, packaging your applications for the market and publishing them to the marketplace.  They finish up with how to use the Windows Phone for development.

12.   Working with Media – 53 minutes, 13 seconds

This session covers using media in your Windows Phone 7 applications and games.  Topics include media in XNA overview, displaying pictures, and playing music.

All New! Advanced Topics Sessions – ~ 6 1/2 Additional Training Hours!

These 7 new sessions are a more advanced look at Windows Phone 7 development.  It is assumed that developers already have some experience working on the Windows Phone.  New phone developers will want to view the previous 12 sessions prior to jumping into these new topics.

13.   Panorama and Pivots – 63 minutes, 28 seconds
This is the first of the new advanced Windows Phone 7 developer topics.  In this session, Andy and Rob will go through an overview of both the Pivot and Panorama controls using more real world examples, talk about Pivots and Panorama in Metro design, share when to use them and some cautions. 

14.   XNA Deep Dive, Part 1 – 32 minutes, 5 seconds
In this first session we’ll cover making a complete XNA game for the phone in terms of XNA specific to Windows Phone development.  It will not cover XNA programming.  We’ll look at XNA and the screen display, games and the Windows Phone operating system and launching other applications.

15.   XNA Deep Dive, Part 2 – 55 minutes, 46 seconds
This session picks up with the StartupMode property.  It covers the importance of event logging, the ‘gotchas’ of Tombstoning in XNA, persisting game data and storage, the Back button and the program genre.

16.   Location and Bing Maps – 82 minutes and 6 seconds
This is the longest of the 18 sessions but packed full of great information and code on Location Services and the Bing Map Control.  Rob and Andy start with a Location Services overview followed by GPS vs. WiFi, vs. Triangulation.  The final section provides coverage on the new Bing Map Control.

17.   Optimizing for Performance – 44 minutes, 46 seconds
In this session, Rob and Andy look at specific requirements for application performance.   They cover concepts that enable better performance starting with the concepts of the Windows Phone 7 architecture, application start up, understanding how Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 renders, and steps to consider when planning your application (e.g., optimizing Silverlight to utilize GPU).

18.   Designing Applications for Windows Phone 7 Using Expression Blend and Metro – 49 minutes, 43 seconds
In this session, Sr. Product Manager for Expression Blend, John Harris and Sr. Design Program Manager of the Metro language, walk you through the changes to Expression Blend and the new exciting Metro style for Windows Phone 7. 

19.   Ask the Experts podcast (Audio Only) – 40 minutes, 17 seconds
This audio only session is a must for everyone.  Yochay Kiriaty, Sr. Technical Evangelist for Windows Phone facilitates this panel of experts in responding to questions raised during the Live training.  The Expert panel includes:  Yochay Kiriaty, Peter Torr (Principle Program Manager, WPC) , Andy Wigley (MS Press Author and MVP), Rob S. Miles (MS Press Author and MVP), Jeff Wilcox (Sr. Software Design Engineer, Client Platform), Larry Lieberman (Sr. Product Manager, MCB Dev Programs), Randy Ramig (Sr. Software Design Engineer, WPC), Rohan Thakkar (Program Manager, Client Platform), Mike Harsh (Principle Program Manager, Client Platform), Anil Dhawan (Program Manager, WPC), Abolade Gbadegesin (Partner Software Design Engineer, WPC)  and Jon Harris (Sr. Product Manager,  Expression Blend)

Now available for your viewing pleasure:  Colin Lyth explains the Microsoft Certification family for developer technologies, shares upcoming plans for developer training and talks about the growth in developer certification.

Watch Now

Visit the IT Manager portal to view the upcoming schedule, download the slide presentations, and to view other Live Meetings for Managers on demand.

This week, the Certification team will host three events during PDC hours to give developers the opportunity to see what’s new in certification at Microsoft and help shape our program. All events will take place on Thursday, October 28, in Building 40, Classroom 3 on Microsoft Main Campus in Redmond. If you’ve already signed up to a take the new beta exams for Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications (Exam 70-583) or Developing Microsoft Silverlight 4 Applications (Exam 70-506) at the Certification Test Center at PDC, stop by and say hello!

If you’re interested in attending any of the events, please RSVP by emailing me ([email protected]) with “Certification Events” in the subject line. Note: The Innovative Item Type event is limited to 10 participants. An NDA is required of all participants in the Innovative Item Type and Certification Program Enhancements events.

Can’t make it? We’ll post a summary on the Born to Learn website following the events.

To arrange transportation between Building 40 and Building 33 (Conference Center): Inform the receptionist at Building 33 that you would like a "red route" shuttle to Building 40. Wait time for the shuttle is about 5 minutes. When you are ready to leave Building 40, inform the receptionist that you'd like a shuttle back to Building 33.

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Innovative Item Types: Conditional Questioning

Join Microsoft Certification product planner Gerry O’Brien in a group exercise that explores the possibility of creating exam items based on different approaches to a single scenario. We’ll use content from Designing and Developing Web Applications Using .NET Framework 4 (Exam 70-519) as our starting point.

Note: This event is limited to 10 participants with skills in .NET Framework 4 web application design and development; an NDA is required of all participants. Participants will be selected on a first come, first served basis by email response. To participate, please email [email protected] with “Certification Events” in the subject line.

When: 12:30-2:00 PM
Where: Building 40, Classroom 3, Microsoft Main Campus (Redmond)

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Influencing Developer Certification Exams: Join the community of item contributors

Learn about Microsoft’s new community authoring initiative for developer exams and find out how you can participate. Don Tanedo, a Content Development Manager with Microsoft Certification, will discuss the role of subject matter experts in the development of certification exams, methods of assessing skills in Microsoft certification exams, and the value of communities in shaping the direction and focus of developer certifications.

When: 3:00-4:00 PM
Where: Building 40, Classroom 3, Microsoft Main Campus (Redmond)

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Certification Program Enhancements: What Do You Think?

Help shape the future of the developer certification program! We'd like to get your feedback on a couple of ideas. Stop by building 40 between 10:00 and 4:00 PM to share your opinions. Event format will be an informal discussion with Krista Wall, Certification Product Manager. Note: An NDA is required of all participants.

When: Drop in between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM
Where: Building 40, Classroom 3, Microsoft Main Campus (Redmond)

Exam 70-523 is now finally available in Prometric testing centers! This exam is intended for candidates who hold an MCPD Web Application Developer 3.5 certification to upgrade to MCPD Web Applications Developer 4.

When you pass Exam 70-523: Upgrade: Transition your MCPD .NET Framework 3.5 Web Developer Skills to MCPD .NET Framework 4 Web Developer, you complete the requirements for the following certification(s):

MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Service Communication Applications
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Data Access
MCPD: Web Developer 4

To schedule your exam, visit Prometric’s Web site.

In January 1993, I was 24 years old, ten months into my marriage and four months away from fatherhood. My history degree collected dust while I spent my days as an administrative assistant, typing and filing for a staff of architects and engineers only a few years older than me; my wife was still in college during the day and waited tables by night. Beth and I lived in a one-bedroom apartment in northeast Philadelphia, around the corner from her parents, and their standing dinner and laundry invitations made it possible for us to just get by. At least when it was just the two of us.

With a baby on the way, I knew I had to find a way to earn a decent living so we could stand on our own, but three years post-college I still didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. And I was about to become as grown-up as one gets.

I surveyed my skills: I was a pretty good writer and had dreams of becoming a journalist or author one day, but neither path was going to provide me the financial support I needed right then. I was good with computers, too, having spent the better part of my adolescence in front of a VIC-20, Commodore 64, Apple II, and Macintosh, but my coding skills stopped with Apple Pascal and 6502 assembly language, neither of which were currently in demand. All that time in front of computers turned me into a pretty darn fast typist, though, so inevitably I kept coming back to secretarial and clerical jobs where my ability to quickly pick up new versions of WordPerfect made me a pretty easy (if overqualified) hire.

The company I worked for upgraded their software regularly but never trained their staff on the new versions, so I occasionally held lunchtime training sessions to teach my secretarial colleagues how to improve their productivity, and after one of those sessions a friend suggested that I look into doing that for a living. Until that moment, I don’t think I even knew there was such a thing as technical training—I thought that teaching computers required advanced college degrees and a post at a university. But it turned out that a company just a few blocks away from where I worked was delivering software application training and was looking for part-time instructors, and after an interview and audition, I was hired to deliver some evening classes on WordPerfect and Paradox.

The extra money made a big difference, and when a full-time position opened up in March, I made the move. A few weeks into my new job, my manager informed me that our company had just signed an agreement with Microsoft to become one of their first official training partners and that she needed me to fly to Seattle to take a class and get certified so that I could teach the Microsoft courses.

I wasn’t crazy about the idea for a number of reasons: 1) my daughter was due a few weeks before the class was scheduled, and I didn’t like the idea of being so far away from my new family; 2) the class was about something called Windows NT, and I did not like Windows (I was strictly a DOS snob, GUIs were for wimps who couldn’t deal with command lines); and 3) the prospect of having to pass certification exams was pretty scary: what if I failed and my company had to fire me? But I went, despite my qualms, and after attending the class and passing my first two MCP exams, I joined the MCP and MCT communities.

At the time, the trainers at that class pretty much were the MCT community—we were only the second group of trainers Microsoft had certified, and the Excel spreadsheet in the classroom identified me as MCT #17 (today we have more than 18,000). MCPs, by contrast, had been around for a while—more than 5,000 preceded me---but at the time I couldn’t have predicted what both certifications would come to mean to me.

All I knew for the next year or two was that my certifications made me very important at my company, and as demand for Windows NT accelerated, I found myself teaching week in and week out, spending my evenings and weekends studying updates and trying to figure out how to get answers for questions not answered in the courseware. At some point, I stumbled upon a Microsoft Certification forum on CompuServe, which at the time was the dominant on-line network, and I discovered a small but active community of people that shared my interests and my challenges. Now able to bounce ideas and questions off of my peers, my training delivery grew noticeably stronger and more confident.

I discovered that I loved training (and grudgingly respected Windows)—even though those early classes typically consisted of grizzled UNIX sysadmins and Novell engineers who more often than not resented their employers’ decisions to migrate to (actually at the time, it was more like interoperate with) Windows NT. I was much younger than most of my students, and my job satisfaction largely derived from reluctant concessions from students that Windows NT was a pretty good network OS.

But gradually, a new dynamic introduced itself in my classrooms: I still had plenty of private corporate classes, but more and more of my classes consisted of career changers as word began to spread that the IT industry was growing faster than the IT community could keep up with. Every week, a new class brought new success stories, and helping people find their on-ramp to an exciting career and a better life became a drug that I’ve never lost my addiction to.

I became one of those stories myself, capitalizing on my early right-place/right-time luck by investing in myself at every opportunity: I deepened and diversified my MCP certifications, attended every class I could afford, gave back to the MCT community (by this point on the original MSN network), and took gigs writing and reviewing Microsoft courseware.

By this time, I was making pretty good money as a consultant and trainer, and I was able to move my family to the Pacific Northwest, an area of the country we’d fallen in love with when we first visited on our honeymoon. I was 27, enjoying a standard of living I’d never thought possible growing up in inner-city Philadelphia, and was absolutely in love with my job. It was pure joy and profoundly rewarding in every way—and I realized for the first time that my calling in life was to help people realize their potential.

And that’s what I did, week after week, balancing my classroom engagements with my writing assignments for Microsoft. At least once a year I’d get a job offer from Microsoft, but I could never envision giving up show business—I couldn’t imagine Microsoft offering anything as exhilarating as the high I got from switching on the light bulbs above my students heads. But in 1997, my soon-to-be manager figured out the words to reel me in, and I remember them better than any other words ever spoken to me by anyone. When I politely declined Microsoft’s third job offer, he said “You’ll never help as many people spending your entire career in the classroom as you’ll be able to in one year at Microsoft. When you help our trainers, you’re helping their students, too.”

I became a Microsoft employee the very next week.

In the 13+ years since, I’ve held nine different jobs, none of which ever again approached the sheer fun factor of being a trainer or provided the visceral affirmation of students discovering their potential, but I learned to replace those things with the satisfaction that I was helping entire communities of trainers, IT Pros, and developers have a much greater collective impact than I was ever able to do on my own. In those 13+ years, I never left the Microsoft Learning group, even though I know my career trajectory would have probably been much steeper if I had.

I promised myself that I would stay as long as it took to pay forward the debt of gratitude I still feel today for the opportunity that’s been afforded to me.

I promised I would stay as long as IT remained an on-ramp for anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding career, and as long as I could keeping finding new ways to help people take that on-ramp.

That’s why I’m here, and I’m not alone—I know more people at Microsoft with stories like mine than I can count. I’m not here to change the world (I leave that to my more technical colleagues)—I’m here to enable you to change your world.

That’s why I’m so excited about our upcoming Microsoft Certified Career Conference, and why I’m so proud to work for a company that cares as much about your long-term career success as it does about mine.

Looking back to that mid-nineties recession, I can’t imagine what would have happened to that scared, directionless, newlywed father-to-be if he hadn’t pursued that first Microsoft certification. But every morning, I wake up thinking about him, and every morning as I kiss my girls goodbye, I thank him for taking that first step.

That’s my story.

What’s yours?

Do you use Word or Excel 2007 intensively? Already MOS certified in Word or Excel 2007? We need your help. The Word 2007 Expert and Excel 2007 Expert betas are now open and need participants.

Why Office 2007 and not 2010, you ask? Based on clear customer feedback, we've decided to update MOS 2007 to include an Expert level exam for the two core Office applications, Word and Excel. This will bring MOS 2007 in line with the same offerings for MOS 2003 and MOS 2010.

The beta is open starting today (October 22^nd) through November 19th or until the betas have enough entries. Below are some of the participating test centers, and new test centers sign up daily. Interested but don't see a nearby test center? Please email Certiport's beta coordinator, Stacey Tilley, at [email protected].

*Please note the beta exam is in English only.

This is the first in a series of blog posts authored by members of the IT Manager Advisory Council. We've asked them to share their insights and opinions on topics they are passionate about related to hiring & managing employees, and maintaining skills on their teams.  If you agree or disagree and have a different perspective - chime in and contribute your views.

 My name is Suzanne George and I'm the Senior SharePoint Engineer at Silicon Labs in Austin, Texas. In our company, we pride ourselves on "hiring the best" – it's one of 5 mottos written on the wall of each conference room, so no one forgets that they are respected and valued. Here are some of the things that we try to do to ensure we have staff that not only has pride in their own individual work and contributions, but also in the company.

·         Keep the sand from shifting. Many managers feel that managing software engineers is like herding cats. The best way to manage engineers (not cats) is to keep them focused.  By giving people time to finish Project A before Project B, they're more likely to feel that they can make an impact – and feel successful.  

·         Know your staff. Knowing the likes and dislikes of your staff can help keep their morale high. One staff person may prefer projects where he or she can perform project management roles and attend meetings; while another would prefer there were never any meetings. If half of your team does their best work around 2 AM, try to avoid 8 AM staff meetings. It will greatly improve their attitudes and abilities to respond in a coherent manner. 

·         Encourage staff bonding.  This is a great way to ensure your team is functioning as a "team" and will band together when it is required. Our 2 PM "walk around" is one of the tactics I use and I'd like to hear what's worked in your shop.   

·         Keep the projects interesting. One of the best ways to retain staff is to ensure individual contributors feel challenged, even between exciting large-scale migration or technology upgrade projects.  Projects such as hardware upgrades, performance improvements, and consolidation to a Virtual Infrastructure are complex and thought provoking, and can keep IT workers enthused.

·         Get them to take time off. Sometimes engineers are so intense about their work, that they resist taking time off; but they need to, to keep fresh and avoid burnout. Get them to take their vacations. Give them time, at home or in the office, to do a webinar on a topic that interests them.  The next day, they can send around an email to the team: "top 5 things I learned from the Windows Server webinar."  I found that attending a webinar at home with my refrigerator can be motivating! Watching a webinar at home also gives people time to reflect on what they've learned and how they can apply it.  

·         Use training as a perk. In my office, we offer training or certification at least once a year. A typical manager will advise “if we are able to successfully complete projects A, B, and C, you're going to get to go to that SharePoint conference." However, if the engineer offers suggestions on what they would like to attend, a manager can say, "Here's the price range. You pick." What's really important is that they get to go to something – even if it's the free Microsoft SharePoint Saturday. Encouraging staff to participate in training helps them feel they are not ‘stuck in a dead-end job’.

·         Organize your group to keep going. Preparing for staff turnover or the sudden absence of an employee is like writing good code: make sure you don't have a single point of failure. By promoting cross training, department standards (both coding and operational), and team unity, you can both provide staff development and be better prepared for an unexpected crisis.  

Sometimes turnover is unavoidable, but as you know, it's almost always disruptive and costly. Losing an employee or an unexpected absence can punch a pretty big hole in a schedule.

I'd like to hear from you about some of the things you've tried (or thought about trying, or wondered if anyone else had tried) to keep employees happy and motivated on the job.

          Microsoft has developed a special series of webcasts to help managers of IT professionals and developers get the most out of training and certification opportunities and optimize team performance.

Developer Certifications (and Why Your Team Needs Them)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 8:00 A.M. Pacific Time
What time is this in my region?

Did you know that Microsoft certifications for developers are growing faster than certifications for IT professionals? Join this meeting to get the inside scoop on new training for developers, learn about plans for Windows Azure, and find out why Microsoft certification is important for your developer team. Register now.

About the Presenter:
Colin Lyth is a portfolio manager at Microsoft Learning Business Application Platform and Tools products. He focuses on training and certifications for developers including Visual Studio, SQL Server, Windows Azure, BizTalk, Silverlight, Windows Embedded, and Windows Phone. He has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer since 1998 and has a passion for helping IT Projects succeed because of skills transfer especially in the classroom and skills validation to ensure employee confidence and success. He also gets lots of satisfaction working with people to embark on their IT Career and sits on the UW Outreach Board for SQL Programs.

Upcoming Meetings:

What Can SharePoint Do For You? Improve Productivity, Efficiency, Agility
Wednesday, December 15, 2010, 8:00 A.M. Pacific Time
 

Visit the IT Manager Portal to see the full schedule of Live Meetings for Managers or to view a previous meeting on demand.

Global Knowedge and TechRepublic are inviting you to participate in their 2011 IT Skills & Salary Survey. What skills are in demand? How do certifications impact salary? How do the salaries of IT pros compare to national averages? Is the economy finally starting to turn the corner? Whatever your answers, they want to hear from you !

For the fourth year in a row, TechRepublic and Global Knowledge are conducting one of the industry's most extensive surveys of IT professionals to answer these questions and more. This is your chance to be part of important research into what IT pros earn, what training and certifications matter most, and other critical issues facing IT workers today. The survey will take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete.

Submit your survey response by November 19, 2010 and you will be entered into their random drawing for one of six American Express^® gift cards. Two $500 cards and four $250 cards will be awarded. All participants will also receive a complimentary copy of the final report when it is published in March.

Click this link to begin: http://cbs.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eJ5RYAPyLzb547q&user=6

Exam 70-521 is now finally available in Prometric testing centers. This exam is designed for candidates who current hold an MCPD certification as a Windows Developer on .NET 3.5 to upgrade to the MCPD Windows Applications Developer 4.

When you pass Exam 70-521: Upgrade: Transition your MCPD .NET Framework 3.5 Windows Developer Skills to MCPD .NET 4 Windows Applications Developer, you complete the requirements for the following certification(s):

• MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Windows Applications
• MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Service Communication Applications
• MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Data Access
• MCPD: Windows Developer 4To schedule your exam, visit Prometric’s Web site.

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Register for Beta Exam 71-506, TS: Silverlight 4, Development

You are invited to take beta exam 71-506, TS: Silverlight 4, Development.

If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

Exam 71-506, TS: Silverlight, Development counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

MCTS: Silverlight 4 Development

Availability

Registration begins: October 11, 2010

Beta exam period runs: October 14, 2010– November 5, 2010

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions).  All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: SL410
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.
Find exam preparation information: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-506&locale=en-us

Frequently Asked Questions

For Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) help and information, you may log in to the MCP Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/or contact your Regional Service Center: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/support/worldsites.asp.

Register for Beta Exam 71-583, Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications

You are invited to take beta exam 71-583, Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications.

If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.
By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

Exam 71-583, Pro: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

MCPD: Windows Azure Developer 4

Availability

Registration begins: October 11, 2010

Beta exam period runs: October 28, 2010– November 17, 2010

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: AZPRO
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.
Find exam preparation information: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-583&locale=en-us

Frequently Asked Questions

For Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) help and information, you may log in to the MCP Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/or contact your Regional Service Center: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/support/worldsites.asp.

• Are you looking for a new career?
• Have you been looking for a job without much success?
• Are you a graduating technology student who is looking for a job?
• Have you been considering the Microsoft Certified Masters program?
• Are you looking to develop for Azure and Windows Phone 7?

If you fit one of these situations, then we are looking for you to participate in Career Factor, an online reality show starting in January.  Microsoft will be taking 9 dynamic individuals and providing them with training, certification, and other learning resources as they attempt to meet a career related goal.  Their efforts will be shown to Microsoft community through social media and digital media. The show will run until the May, leading up to TechEd North America.  If selected, you will have access to all of Microsoft’s resources as we help you achieve your goals and be in the spotlight in one of our more visible projects this year. 

For more information of the campaign and application process, please see http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/cf/default.aspx

We officially announced Windows Phone 7 today, I am sure you will have seen the announcements. So what would your phone look like? I found this really cool tool just now that gives you a preview. If you're on Facebook you can now create your own personalized demo and... No, I'm not going to tell you, you will have to test it yourself to see what that looks like. Enjoy

I've blogged about OneNote Trainer Packs (OTPs) before, and one of the questions that comes up frequently is: Will they be available for new courses? The answer is yes! Today we have released eight new OneNote Trainer Packs, which brings our total to 40 (see below for the list). Our current goal is to make them available within four weeks of the course itself being made available. But as we optimize and automate that process, we hope to close that release window significantly.

For those unaware, OTPs are the OneNote versions of Microsoft Official Courses (MOC) which are made available only to Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs). They include the following content for each course on each page (and in this order):

1) Slides 
2) Instructor Notes 
3) Book Content 
4) Companion CD Content

Also included for each module are the Lab Answer Keys (LAKs). OTPs require OneNote to run, which is available as a free download for all MCTs (as part of the MCT program) via the included TechNet Plus subscription. All OTPs are located on the MCT Download Center, just search by course number for the course you're interested in and open the digital MOC folder to find the OTP.

Last but not least, we've also uploaded these OTPs to SkyDrive for MCTs as part of something we've called the "OTP Cloud" pilot. This allows the OTPS to be edited in the browser as well as synced across multiple computers/browsers in real time with changes tracked/displayed automatically while also available offline. This enables MCTs the ability to easily share and sync their notes, tips, updates, etc. with each other for each course.

Here's how it works: If you are an MCT and interested, just email [email protected] from a LiveID account (e.g., Hotmail account) to get access to all 40 "community" OTPs (with the option to open them in your browser or have them sync to your desktop). Please also provide your MCT ID in your email. Once you are granted access to the folder, check out the OneNote notebook called "START HERE" for more details and quick tips. As always, feedback/questions/comments are all welcome.

If you're unfamiliar with OneNote in general, check out this video for a quick introduction.

OneNote Trainer Packs Currently Available (New Releases in Bold)

Course Number and Name

• 2262 Supporting Users Running Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System
• 2310 Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• 2778 Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL
• 6214 Effective Team Development using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System
• 6215 Implementing and Administering Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server
• 6231 Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
• 6232 Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
• 6234 Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services
• 6235 Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
• 6236 Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
• 6292 Installing and Configuring Windows 7 Client
• 6294 Planning and Managing Windows 7 Desktop Deployments and Environments
• 6367 Introduction to Object Oriented Programming using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• 6368 Programming with the Microsoft .NET Framework using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• 6416 Updating your Network Infrastructure and Active Directory Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008
• 6418 Deploying Windows Server 2008
• 6419 Configuring, Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers
• 6420 Fundamentals of Windows Server 2008 Network and Applications Infrastructure
• 6421 Configuring and Troubleshooting a Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
• 6424 Fundamentals of Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
• 6425 Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
• 6426 Configuring and Troubleshooting Identity and Access Solutions with Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
• 6427 Configuring and Troubleshooting Internet Information Services in Windows Server 2008
• 6430 Planning and Administering Windows Server 2008 Servers
• 6434 Automating Windows Server 2008 Administration with Windows PowerShell
• 6445 Implementing and Administering Windows Small Business Server 2008
• 6446 Implementing and Administering Windows Essential Business Server 2008
• 6451 Planning, Deploying and Managing Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2
• 6460 Visual Studio 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation
• 6461 Visual Studio 2008: Windows Communication Foundation
• 6462 Visual Studio 2008: Windows Workflow Foundation
• 6463 Visual Studio 2008: ASP.NET 3.5
• 6464 Visual Studio 2008: ADO.NET 3.5
• 10135 Configuring, Managing and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
• 10159 Updating Your Windows Server 2008 Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008 R2
• 10175 Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development
• 10215 Implementing and Managing Microsoft Server Virtualization
• 10263 Developing Windows Communication Foundation Solutions with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
• 10265 Developing Data Access Solutions with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
• 10267 Introduction to Web Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 

BONUS: Two More Coming Out Next Week

Coming Soon -> 10233 Designing and Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Coming Soon -> 10266 Programming in C# with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

If you’re preparing to take an exam on a technology that has recently been updated through a service pack or revision (e.g., Windows Server 2008 R2 or the upcoming Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack), you may be wondering if the new features and functionality will be covered by the exam. Well, the short answer is ‘yes’ if that new functionality is related to the exam’s content domain (provided in the prep guide). After all, the purpose of an exam is to certify that candidates possess real world and relevant skills related to a specific technology; if those skills are tied to new functionality, it is reasonable to expect that candidates can perform those tasks using the most recent release of a product. In other words, odds are good that if new functionality is added through a service pack or revision, and it relates directly to the skills being assessed on the exam, you will be asked questions about that functionality when that release is available. This process ensures the validity and relevance of your certification.

Of course, the long answer is more complicated than that. Here are the answers to some common questions that we’ve been getting around this topic lately.

How does Microsoft incorporate service packs and revisions into exam content?

When a product update is released that changes functionality, we review the changes against the objective domain and items in the pool, and determine if any content areas and/or items have become technically inaccurate because of the changes. If items become technically inaccurate, they are removed from the exam. If the change adds functionality that maps to an existing objective, then that functionality is fair game for any new items written for the exam. During this review process, we ask external subject matter experts to indicate if the functionality introduced as part of the update significantly changes the content domain or meaning of the certification; if these changes have a significant impact, we create a new certification rather than incorporating those changes into the current version of the exam. This ensures that everyone who holds the credential have demonstrated competency in the same content area. 

Will training kits be revised when the exam content is updated?

Training kits may or may not get revised, depending on the scope of changes, and these updates may or may not align to the timing of when the updates are incorporated into the exam. Remember that Microsoft exams are not intended as post-tests of any preparation or training product created by Microsoft or any other third party provider. Our certifications are designed to measure experience-based skills without bias in regard to the manner in which candidates obtain these skills.

How long does it take to incorporate any required updates into exam content?

We strive to incorporate technology revisions and service packs into our exam content as soon as we possibly can after their release to ensure that the content covers the available functionality in the technology. While we understand that this may create challenges when preparing for an exam, if a revision or service pack is available currently or will be around the same time that you plan to take the exam, I strongly recommend you take some time to study the differences between the previous and current version of the product before sitting the exam. Worst case scenario is that you know more about the functionality than was needed to pass the exam. How can too much knowledge be bad? Wouldn’t this knowledge strengthen your skill set and make you more marketable and valued within your organization? 

What else should you know?

I’ll leave you with two other pieces of information and bits of wisdom.

1) We update the prep guide around the same time that updates are made to the exam content. So, it’s always a good idea to double check the prep guide as your testing date approaches if a service pack or revision have recently been released.

2) For items where the answer would be different depending on the service pack or revision, we specify the service pack/revision in the question. If we don’t specify a revision or service pack, then the correct answer is based on the version of the technology referred to in the title of the exam.

What else do you want to know?

Same rules apply as always. You may ask some questions that I cannot answer, but I’ll answer those that I can. If you have questions about exam time, I will address them in an upcoming blog.

This is the October preview list of courses releasing this month.  Please note:

1. Microsoft Official Courses (MOC) are instructor-led training courses offered by our Certified Partners.  Not all classes will be offered by all partners.  Find a training center through Class Locator and see if they will be offering the course you need.

2. Community Courses (CC) are instructor-led training courses offered by our Certified Partners wherein the content is authored by our learning community.

3. General Availability for MOC and CC is dependent on our Certified Partners, but the earliest is Ship Date + 7 days.

4. Products with no link currently don’t have a URL – search for the course in the training catalog

5. Release dates are always in flux so in the unlikely case that a product is delayed, we will try to let you know - post a comment if you can't find something

Microsoft Office 2007 & 2010

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007& 2010

Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 & 2010

Windows Server 2003 & 2008

Windows Essential Business Server

Windows 7

You may have already heard that that Windows Live Essentials 2011 for Windows 7 and Windows Vista is now available for download! I'm having a great time with it. Photo Gallery know recognizes my family and friends and I can search for photos faster than ever before. I can photo fuse; i.e. create a flawless photo by combining a number of photographs and selecting my favorite shot of everyone in those pictures. It's fun to create movies or email/blog posts from photos you took this weekend, just select a few, add text and the software does the rest of the work for you.

Pictures speak more than a thousand words, this is an exciting new release and I hope you will have as much fun with it as I am having!

We’ll be opening registration for the following beta exam soon:

• 70-583    PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications

As with every beta exam, seats are limited. We’ll be using our MSL SME database to recruit for the first round of beta participants. For your best chance of participating, create a SME profile by filling out the survey on the MSL SME site on Microsoft Connect. (See this post for more information.) If you have already created your SME profile, make sure that you update it to reflect your interest in taking a beta exam and your experience with Windows Azure.

A few days before registration opens, we’ll send a notification to qualified SMEs through Connect. The notification will include the beta code. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail [email protected].

Exam 70-681 is now available in Prometric testing centers. This is a Technical Specialist exam, designed to assess a candidate's ability to deploy and upgrade to Windows 7 and Office 2010 images. 
 
Candidates for this exam are IT professionals who deploy and maintain Windows 7 desktops and Office 2010. Candidates have a minimum of one year of experience managing Windows desktop deployments

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.

If you took the beta exam, it might be another week or so before you start seeing your results show up on your transcript. Results appear slightly earlier in your Prometric profile, so check there first. If you don't see your results in your transcript by October 11th, ping us at [email protected] and we'll look into it. If you've already received your results, let us know in the comments so other readers know they are starting to show up.

Developer Certifications (and Why Your Team Needs Them)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 8:00 A.M. Pacific Time
What time is this in my region? (Timeanddate.com) 

About the Presenter:
Colin Lyth is a portfolio manager at Microsoft Learning Business Application Platform and Tools products. He focuses on training and certifications for developers including Visual Studio, SQL Server, Windows Azure, BizTalk, Silverlight, Windows Embedded, and Windows Phone. He has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer since 1998 and has a passion for helping IT Projects succeed because of skills transfer especially in the classroom and skills validation to ensure employee confidence and success. He also gets lots of satisfaction working with people to embark on their IT Career and sits on the UW Outreach Board for SQL Programs.

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