[modi123_1]

http://www.microsoft...m/knowitproveit

Definitely something to keep an eye on, and try out! (Free training with some structure?!)

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Know it. Prove it.
28 days to rock your skills.

The Know it. Prove it. challenge is a month-long MVA learning binge to accelerate your skills on the tech topic of your choice. Join the community, commit to the challenge, share your progress, and make February the month you perfect your tech chops.

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Which track will you rock?

No matter who you are — an IT pro, a developer or a student — there’s a topic that you know you need to skill up on. Once you accept the gig, Know It. Prove It. offer you eight MVA learning challenges to choose from, each with 28 days worth of learning.

Select an MVA learning challenge for more information.

I am thinking these three sound great. I may roll the GameDev one to brush up on my Unity!

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Game Development
Take this challenge to learn Windows game development techniques using tools such as Construct2, GameMaker, and Unity to develop 2D and 3D games.

Mobile Development
Take this challenge to learn mobile app development using C# and XAML and how to take you app cross-platform with Xamarin.

Cloud Development
Take this challenge to get skilled on developing applications, web sites, and services to host in the cloud using Microsoft Azure.

Other options:

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Web Development
Take this challenge to learn the most current tools and techniques to build responsive, reliable web applications for yourself, your business, or your clients.

Hybrid Cloud
Take the challenge to extend your datacenter to the cloud by combining on-premises and public cloud workloads to maximize efficiency, provide simpler management, and increase flexibility.

Implement Identity & Access Management
Take the challenge to effectively implement identity and access management solutions across diverse devices and hybrid environments that require a strong foundation of skills from enabling single sign-on to extending your domain with Azure AD.

Office 365
Take this challenge to learn how to get the most out of Office 365 services, security, and performance at your small, medium, or large business.

SharePoint
Take this challenge to learn how to develop and administer SharePoint sites to improve information sharing and organization at your company.

[jon.kiparsky]

Wow, this is hilarious. Microsoft getting a little desperate, maybe? Maybe feeling a little off-to-the-side? Maybe feeling a little like Grampa in plaid shorts trying to boogie down to that hip, happenin' grunge music all the kids are listening to these days?

[modi123_1]

I am not sure what's up with that comment, but the Microsoft Virtual Academy has been a pretty positive resource. It provides structure, a good course selection, and a little better direction when coming out of the gates. Their live events are well done by super knowledgeable folk, and it has always been quality.

[jon.kiparsky]

It's just the marketing - I don't know anyone who really sees Microsoft being quite as hip as they're trying for here. Marketing out of sync with market, that's all. (quick poll: when you think of Microsoft, do you really think "rock and roll?" Anyone? Thought not...)

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Microsoft Virtual Academy has been a pretty positive resource.

I can buy that. I mean, apart from the fact that it focuses on dead technology, yeah. (teaching someone .NET in 2015 is almost as bad as teaching them PHP, don't you think? Hey kid, here's your lifetime pass to maintaining legacy code... you're obsolete before you graduate, how'd that happen?)
And as a whole Microsoft actually seems like a pretty good company, apart from their products. I was just down in their "NorthEast Research and Development" Center (spell out the acronym for yourself...) for a python meetup last night. That's a pretty huge space that they make available for a lot of really great events, for free. I can really like that sort of thing. It's just sad to watch the dinosaur sinking into the tar pit, desperately trying to pull itself free, and to know that it's doomed. But that's the cycle of life, isn't it? Mother Nature, red in tooth and claw, and all that?

[modi123_1]

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I mean, apart from the fact that it focuses on dead technology, yeah. (teaching someone .NET in 2015 is almost as bad as teaching them PHP, don't you think? Hey kid, here's your lifetime pass to maintaining legacy code... you're obsolete before you graduate, how'd that happen?)

Oh come on.. that is an absurd generalization. Did you look at their course listing? Their current live events? Not to mention .NET is not a dead end tech. They seem to do a solid job updating the framework and rolling new ways. The migration from winforms to WPF is a pretty solid example.

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I don't know anyone who really sees Microsoft being quite as hip as they're trying for here.

Sure.. a little cheesy on the images, but so it goes. It does not detract from what the event is all about.

[jon.kiparsky]

I haven't gone into their modules, no. But I'm tickled to see that they've got a contender for "most irrelevant module, ever" in their Mobile Development area. Microsoft mobile? Seriously? I mean, microsoft phones are as dead as the Newton. Microsoft cloud? Well, yes, when people work on the cloud, they do think of a Seattle-based company. But it's not Microsoft. Web development? I guess there are people using Windows servers for that. I know of one. But there's an industry standard, and it's not Microsoft. And let's not even talk about SharePoint... I'm amazed nobody's put a bullet in that one yet, just to put it out of its misery.

I don't know anything about game development, so maybe they're not completely on their back in that area, but barring that, I see no reason why a student should kill a month of their life learning the Microsoft way of doing any these things, unless they're absolutely dedicated to the idea of working enterprise tech for financial services firms. Rock and roll!

To be fair, it's not impossible that Microsoft will pull out of their long glide path to turgid, flatulent senescence. Anything's possible. But right now they're flailing, and marketing isn't going to save them. (remember, they tried that with Bing... Bing, you remember Bing... their search thing... right, that)

[modi123_1]

*sigh* What ever jon. I am not in the mood to deal with this hackneyed conversation. You should have thrown in a few "M# is teh suXs" or "windoze" drops to really round it out. If that sort of narrow views get ya through your Friday then so be it.

I can see past the silly marketing images and be fairly stoked MVA is organizing this challenge for February, and I hope it helps provide some directed education for folks looking to expand their skill set or those starting out jumping from one disjointed youtube video to half written tutorial.

[no2pencil]

I gotta say calling dot NET &/or PHP legacy is kind of a stretch. Tons of places hiring for these developers, & pushing out new products.

[jon.kiparsky]

I've been interviewing with a few places lately, and what I'm seeing is people replacing their existing PHP - I don't see anyone looking for PHP devs to make anything new, just to keep existing code running. But you know, that's just Boston. Not a lot going on in Boston, right?

As for .NET, I literally have never seen it used outside of big financials. That's who's advertising for .NET developers, that's who's writing new stuff on .NET as far as I can see. What does it mean when your main base of deployment is the single most conservative buyer in the market? It means that anyone who's actually considering the alternatives has either jumped ship or never got on board to begin with. To me, that says "legacy".

Everybody's got to make their own choice, but if you're asking me for advice, I'll tell you that a 20-year old betting hard on PHP or .NET had better be prepared for a safe and boring life maintaining existing code. That's fine if it's what you're into - it's a safe and potentially lucrative path - but you should know what you're getting into.

(and modi - sorry if you think this is a knee-jerk position, but where is it that you think I'm wrong? What can you point to that suggests Microsoft is not going into decline? For example, suppose I'm a 20-year old kid interested in mobile - why on earth would I look at Microsoft?)

[no2pencil]

jon.kiparsky, on 23 January 2015 - 02:33 PM, said:

Everybody's got to make their own choice, but if you're asking me for advice, I'll tell you that a 20-year old betting hard on PHP or .NET had better be prepared for a safe and boring life maintaining existing code. That's fine if it's what you're into - it's a safe and potentially lucrative path - but you should know what you're getting into.

You could take PHP & .NET out of that statement, that's perfect advice for anyone in any industry. I've been saying the same thing about auto-motive workers from the 80's/90's. The ones that got hurt the worst (in my experience) were the $30/hr screw turners with a family of 4. Never thinking that "You know, down the road, this may not be the best career path". Never once evaluating their needs vs their skill set. Could be boring, could be lucrative, but know what you're getting into.

[modi123_1]

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As for .NET, I literally have never seen it used outside of big financials.

I have seen it in top construction, medical, travel, insurance, and yes, financial companies and that's just new development work as well as the required maintenance on existing products.. So, there you go.

If MVA is not up your alley then that's cool, brah. I wasn't demanding your attention or Microsoft fidelity. It's an interesting educational option that is spinning up and certainly will benefit some folk.

[jon.kiparsky]

I think that's a very good warning for anyone thinking about betting heavily on "safe".

[baavgai]

Hmm... every language and development environment operates within its own domain. Depending on you skill set, you could easily ignore or marginalize the largest technologies. In my experience, no one uses Objective-C...

Windows tools are for Windows world. If you don't operate in Windows world, then ASP.NET is dead to you. In terms of the interwebs, ASP.NET isn't the best choice; the OS, licencing, and hardware overhead don't make sense for a public server farm. However, for companies and enterprises with a large Microsoft buy in, then ASP.NET is the only web dev platform than makes sense.

I work in Microsoft land. I write new stuff all the time. Indeed, .NET has changed drastically since we first started using it. My WinForms stuff is actually kind of old. Much is now being moved to MVC. MVC now is quite different the first version, which is different from WebForms, which again is different from ASP. It's still new, different, and definitely not maintenance.

[ybadragon]

I develop primarily in .NET using C#, ASP.NET, and I am constantly in new development. As I was at my previous job, just there I wrote mainly VB.Net. .Net isn't a dead framework by any means. Anyway, I think this challenge thing seems pretty cool.

[modi123_1]

Side note - you can start the challenge early so I've been working through the first couple sets of videos (again - I picked up game dev). All I can say is 'wow'! The first set gave a broad overview of game dev. A sort of 30k feet sort of discussion. What's involved, common terms, common products to get you up off the ground, assets, audio, business models, etc. The zoomed out giant map.. the other sections delve deeper into a more narrowed conversation on suggested tools, how to apply them, why you would apply them, balancing development, and work through with solid examples of making a game.

I keep thinking of all those questions on "er mah gerb! I want to make a game! Tell me everything about all things!".. this would go a long way to get that well rounded view and some deep cuts into applying it.

Spoiler

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Game Production Basics
01 | Introduction and Overview
02 | What Do You Need to Make a Game?
03 | Game Assets
04 | Business Models
05 | Where Can I Go from Here?
Recommended Resources & Next Steps

Gaming Engines for Windows 8 Jump Start
01 | Planning your game
02 | Game assets
03 | Construct2 by Scirra
04 | GameMaker by YoYo Games
05 | Unity
06 | Monetization and Store submission
Recommended Resources & Next Steps for Gaming Engines for Windows 8

Developing Games with Construct 2
01 | Introduction to Construct 2 and Building Your First Game
02 | Expanding Your Game
03 | Exploring Construct 2 Templates
04 | Exporting and Publishing Your Game
Public Q&A Log: Developing Games with Construct 2

Creating Your First 2D Game with GameMaker
01 | Introduction to Game Development Using GameMaker
02 | Movement, Collisions, & Events
03 | Finding Assets for Your Game
04 | Creating Assets for Your Game
05 | Bringing It All Together
Recommended Resources & Next Steps

Developing 2D & 3D Games with Unity for Windows Jump Start
01 | Intro & Architecture
02 | 2D Game Development
03 | 2D & 3D Asset Creation
04 | 3D Game Development
05 | Building for the Windows Platform
06 | Optimizing Your Games
07 | Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) in Unity
08 | Marketing and Monetization
09 | Prime[31] and Azure Mobile Services
10 | Adding the Finishing Touches
Public Q&A Log: Developing 2D & 3D Games with Unity for Window

Total Hours: 35.8