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

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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!

Cert Update – SAN Exams, .NET35, Second Chance upgrade! Get Certified in 2008!

Hey everybody! A few updates which will directly impact you that you should know about!

First of all, I’ve updated the Free Testing Archive to age old invalid certs and include new certs – So check it out!

Next of all, we’re getting closer to the availability of the NS1-501 SAN Exam from NetApp.  Prometric has the details published just not available to schedule a test yet.  That should change in the next week or so.   This is an entirely new exam so any old ‘test data’ which one has for it, likely won’t be valid anymore.    I’ll need to rewrite the study guide I wrote for the original version.

Next, welcome the first in a series of .NET 3.5 beta exams!

71-563: Pro: Design & Dev Windows Apps Using MS.NET Framework 3.5October 13, 2008 – October 30, 2008 (Code: DW897)

We have a number of folks to thank for this Exam! I’d like to make sure you know about the Beta Exam Blog where this was posted, as well as GerryO who posted about this :)

(This is also posted to the Free Testing Archive!)

Anyone who remembers my Second Chance Promotion post earlier in August (Second Shot)

Well, thanks to the MSL Community and GerryO again for this:

Second Shot now offers two incentives to get certified!
Today, Second Shot provides the benefit of a free retake if you fail a Microsoft Certification exam.
From October 15 – December 31, 2008, you will also be rewarded for passing the exam!
If you pass, you can now use the Second Shot offer to enjoy 25% off a different exam!
The Offer – 3-easy steps :
1.            Register for Second Shot offer and sit for the exam by December 31, 2008!
2.            If you fail the exam you will receive  a free retake exam that can be utilized until June 30, 2009
3.    If you Pass, you will get 25% off a second exam.  You have until February 28, 2009 to utilize the discounted exam.  
Note: If you pass the first exam but fail your 25% off second exam, you will not get a free retake on your second exam.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/secondshot/default.mspx

 

So, there you go! 2 reasons and 3 ways to get you certified in 2008! Get out there, get your Second Chances and get your BETA On!