Go Learn Something! – IT Learning Links

Posted on May 1st, 2009 by Lisa Szpunar

Lern SomethingI want to share my favorite web resources for Microsoft learning. Perhaps you are thinking about starting a career in IT. Or, you already have one (for now) and just want to brush up on your skills or learn about the latest and greatest. So if you are interested in IT learning – which often leads to certification – then read on!

 

The Transcender Team Blog

Let’s start with one of my favorites: The Transcender Team Blog. In case you are not familiar, Transcender offers certification exam preparation software.  They also have a great blog. These cats really have their virtual fingers on the pulse of IT learning and certification. I suggest subscribing to their RSS to so you don’t miss any of their posts on things like: their personal certification studying and exam experiences, info on free or sale specials from Transcender, and of course the latest Microsoft and non-Microsoft certification news.

Microsoft Elevate America

Here is a brand new resource: Microsoft Elevate America. The program behind this website is still being fleshed out. The general idea is that Microsoft is giving away training and certification vouchers. However, you can’t just go to this or any other MS website to get the vouchers – you have to go through some kind of state agency. What agency? Who knows.

I hope that Microsoft is not being deliberately vague when they say, “These vouchers can be obtained from the designated outlet in your state: the Workforce Development Office, Career One Stop, or some other participating entity.” More likely the program is so new that they themselves don’t actually know who the participating agencies will be yet. Either that or they just want to sell you a time share.

In the mean time, the Microsoft Elevate America website does have some other learning resources. You can download free developer software and they have: free training, a career questionnaire that gives you personalized advice, some job interview insight, and links to other Microsoft offerings like Office Live, and the free online storage (SkyDrive) at Windows Live. Be sure to check this site out now and again the coming months.

Microsoft Learning

Next we have an obvious choice but still one worth mentioning: Microsoft Learning. This is where you will find course listings, free video training, special offers, and info on certifications. I just watched a one hour Introduction to Exchange Server 2010 course over at Microsoft Learning. It was ok – would have been more entertaining done by a Train Signal instructor, but eh what did I expect. FYI you need a Microsoft Live account to view their videos. Microsoft Learning has even set up a Windows 7 Learning Portal where you can get a head start on your Windows 7 studies.

The main reason I go to the Microsoft Learning website is for certification info. It is always my first stop when I have questions on certification paths and exams objectives.

High-FiveThrive

Here is another relatively unknown website: Thrive. Well, at least it was to me considering I just found out about it today. I am not really clear on the greater goal of this website.  A lot of (but not all) the info on Thrive seems to be geared toward someone on the IT team in a business environment. There is even a picture of two geeks high-fiving!  There are some snacks, podcasts, whitepapes, and webcasts on topics like virtualization, optimization, and security compliance. Then there is a very helpful section called Career Care that talks about job search, resumes, interview questions, and the like.

Born to Learn

Get the latest Microsoft certification news right from the source: The Born to Learn Blog. These folks don’t have their fingers on the pulse of certifications they pretty much are the pulse. This blog is authored by the people who develop Microsoft training and certification. Born to Learn is another one that I highly recommend subscribing to. Right now most of their posts are about a bus tour they are doing but normally they post about exams they are developing, new exam betas, exam tips, and some general MS news.

Spicy Elephant

Last and probably least we have: Spicy Elephant. This website is not IT learning specific but is for anyone studying… anything. You create and then go through flash cards. The application doesn’t actually check your answers. So you need to be honest about how well you knew the answer based on a very scientific smiley scale.

smiley

The cool factor of Spicy Elephant doesn’t come from the digital flash cards themselves. The neatest part is that Spicy Elephant sets a schedule for how often you should go through your flash card deck. ”Too soon and you waste your time, too late and you have to relearn.” So if you have some IT vocab or concepts you are struggling to get down then give Spicy a try. I think I am going to give it a go this weekend while I study for my network security final exam for grad school. An elephant never forgets right?

What are some of your favorite IT learning sites?

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