An Offer you CAN’T refuse. Career advice AND Free stuff/Contest

I’ve been talking about the resources available to you at some of our sites for a while now. I keep on talking about this one called Microsoft Virtual Academy a lot recently – and there is a reason.

IT’S FREE (as in beer)
It’s Consumable Chunks of video interviews / screencasts / interviews talking about current and upcoming technologies that can MAKE A DIFFERENCE in your career and skillset.
It’s backed up with Bragging Rights / points. Impress your friends / family / colleagues.
Plus, the first 500 people to sign up get a free MVA t-shirt.

TO sweeten the pot even FURTHER – We’ve put together an incentive / contest for a Sweet looking “Tech-Tastic” Prize Pack. (OK – the marketing guys came up with that name – I didn’t Smile )

The Tech·Tastic Prize Pack includes:

a Toshiba 15” laptop
an Xbox 360 with Kinect
a Samsung 40” HDTV

and more!

But there is work to do.

Register for the contest HERE – you HAVE TO ENROLL first for things to count.
Register for MVA and take some of the modules. The higher your score – the better your chances in Canada. (plus bigger bragging rights)
GO DOWNLOAD evaluations from the TechNet Evaluation Center (www.microsoft.ca/evalcenter) You can get up to 11 more chances to win – one per successful completed download. My personal favourites are below…

Windows HyperV Server 2008 R2 SP1 (free one, no license required, no time limit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (180 day eval – fully functional)
SystemCenter master download page for all things 2012 RC
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1 (180 day trial)

WAIT A SECOND HERE.

You aren’t just doing this to win – you’re also learning new skills and technologies AND you are downloading software to install and run in your lab environments / trial environments. Right? I want to see what you do with these new found powers. Send me an email (rick.claus@microsoft.com) with your experiences / lab creations and MVA score and I’ll feature it here on the blog for all to see!!! Ultimate Bragging Rights Baby!

Contest closes November 30th – 2011.