Born to Learn

This RSS is dead… but the NEW one could win you a free exam!

As the title says… if you are reading this post thru your RSS, you are missing out big time. :)

We know that moving is tough, but we couldn’t set up RSS re-direct on TechNet.  So… we put together a little something for you to win when you let us know you have subscribed to the new Born to Learn:

Everyday, 3 lucky folks will each get a free Microsoft Certification voucher, valid for any Prometric centers.

It’s very simple - you subscribe to the new Born to Learn, AND post a comment on Born to Learn to let us know.  We will do a random drawing at the end of the business day (Pacific time), and let you know if you are the winner. :)

If you don’t win the first day, no worries – come back the next day and check it out– this daily drawing goes on daily until June 30, 2009.  Everyday 3 exam vouchers will be given out. (Each person is limited to one free voucher.)

We have moved

We’ve moved~~~ :)

As mentioned in several previous posts, we have officially moved our blog to http://borntolearn.mslearn.net. 

There will be no new posts on this TechNet blog.  We were thinking of deleting all the posts as not to confuse readers, but Alice (thank you!) reminded us that some of you linked to this blog and the links will be broken if we delete all the posts.  Totally right.  So… with Alice’s suggestion, we turned off the “comment” feature on the TechNet blog.  Please visit Born to Learn to hang out with us!

If you haven’t done so, subscribe to our RSS feed.

See you soon!

T-1 Day: Closing of TechNet Blog

It’s getting rather windy today in Seattle.  From where I am sitting on the couch, I can see the sunset, the colorful clouds that make the background.  The trees outside the window are swaying in the wind, making soft noises.  Beautiful evening.

Today we moved all the MCT/MCP blog rolls to the new home.  If you have a blog, and you don’t see your name (or your blog name) on Born To Learn, please email Joanne.Lin@microsoft.com.  I will add you. :)  English, French, Chinese, whatever your blog is written in, we welcome the connection. (plus we will put a translator widget on it soon… ^_^)

Here are the posts from today on Born to Learn:

1. MCP/MCT are here, Partners?
2. It’s not easy being green
3. Roundtable Invitation: Windows 7 Application Compatibility - Your Questions Answered (I)
4. How We Decide What to Test You On Without Using a Hat

Reminder: this blog will be closed on Friday, June 5th, and all the posts will be deleted.  Please visit our new home: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net :)

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T-2 Days: Closing of TechNet Blog

Wednesday… I put Windows 7 on my home laptop, a Lenovo 3000… I am addicted to Windows 7.  Two more days to go…  Here are the posts from today on Born to Learn:

1. Ties, A Circle and a Fairy Round 2: Virtual Business Card Avatars
2. More Training for Office 2007, VBA, and Office Open XML

The TechNet blog will be closed on Friday, June 5th, and all the posts will be deleted.  Please visit our new home: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net :)

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T-3 Day: Closing of TechNet blog

Today we have two posts from today on Born to Learn:

1. Call for Volunteer Office Instructors in D.C. area—Help an Injured U.S. Soldier
2. Gadget Girl Falls in Love with Project Natal

The TechNet blog will be closed on Friday, June 5th, and all the posts will be deleted.  Please visit our new home: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net :)

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T-4 Days: Closing of TechNet Blog

Hi there,

If you are reading this post and following Born To Learn blog, it’s time you move to our new home. :)  We have been cross-posting for a month now, and as the final step, we will stop cross-posting from today, and will delete all the old posts and close down the TechNet blog on Friday, June 5th. 

The URL to the new home is http://borntolearn.mslearn.net

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Feels like the end of an era, isn’t it? … well, it’s the beginning of a new one. :)  Our new home, if you haven’t visited yet, gives us more flexibility to interact and engage with the community.  We can even invite community members (yeah, that’s right, you!) to be our guest authors.  We have freedom to choose what to show, and in what format.  Anyway, I can go on and on and on, but you should go check it out yourself, and let us know what you think.

Here are the links to the posts from today, June 1st:

New book: Windows PowerShell 2.0 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant

Now Live - Exchange Server 2010 Learning Snack

Going Green – MCP Digital Certificates Are Here

I Want To Be An MCT!

They Call Me Mr. Tips!

Discover Bing

A mere 15 years ago (indeed time flies) I worked at McGraw-Hill publishing. Our best selling ‘computing book’ at the time was ‘The Internet Golden Directory’.

Hard to believe today but we printed books that were basically big stacks of Yellow Pages featuring URLs and descriptions, just so you could find stuff on the internet. It was a solid best seller for a number of years, you should have seen our warehouse whenever the new edition was published. The line extended: ‘The Internet Golden Directory for doctors, for athletes etc. etc.’

Then there was search.

And next week there will be Bing.

Take a look here, especially at the videos; Discover Bing.

Announcing Podcast #1: Certifications

**This is a cross post from Born to Learn.  The permanent link of this post is http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/2009/05/announcing-podcast-1-certifications. **

So… you may have noticed that a new thingy appeared on the left sidebar.  Yes, it’s the Born To Learn Podcast!

The certification series now have three episodes that consist conversations among Microsoft Certified Professionals, Microsoft Certified Trainers and hiring managers.  The topics cover the certification experience, value of certifications, and tips & “tricks” for passing exams.  You can listen to it on your PC or on your Zune.  The iPod subscription is coming soon.

Subscribe to it and tell us what you think of them, and what other topics you want, we are working to develop more podcasts that will be of interest to you. :)

I want what Tom Cruise has!

Remember Tom Cruise in The Minority Report, using that touch / hologram screen interface and flicking through applications on his sci-fi computer?

Seems we’re not too far away from that becoming a reality, more Windows 7 coolness is on its way to us: check this story about the Windows Touch Pack for Windows 7! Working on a dream indeed :-) Or check this video to see what work could look like soon.

If you agree Windows 7 is hot and want to get trained: look here!

Ask your trainer

Thinking about your next career step and how to get there?

Looking for a discount on your next exam?

You may have developed the same reflex as I have: search the net for anything!

But why not ask your Microsoft Certified Trainer? Your trainer keeps track of us and our special offers. Your trainer knows when we offer special content. At most times there will be some special offers out there that may help you.

Your MCT can also advice you on your next steps in training in certification. Share your career plans with your MCT. There may be more options than you think.

Just my 0.02 USD, odds are this post turns out to be worth a lot more though :-)

A Day in the Life

Even though we always see it coming, this is still an insanely busy time for my team (and for most Microsoft employees, I’d wager).

Fresh off the bus and home from TechEd, we plunged immediately into planning for our next fiscal year (we run our business on a calendar that starts on July 1 and ends on June 30). Our budgets, our individual and team commitments, and sometimes even our roles and responsibilities are re-examined and reset. We are in the middle of our rapidly closing window of time to define and get approval and resources for all that we plan to do over the next year.

And we plan to do a lot.

Here’s what my day was like yesterday:

5:00am     Wake up—not an easy feat after only 3 hours of sleep (and I’m not alone—had e-mail conversations with team at 1:00am)

6:00am     Drive to work.

7:00am     Conference call with our international field marketing managers to ensure our plan will work globally.

8:00am     Coffee. First of several.

8:30am     1:1 with Sarah. Signed off on a very cool initiative for MCPs; Project PurpleEyes will be announced in the next couple of weeks, and launched very soon after.

10:00am    Met with my peers and manager to put our high-level marketing message together for next year. Really like the direction we’re heading.

11:00am    1:1 with Tjeerd. Big focus for Tjeerd next year on recruiting academic instructors and teachers—into MCT? or does he have something else up his sleeve?

12:00pm    Lunch

12:30pm    Met with my colleagues in the U.S. marketing team to discuss plans to provide significantly greater opportunities for MCTs in Microsoft events and programs next year.

1:00pm     Explore the new MCT Awards site. Love the Career Advisor tools and resources! Can’t wait until we start expanding this program for MVPs, user group leaders, and other influential audiences.

1:30pm     Call Melissa with Springboard team and discuss plans for “Get on the Bus: Season 2” this fall. We agree that U.S. residents will need to sit this one out. (BTW, love the pics from the great Springboard party at TechEd… if you were there, check ‘em out.)

2:00pm     Catch up on e-mail: Looks like we’ve got a new certification forum starting soon for hiring managers—cool.

2:30pm     1:1 with Bill. Love the new MCT Virtual Summit site—a 48-hour, non-stop, multi-language live virtual event for instructors? And you don’t even need to be an MCT to attend? June 18th can’t get here soon enough!

3:30pm    Catch up on Born to Learn—even for me, this is the best way to keep up with what my colleagues are doing!

4:00pm    Met with Marty, our Digital Marketing team lead, to sync on our social networks plans for next year. We did a lot of startup experimentation this year, now it’s time to get busy.

4:30pm    Finally, focus time: two hours of work before heading home (and two hours of work after). Love, love, love Windows 7 Direct Access. Makes working from home a no-brainer—faster access to internal resources than in the office, without ever needing to RAS again!

Whew—long day! And a lot more still to come…

Lessons from the banana salesman

When I was in university, one of my professors was a former banana salesman. During his first lecture, he told us about how he won a prestigious bid and became the preferred supplier to one of the wealthiest corporations in (I think it was) Dubai.

He went to a lot of trouble to deliver his first order in mint condition. Bananas, I learned that day, need to be transported at 13.3C or 56F. So you get them on a plane that is cooled and that can maintain a constant temperature. And you cannot ship them with other fruit as bananas produce a kind of gas that spoils other fruit.

When the bananas arrived, they went on the back of a truck and were transported, it was boiling hot and the bananas did not arrive in mint condition…

So my professor went on, about how he stepped in and had another shipment done, this time in cooled containers to make absolutely sure the bananas were at the right temperature along their way to the customer. He would lose money on the deal but he wanted to be a great salesman and meet the customer’s expectations.

The bananas arrived and… the cook smiled and put them straight in the blender!

The lesson was that in communications you cannot assume, you need to ask questions and listen.

What a great teacher this former banana salesman was. We did not touch a book that morning, he told us this lesson 20 years ago and I still think of it often, most of all he inspired me into choosing a line of work.

-> Here’s my tip of the week: when next you attend Instructor Led training, make sure you get more out of it than just the plain theory. Make sure you talk to your ‘classmates’ and hear about their real life experiences. Make sure you ask your MCT for his/her anecdotes. The ‘informal learning’ component of any technical training class is sometimes underrated, but there are valuable lessons to be learned that may serve a lifetime! And it makes learning so much more fun! Enjoy your class!!!

Office 2010: Things that I Can’t Say

***This is a cross post from Born to Learn.  Post permanent link: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/2009/05/office-2010-things-that-i-cant-say***

I was excited ever since I saw the demos of Office 2010 at the company meeting last year.  It was very elegant, beautiful and efficient for everyday use.  So when the opportunity came for employees to get the internal technical preview, I jumped on it. I have been using it for the couple of weeks, and I am loving it. :D :D :D

Since it’s not released yet, I can’t really say much beyond what has been shown publicly.  The technical preview for public is coming in 34 days, and I want to encourage you to check out the Office 2010 movie (yes the movie…) and sign up for the technical preview.  You can also join the discussion here, or visit the Office 2010 blog. :)

I will post more stuff in 34 days!

"Go Further" with Microsoft Certification

The "Go Further" video, featured at Tech Ed, is an eloquent testimonial to the value of Microsoft Certification as a validation of technical skills.  Whether you're just starting your IT career, or looking to advance it, certification can make a huge impact.   Take a look at the video, and hear the stories of real MCPs:   http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/b5f53794-56aa-47e3-98d8-0d35b379060b

Update: Dunbar High, Microsoft Certified High School

Remember our article on Dunbar High in Florida? Certification Magazine just published a great update.

Dunbar is getting ready to graduate their first students who have completed their four-year technical program, and their 26 graduating seniors have as many as fourteen certifications each!

From the article:

“The students work toward different IT certifications each year. Freshmen focus on the CompTIA A+ certification. Sophomores prep for the CompTIA Network+ and Cisco Certified Network Associate certifications. Juniors tackle the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certifications. Seniors work toward the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification exam.”

Best of luck to the Dunbar Class of 2009—you guys are so fortunate (especially in this economy!) to have such a competitive edge upon entering the job market!

Dunbar is trying to raise funds to continue the program—since it’s buried at the bottom of the article:

“To donate directly to Dunbar, contact Denise Spence at Denisecs@leeschools.net or 239-461-5322”