10 Jul 2015
You have a great idea for a website but you don’t know where to begin? There is a ton of free help out there to get started but that can be a bit overwhelming. I have curated a great list of free trainings from Microsoft’s Virtual Academy (MVA). MVA has hundreds of free training video’s that are created by experts such as Microsoft project leads, partners, and MVP’s.
I have divided the list into various skill levels so you can jump right to the area that work’s best for you:
Absolute Beginner
HTML5 and CSS3 Fundamentals
Over the course of 21 episodes, our friend Bob Tabor will teach you the fundamentals of HTML5 & CSS3 programming. Tune in to learn concepts about web pages, CSS3 styles, and HTML5 features.
We’ll walk you through the basics of HTML5 and CSS training, which includes getting the web principals, writing code, and much more! Each concept is broken into its own video so you can search for and focus on the information you need to learn HTML5 and CSS3.
C# Fundamentals
Over the course of 25 episodes, our friend Bob Tabor, from www.LearnVisualStudio.net, teaches you the fundamentals of visual C# programming. Tune in to learn C# concepts applicable to video games, mobile environments, and client applications. We walk you through getting the tools, writing code, debugging features, customizations, and much more! Each concept in this C# for beginners course is broken into its own video so you can search for and focus on the information you need.
Introduction to ASP.NET MVC
Are you a front-end coder who wants to learn how to build data-driven, server-side web applications? Maybe you know some Web Forms and want to make the jump to ASP.NET MVC? This exciting new ASP.NET introduction course focuses on the basics of this popular framework for building scalable, standards-based web applications using well-established design patterns, so you can ramp up quickly.
HTML5, Javascript, CSS3 Jumpstart
This course for intermediate to advanced learners provides an accelerated introduction to help students learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and other basic programming skills.
this course focuses on using these tools to implement programming logic, define and use variables, perform looping and branching, develop user interfaces, capture and validate user input, store data, and create well-structured applications.
Programming in C# Jump Start
Microsoft Technical Evangelist Jerry Nixon and the co-founder of Crank211, Daren May, provide sample after sample to show simple and complex techniques that you as a C# developer can take back to your workplace. This C# online tutorial is engaging and demo rich, and it is tailored for intermediary to seasoned developers looking to bulk up on C# or for a refresher on core concepts and features.
Azure Cloud Development Quick Start
Want to build robust and resilient cloud applications? Take your web development skills and go beyond the essentials, in this practical and informative training.
Experts Bret Stateham and Sidney Andrews explore the most used Azure services, including Websites, Virtual Machines, Cloud Services, Storage, and Service Bus.
ASP.NET 5 Jump
Wondering what’s new and exciting in ASP.NET 5? Watch the experts from the product team as they highlight the newest open source web framework from Microsoft for building modern web apps on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
This session digs into the changes in ASP.NET and focuses on how it can make you more productive. Get a deep dive into the new features in MVC, Web API, and Entity Framework, all open-sourced and cross-platform. And check out the newest web tooling in Visual Studio to support ASP.NET 5 and modern web standards, including support for Grunt, Gulp, Bower, npm, and much more. ASP.NET 5 merges the power of .NET with the flexibility and elasticity of the cloud, along with today’s client-side tools for the open web.
Advanced
So you already know ASP.NET and Azure? Check out these videos to see how you can level up your skills and applications.
Microservices in Docker and Microsoft Azure
Take an in-depth look at a different way to architect that can help you update your site in milliseconds. Microservices, supported by Microsoft Azure and offered as a service, are highly scalable, resilient, and composable units of deployment for modern applications. Self-contained for fit and purpose, they are a key part of the world of continuous delivery and DevOps.
Polyglot Persistence
In this first in a series of demo-rich explorations of data on Azure, take a look at key-value stores, along with document and graph databases. Learn the advantages of non-relational databases, and find out how to choose and access the most efficient storage. Follow along as the team builds a comprehensive sample app, in this practical and entertaining course.
Machine Learning Introduction
If you’re not a data scientist, but you’re interested in data mining and predictive analytics, and you want to go beyond just reporting the numbers, check out this course on Azure Machine Learning (ML). ML is the inexpensive, easy-to-access, and powerful predictive analytics offering from Microsoft.
Conclusion
As you can see, whether you are a beginner or a coding ninja you can find something to advance your skills on MVA. If this help and/or you build something awesome then drop me a line and let me know!
29 Jun 2015
This month I have been in transition and have not listened to the same number of podcasts as I have in the past. I have still listened to quite a few but there was one series that really stuck out to me in my listening this month. The podcast is called Startup and is the journey of a founder starting his podcasting company. I have only listened to the first season but it has been captivating.
The story telling is amazing and it was the raw, seldom heard conversations that kept me listening. If you have ever been involved in a startup or are wondering what it is like you should listen to this podcast series. The conversations he recorded gets to the heart of the startup world that we seldom hear or talk about.
This is the first podcast in the series but I would recommend checking out the whole first season at least:
I hope you enjoy this series as much as I have. If you enjoyed the podcast you might enjoy some of my past recommendations. And as always if you have any favorites you think are worth listening to let me know.
22 Jun 2015
The issue I ran into with Azure Stream Analytics is a little bit embarrassing but I think we have all been there before. You know the story… it is late, you have that due date tomorrow and you can’t figure out why it is not working. At least not until you start to explain it to someone else.
As I was doing the initial set up for Stream Analytics for my woodstove project I found that I was able to send data to Event Hubs but it was not being processed by the Stream Analytics job. A couple hours later, after checking to make sure all my code was correct and the Stream Analytics tests passed, I found the issue: I did not start the Stream Analytics Job. All that was need was to press the start button at the bottom of the job:
I know it happens to all of us but hopefully this will short circuit your debugging process and get you on to developing awesome applications with Azure Stream Analytics.
