In addition to all the other things Microsoft does to support its developers, the company offers a broad range of training services aimed squarely at developers as well. Right now, in fact, you can get a 30% discount on all Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 E-learning courses (at least, if you're in North America, where this discount applies).
As you'll shortly see, this covers a broad range of offerings and you're likely to find one or more such courses of at least potential interest. In most cases, courses cost less than $140 or just a little over $200, and a surprising number of them are free. This offer expires on August 31, 2006, so you'd better check it out and sign up quickly. Once ordered, you can wait up to one year to take any class for which you sign up -- you're actually buying a one-year subscription to the training materials, rather than a single-use license.
E-Learning courses are subdivided by category and will be listed as such here as well, along with a brief description of related courses and pricing information:
Data and XML
- Core Data Access Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2541): This is a series of eight two-hour workshops about designing data-drive Web applications using VS 2005. This course targets developers who already have some working knowledge of VS 2005 but who want to use its data access and XML capabilities. List price: $255.94, discount price: $179.15.
- Advanced Data Access Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2542): This series of six two-hour workshops covers integrating advanced data and XML techniques into applications. This course targets developers with core data and XML experience who want to learn how to employ their knowledge, and learn advanced techniques and best practices using Visual Studio 2005. List price: $191.92; discount price: $134.34.
Windows
- Core Windows Client Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2546): This is a series of nine two-hour workshops about building Windows Forms-based applications. This course targets developers who have some prior experience, and who want to learn how to build Windows applications with VS 2005. List price: $287.93; discount price: $201.55.
- Advanced Windows Client Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2547): This series of six two-hour workshops covers advanced Windows client development using VS 2005. This course targets developers with VS 2005 experience who want to take Windows Forms applications to the next level. List price: $191.95, discount price: $134.08.
Web
- Core Web Client Programming with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2543): This series of nine two-hour workshops focuses on Web application development using VS 2005. This course targets developers with prior VS 2005 application development experience who would like to learn core skills at building Web applications that include all basic and necessary components. List price: $287.94; discount price: $201.55.
- Advanced Web Client Programming with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Collection 2544): This series of five two-hour workshops presents advanced Web application development tools and techniques. This course targets developers with core Web application experience who want learn more advanced techniques as well as best practices for implementing them inside VS 2005. List price: $159.96; discount price: $111.87.
Distributed Applications
Special offers also available currently include courses that deal with ASP.NET Web applications -- upgrading from VB 6.0 to the .NET Framework, going asynchronous by using multi-threading with VS 2005, and building and consuming simple XML Web services with VS 2005. The Web page says all these items are free; even though the offer expired on June 30, 2006, the links are still live, and you can still sign up for a one year subscription at no charge. Better act fast, though, because these leftovers can't last too much longer. Enjoy!
Ed Tittel is a writer and trainer whose interests include XML and development topics, along with IT Certification and information security. E-mail etittel@techtarget.com with comments, questions, or suggested topics or tools to review. Cool tools rule!
