Microsoft Virtual Academy has provided a challenge to devs for the month of February with Know it Prove it. The idea is that you engage in one or more of eight learning challenges, each with 28 days of learning..

Microsoft Virtual Academy isn't new, but it probably doesn't get the attention it deserves. The "Know it. Prove it" challenge, with its extra element of competition and community involvement, seems like a good way to put it into the limelight.  

Calling it a challenge may be a bit misleading. There are points to be gained - but in this instance points do not mean prizes, just certificates and a sense of accomplishment. 

Microsoft Learning describes Know It. Prove

as a month-long learning binge that can power-boost your tech skills and accelerate your career.

and suggests:

No matter who you are—student, aspiring tech pro, or skill-slinging IT or developer rockstar—there's a new skill you need to master.

The eight learning tracks, in order of popularity, are: 

• Web Development

• Mobile Development
  
  
• Cloud Development
  
  
• Office 365 
  
  
• Identity & Access Management
  
  
• Game Development
  
  
• Sharepoint
  
  
• Hybrid Cloud
  
  

Each learning challenge involves the completion of several (between four and eight) sets of modules. Each module consists of lessons which vary in length from around 20 minutes to over an hour. Each of these has video. a slide presentation and, in most cases an assessment with a time allowance of 10 minutes. The total time budget for each challenge is around 30 hours - but in some cases this seems an underestimate. 

Web Development is by far the most popular at the moment with almost twice and many participants as Mobile Web Development. In every single challenge devs from the United States vastly outnumber other countries, with India second in all but two - Office 365 and Identity & Access Management, where United Kingdom, always in the top four leapfrogs India.

Hybrid Cloud is currently the least popular, which is understandable as the challenge is:

to extend your datacenter to the cloud by combining on-premises and public cloud workloads to maximize efficiency, provide simpler management, and increase flexibility

which isn't something that a huge number of developers need to do. Even so over 2300 participants have signed up so far. 

In terms of both content and presentation these courses seem excellent. Splitting the content down into bite-size chunks makes them manageable. It is to be hoped that this initiative to encourage more developers to try them out works - not just for February but in the longer term.

Comments

Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus

or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info