Microsoft Virtual Academy

I don’t think data centre management or the private cloud is particularly difficult to learn, but it could be easier to find out where to start.  Of course if your focus is virtualisation or you only make tools in this space then your site should make this journey pretty straight forward.  However I would argue that the move to cloud style IT as a service impacts all aspects of IT and that most if not all IT professionals should understand it.  Moreover this approach will only become widespread if the training as well as the tools are more affordable, and this has been one of the the things Microsoft has bought to IT whether it was a PC in every home or in my background of business intelligence the fact that everyone has access to reporting and analytics through their browser and excel.

I think with a free hypervisor and affordable and easy to use management tools are helping, but understanding how to use these tools to implement dynamic data centres/ private clouds as well as integrating these with public cloud services not mention migration of services to the cloud still needs training.  Hence yesterday’s launch of the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA)

..where you can dip into the topics you are interested in and build up the skills and you experience you need to compete in todays tightening job market.  It’s all free, all you need is your time and an internet connection.  You get points for doing the various course and the plan is to further extend this with more content and to offer discounts on the traditional certifications and course so that this becomes everyones’ first step to getting qualified.  I also think this idea helps with cross training for example DBA’s, SharePoint administrators etc. also need to understand this stuff to a basic level to be more marketable and promotable.  so have a look and let us know what you think.