Top MVA students in Belgium: Marcelo Estrada
Last week we kicked off a blogpost series about top Belgian students in the Microsoft Virtual Academy. In this series, 6 students share their favorite trainings, how the platform helps them to be a better professional and give you some tips to improve your ranking.
Last week Samuel Dubrul, a frontend solutions system engineer at RealDolmen shared his story.
This week, Marcelo Estrada Molina shares his passion for the Microsoft Virtual Academy .
First name: Marcelo Last name: Estrada Molina Description: IT Professional and Technical Specialist currently employed at everis Belgium as Microsoft Technology Expert and Solutions Architect, specialized in Microsoft Servers Technologies and Enterprise Business Applications Platform and Infrastructure.
MVA status: Platinum 
What’s your experience with the Microsoft Virtual Academy so far? How does it help you to improve your IT skills?
My experience since I belong to the MVA has been awesome! Not only because it allows me to learn and study Microsoft’s next generation products and technologies for free and at my own pace, which is something that I personally highly appreciate, but regarding the content available I must confirm that it’s been done with a remarkable and outstanding quality, for most part it’s been developed and featured by Technical Product Managers or other individuals that have been a key part in the product teams during their conception and development, therefore the content is delivered on a very straight forward manner.
At the end of the day you have the chance to get to know these products not only from a technical perspective but also from a business stand point, which in my experience is really important to understand for which kind of scenarios or for what business requirement a particular technology has been intended for.
Furthermore, you can also test yourself and confirm what you just learned right after finishing every chapter by taking a simple quiz. If you consider that additional practice might be required you can always follow the Virtual Labs where you can work on a virtual environment and further practice your hands on labs skills, with no additional charges whatsoever! In short, the overall learning process becomes very enjoyable, highly effective and most importantly very easy to follow.
What’s your favorite training on MVA (track or course)? Which one(s) would you recommend?
Currently I just finished the Private Cloud Specialization and I’m about to start the courses available for SQL Server 2012 . That’s another point that makes this platform so attractive: you can learn Microsoft’s latest technologies before the products have been even officially released to the market, which is a huge advantage.
If I have to recommend one I would definitively suggest either Private Cloud, Office 365 or SQL Server 2012. These products and technology trends will assure you a smooth journey to the Cloud, especially if you are an IT Professional who’s looking forward to boot start your career by adding private or public cloud skills to your toolbox. If you want to be what’s next and be part of an exciting and bright future, this is definitively the best place to start.
What’s your advice for ambitious MVA newbies who want to improve their ranking?
The most important advice that I can give is be passionate and bold, stay strong and perseverant. Every aspect of life requires certain amount of sacrifice and as long as you keep it up the sky is the limit. If you want to have a successful career in IT, one of the key elements is the constant study and ongoing learning, there are no secrets to success rather than effort, true enthusiasm and never-ending passion for technology. Besides learning on the MVA it’s a very enjoyable journey.
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Next week David De Vos (number 1 in the Belgian MVA ranking) will share his experience with the platform.
Haven’t signed up for MVA yet? Now is the time to do so! You can get a FREE Welcome Pack (including an exclusive T-shirt and laptop sticker) until the end of May (only for Belgians). Here’s what you need to do:
- Register now on https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com
- Send the URL of your MVA profile (example) to <tnbewm@microsoft.com> along with T-Shirt size and shipping info
- Check your mailbox and open your Welcome Pack
Please read the terms and conditions of this promotion.