MCP Mentor

Just saw the following on Trika's blog.  GREAT opportunity to share your technical/certification knowledge with others!  Signing up right now...

Check this out: MCP mentors is a cool new program some people around here are cooking up, through which our certified community helps others get started in IT. To participate in this pilot, it makes most sense if you are in eastern U.S. or Canada, so you're in the same time zone. But more on that later...

Share your stories and help build the MCP community! Become an MCP Mentor.

As an experienced MCP, you have many stories--of both successes and failures. There was the time when the new guy brought down the entire system. The time you spent an entire week troubleshooting that elusive problem. And the time you completed your task in record time. Microsoft Learning invites you to share your stories, skills, and experience to make a difference in someone's life as an MCP Mentor.

HOW IT WORKS
The MCP Mentor Program matches an experienced Microsoft Certified Professional (you) with someone new to IT and studying to pass their first Microsoft Certification exam (your mentee). Through the program, your real-world perspective, technical skills, and community connections can help others overcome the experience gap to complete a path to proven skills, new career opportunities, and confidence.

As an MCP Mentor, you will share real-world experience with your mentee about objectives that are covered by the Microsoft Certification exam, helping to build self-confidence about his or her technical skills and preparedness. You will meet regularly with your mentee by phone or e-mail. In addition, you and your mentee will have access to an online community to share best practices, tips, and study tools. The online community also helps you and your mentee connect with other IT professionals of diverse experience, perspectives, and backgrounds.

VOLUNTEER FOR THE PILOT AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, UNITED STATES
Microsoft Learning is running a pilot of this program in conjunction with the IT Academy that is associated with Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The soldiers in this IT Academy program are recovering from recent injuries and waiting to find out if they will be discharged from the military. Most of these soldiers enter the IT Academy program with little or no experience in IT.

The MCP Mentor Program is not intended to be a replacement for training, but instead to supplement training. An experienced MCT supports these soldiers in their preparation. But these soldiers would benefit greatly from the kind of 1:1 mentoring relationship that you can provide. We need volunteer mentors to help these soldiers build the skills that are validated on their target exam(s), enter the IT profession, and join the MCP community. We are specifically looking for:

- IT professionals (vs. developers) with experience on MCDST exams 70-271 and 70-272 <corrected typo immediately after pressing publish. argh>

- Commitment of 2-4 hours per month over a 3-6 month period

- Local to mid-Atlantic United States preferred <edited 4/16...SEE NOTE FROM PROG. MNGR IN COMMENTS: YOU CAN PARTICIPATE REMOTELY!!!!>

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
If you are interested in volunteering, go to https://connect.microsoft.com and enter this Invitation ID to fill out an application survey: MNTR-CGPX-QQKK. If you have questions about this program, you can contact the MCP Mentor Program administrators at mcpmntr@microsoft.com.