ITProGuru Events Newsletter 2016-02 Iowa Caucus app, Free Azure Architect Training, Talent Gap and MUCH MORE
ITProGuru Events
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Jump to: ♦ TechNet Events ♦ Online ♦ Community Events ♦ Third Party Events ♦ Subscribe Now ♦ What’s Next ♦ Events by Regions coming soon ♦ New Way to Communicate ♦ 2016 Many New Events ♦ Talent Gap ♦ TechNet On Tour Cloud Infrastructure ♦ Certification Jump Start Coming Soon ♦ Brainstorming Workshops ♦ Awesomeness
Featured Awesomeness ♦ ♦ ♦* Behind the Scenes of the 2016 Iowa Caucus App – Secure, Scalable, High Performance, Awesome App, Awesome Execution – Capturing more than 90% of the caucus results within three hours in a secure, accurate and trusted manner is an amazing accomplishment. Watch the behind the scenes video at https://aka.ms/2016iowan * Great Free Training on Becoming an Azure Architect. Are you interested in becoming certified in architecting Microsoft Azure solutions? This is a must view video series! https://aka.ms/nlcert534* POWERSHELL: GUI Form Using PowerShell Add Panel, Label, Edit box, Combo Box, List Box, CheckBox and More!!! – How create and work with GUI Forms using PowerShell. Shows how to create Forms, add labels, text boxes, panels, combo boxes, Pick Lists, and more. Shows how to populate all fields including picklists and combobox lists and work with properties. Shows how to populate and work with array objects. Uses Azure commands to populate list data. Shows how to work with the results from the dialog and the changes made to the form objects. Most Events Free; All Subject to Change Microsoft TechNet ♦ ♦ ♦Cloud Infrastructure 02/20162/24 Philadelphia, PATh 3/3 San Francisco (Reactor), CATu 3/8 Edina, MNTu 3/29 New York, NY Enterprise Mobility 03/2016Tu 3/15 Atlanta GATu 3/22 Irving, TXTh 3/31 Mountain View, CAWe 3/23 Chicago (Down Town), IL Th 3/24 New York, NY Hybrid Cloud 04/2016Tu 3/15 Reston, VATh 3/31 Austin, TXTu 4/5 Cambridge, MATu 4/5 Seattle, WAWe 4/13 Atlanta, GA Registration opening soon 70-534 Certification Jump Start 05/2016NOW Pre-requisite Online TrainingMay 2016 Online – Get Notified!July/Aug 2016 City Near You! – Get Notified!Free Book to Attendees – Get Notified! Featured Online Training ♦ ♦ ♦Channel9♣ Download Windows 10 and Create USB Thumb Drive for Booting to Installation PLUS Data Migration♣ Windows Server 2016 Preview; Storage Spaces Direct Overview ♣ Step-By-Step Creating a Virtual machine running Windows in the NEW Azure portal♣ Raw Tech – real raw technical knowledge♣ Gadget Guru Series – Coming Soon♣ Expert Insights Series – Coming Soon ITProGuru Blog♠ Behind the Scenes of the 2016 Iowa Caucus App – Secure, Scalable, High Performance, Awesome App, Awesome Execution ♠ Step-By-Step How-To Migrate users and user Data from XP, Vista, Windows 7 or 8 TO Windows 10 Using Microsoft Tool USMT User State Migration Toolkit♠ TechNet Radio: (Part 1) Deploying Windows 10: Deployment and Servicing Options♠ Rejjee Startup Azure Incredible Story♠ GUI Form Using PowerShell Add Panel, Label, Edit box, Combo Box, List Box, CheckBox and More!!! Microsoft Virtual Academy♣ Demo Course | Using Microsoft Official Course On-Demand♣ Windows 10 in the Enterprise ♣ Secure the Cloud ♣ Preparing Your Infrastructure for Windows 10 More Resources ♦ ♦ ♦♥ ITProGuru on Channel9♥ TechNet Event Registration♥ Raw Tech on Channel9 Third Party Events ♦ ♦ ♦Angelbeat (Multi-Vendor)• 3/7 New Jersey• 3/8 Stamford• 3/9 New York City• 3/10 Long Island• Many More StartupEaster Egg: BizSpark – Free Software and Azure Services for startups Events Coming Soon
Community Events♦ ♦ ♦Boston User GroupsFebruary User Group Meetings:• Mo 2/29 6p Manchester NH #APMUG Application Performance Monitoring UG• Mo 2/29 7p Boston Informal Android Developer Meetup March User Group Meetings:• Wed 3/2 6p Cambridge, MA Windows Boston• Wed 3/2 7p Cambridge, MA MacTechGroup• Thu 3/3 3p Natick, MA FOSS User Group• Thu 3/3 6p Waltham, MA Agile New England• Thu 3/10 6p Cambridge, MA New England SQL Server User Group• Mon 3/14 7p Boston, MA Android Boston• Wed 3/16 6:30p Cambridge, MA Boston Linux & Unix User Group• Wed 3/16 7p Seekonk, MA IT-Pro User Group• Mon 3/21 6p Boston, MA Android Boston• Wed March 23 6p Cambridge, MA Boston PHP• Mon 3/28 7p Boston, MA Boston Android March Local Events:• Thu 3/17 Cambridge, MA How to Get Started Using SQL Server in Azure• Fri 3/18 Cambridge, MA SQL Performance Tuning and Optimization• Sat 3/19 Cambridge, MA SQL Saturday•Many Boston User Groups – Coming soon
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New Way to CommunicateAs you requested, you are FINALLY receiving an email to update you on upcoming events J. You are receiving this message because you signed up at one of my events (Contact Cards, scanned badge) or on my online properties at https://ITProGuru.com/join or through the registration page on https://ITProGuru.com. The registration page has now been taken down and all entry changes will need to be made through the official Microsoft channels (see bottom of this message for details). This is the first mailing of the ITProGuru Newsletter in a very, very long time. Due to privacy policy restrictions at Microsoft I had to disband my prior newsletter. My sincere apologies to all that I have let down by stopping this newsletter. I am thrilled that I now have everything in place to fully comply with the very strict privacy policy in place at Microsoft. For those that are interested, the issue with the prior newsletter was that I had no way of cross-referencing the “do not email” list. In order to cross reference that list, I had to port my name collection through the official newsletter channels. The great news is everyone that signed up for the newsletter could be imported into the new system so these reports should start coming out on a monthly cadence. If at any time you want to be removed or manage your subscriptions, there will always be a link on the bottom of the message. More importantly though, if there are others that you think would also enjoy this information, you can direct them to the join page at https://ITProGuru.com/Join. This newsletter does have some of the same content from the Jan Edition of the ITProGuru Newsletter. This is because the Jan Newsletter never got mailed out. It was simply posted on https://ITProGuru.com as a test for creating the newsletter template. Future editions will all have very different content with the exception of course of the events which if advance notice is given may land on the newsletter for more than one month.
What’s in this Newsletter?As you can see from this newsletter you will get tons of information on upcoming events. Most will be focused in the US. The Microsoft Events will be the highlight but the we will also provide information for online events, community events and even third party events.
In the first few editions the non-Microsoft events will focus on the North East US. In the very near future, I hope and expect to expand to cover the entire US. In just a few seconds you can scroll through the headings to find things that are of interest. If you would like to provide feedback, please feel free to do so at https://itproguru.com/contact. The layout of the message should be easy to consume regardless of platform. I will work in the coming months to improve the layout for small screen sizes. Events & Online content Stories and other valuable information to the IT population will be included as well. Our goal is to give everyone in IT some reason to subscribe to and obtain value from the newsletter. Many outside the coverage area of the US will likely find the online content and stories are plenty of value and worthy of a few minutes each month to look it over. There is a Jump List at the top of the newsletter so if there is one particular area you want to get to, you can dive right in without scrolling though the things you do not care about. 2016 Brings MANY New EventsWe have many event series coming up in the next 6 months:
The Talent GapSome of the same challenges CIO’s face today have been the top challenges of the last four years running. Gartner has released their 2016 Top CIO Priorities and Challenges (https://www.gartner.com/imagesrv/cio/pdf/cio_agenda_insights_2016.pdf) and yet again talent, or lack thereof, tops the list. “Talent has now been recognized globally as the single biggest issue standing in the way of CIOs achieving their objectives.” Topping the talent gap is:
“Talent has now been recognized globally as the single biggest issue standing in the way of CIOs achieving their objectives.” To help combat this talent gap our speakers will deliver relevant content at all of our upcoming events. See events list to the left. Thought Leadership: I have talked to many business executives over the years and this talent gap has actually been a recurring problem for quite some time. There is a huge gap in the technology talent. This is largely because technology changes so rapidly and people do not make it a priority to keep up with technology. By subscribing to this newsletter you are taking the first step to overcoming the technology talent gap. The second step is acting on it. Make it a point to set time aside each week (eventually you will do daily) sign up for some live events, check out Channel 9 and Microsoft Virtual Academy. There are links to an endless supply of technology talent growth opportunities in this newsletter. The biggest challenge in fact is not the technology talent gap but the business talent gap and how to decipher business challenges and create business solutions by leveraging technology. You may be thinking, “wait, I can do that. It is what I do all day every day”. Really? What I have found is most people in IT are far more tactical than strategic. The business and business units need us to be more strategic. Are your business unit leaders coming to you with problems or requests for services? If it is the later, I have news for you… you need to read this article intently. In doing so, we need to learn how to TRANSLATE the business problem into a TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION. This is harder than it might seem. First of all, translating is hard for us humans. It is like solving word problems. You have to translate the problem into meaningful information then act on that translation. Think back to when we were in school and had a math problem like “Two trains leave different cities heading toward each other at different speeds. When and where do they meet?“https://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.two.trains.htmlThese were not easy problems and similarly, mapping business problem to a technology solution is complicated. Let’s look at why. As you can see, business and technology have different languages and perspectives.
Translating Business Problem to Technology Solution is Often Really HARD!!! Quick tips on Translating Business Objectives into Actions…I could write an entire article on each of the following but for now, let’s just look at it from an overview perspective. What do we need to do?
Let’s go a bit deeper into the identifying problems and in particular identifying not only problems but also opportunities. I refer to it as Identifying What’s Possible! Ask yourself (or others in your organization):
Your vision + some strategic thinking and new technology solution could yield you an enormous amount of respect (and other more tangible perks) Not all opportunities are created equal. Some will be hard and low value, others will be easy and high value. Still others will be in between. Identify one that you want to work on. After you “Identify What’s Possible” there are other considerations. You then need to look in a bit more depth at the potential project/solution. Look at:
These do not have to be things that you spend weeks on. In fact, for your first few projects, you should try to do it as quickly as possible (an hour or two of serious brain power). But each one is important. Let’s take a closer look at one that looks like it may not fit. Identify Stakeholders: It may be really easy to identify one person or one department that can benefit from the solution but are there others? Could the value be greater/broader if you tweak a few things as you go? Often I have found as you get additional stakeholders involved or add value to other parts of the organization it kind-of greases the wheels and makes bringing the solution to life easier (or in some cases possible). Watch my blog https://ITProGuru.com or come to some of my events to learn more. You may also want to consider my offer below for Brainstorming Workshops. In either case, I hope you will take some of these tips and “Architect What’s Possible” for your business. If you need help with anything, Microsoft has an incredible partner ecosystem that can help you.
TechNet on Tour | Cloud InfrastructureWhat’s new with Microsoft cloud Infrastructure and OSS for modern IT Pros It’s time to embrace cloud infrastructure, maximize your current resources and enhance datacenter flexibility to deploy new technologies. Ready to learn more? Attend this free, full-day training session and discover first-hand how to integrate cloud solutions with your existing, on-premises datacenter – without sacrificing security, control, reliability and scalability. You’ll see how advanced Azure infrastructure services enable you to provide reliable data access, while maximizing productivity across platforms. Training will include Microsoft, Open Source (OSS), GitHub, and more. Join Microsoft experts and learn how to:
TechNet on Tour | Certification Jump Start 70-534 Architecting Azure SolutionsThis Certification class will cover the 70-534 Architecting Azure Solutions Exam. All attendees are expected to go home with a copy of the Microsoft Press Book. The events have not been locked yet but it is looking like we will be doing an online Jump Start in April/May timeframe and roll out live events to cities all across the US in July/Aug. There is some Free Training that will be a pre-requisite for the training. You can access it at https://aka.ms/nlcert534. All you need to do to make sure you get an invite is become a subscriber to this newsletter (https://ITProGuru.com/Join). If you want to get a started now (you can’t wait J) you can get your own copy of the Microsoft Press book from Amazon at Exam Ref 70-534 architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions. A typical agenda looks like the following:
At the conclusion of this course you will have homework assignments (labs) to do. Upon finishing the homework, you should be able to go take the test and become a “Certified” Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect! If we are not able to drum up enough sponsors, there is a chance there will be a nominal charge as we will be providing a $40 book, lab guides and food and beverage for all attendees. Easter Egg: What is the value of certification? This is really hard to answer because it is different for everyone, in the class, you will get much more information. I can tell you though what is the same for everyone is that it has the capability of opening opportunities. Many employers (me included) look at certification as a minimum bar when they are evaluating prospective employees. What the heck does that mean? It means the hiring manage may NEVER see your resume if they are like me. Some HR person or secretary does pre-screening and if certification is not listed the resume lands in the rejected pile. There are many more obvious advantages such as: additional lines on a resume, self-satisfaction of completion, more salary opportunity, bragging rights, shows ability to complete what you started, shows ability to learn and apply what you have learned, experience working with technology, stature among tech circles and much, much more. Trial | Brainstorming Team Cloud Technology WorkshopIf you are in the North East US I may be able to do them in person. Otherwise, perhaps online … do you have any interest in a Team Workshop for your business or group? Contact Dan at: https://itproguru.com/contact Teach your team how to “think outside the box”, “understand how to leverage technology to solve business challenges or execute on opportunities”. Now taking applications. This is a free training but I need either a large number of people from a single company (30’ish) or for smaller groups, we can do multi-company workshops where each company is a team. Workshop formats available: 60 mins, 1/4 day, 1/2 day, 1 day, multi-day. What’s NextIn the next edition of ITProGuru Newsletter we will dive into Enterprise Mobility and do a quick introduction to Windows Server 2016 |
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